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Why you should support software subscriptions
Regularly users ask us about software recommendations. Sometimes when recommending specific software we hear “that’s too expensive” or “I don’t buy subscription software”. While we know that subscription-based software isn’t popular with many users, here are some arguments we want to tell you, why subscriptions are also good for you.
Software isn’t a car or a coffee machine that you buy once and use it until it’s end-of-life. Software requires regular updates. Even without new functionalities, regular security fixes are needed for any software today. People need to get paid every month working on this. With a one-time fee, the initial price needs to cover these costs for an unlimited time. It’s possible to do this. But what if you decide not to use this software anymore after a year or two? You paid too much! With a subscription model, you only pay for what you use.
But wasn’t it different in the past? Not much. In the past, software often stopped working on a newer operating system or a newer hardware. Therefore, you had to buy the software again or buy an upgrade which was often almost 50% of the price of the initial investment. It’s similar to a subscription – isn’t it?
You feel specific software isn’t worth the money? That’s fine. It might have features that you don’t need. So, just have a look at alternatives. We don’t want to say that you need to buy software – or even specific software. But it might be worth the money for some users. There is no “right” price for a piece of software. A small company that sells only a few licenses or subscriptions every month will need to charge higher prices than a huge company with millions of customers.
But what about free software? Free software is great! If you can find free software that does what you want and you’re happy with it – use it!
But even here make sure that it is maintained regularly! There are lots of abandoned programs around that did not get security updates for years. Just have a look how well something is maintained.
February 25, 2020
