HACKER Q&A
📣 bagatr

Why software developers complaining about subscription pricing?


i see a lot of software developers earning more than 25 dollars per hour (in america) and when it comes to use a software that only costs $10/month to help them save time or helping them earn money they start complaining, why just whyyyy ?

  👤 not_your_vase Accepted Answer ✓
Because such a software is not something that I own - I'm at the mercy of the software creators, hoping that they will sell me the software as long as I need it. And they disappear more often than not, leaving me searching for something else that helps me.

Sometimes I like to check the past submissions on HN, what was trending a year or two ago. Vast majority of the "look at this cool SaaS Product" submissions is a dead link. But don't believe me - see for yourself.

I'm not against paying, I do believe proprietary software has a place in the market, but I'd rather pay a bigger, 1-time sum for guaranteed availability over paying smaller fee for a longer time, while hoping that there will be still a company to accept my payment next month.

👤 txutxu
Can you point to an example?

Without context... maybe:

1) Maybe they aren't from america.

2) Maybe they haven't see clearly how they will save/earn with the software more than it costs (marketing issue?)

3) Maybe it's explained in their complains

👤 philipswood
Imagine a nifty useful piece of software that does something genuinely useful and that you want to use, but that you really only use once every few months.

Say for example something like a nifty project roadmap generator.

You'd like to use it. You would be willing to pay for it, but $10 a month is just way more than it would be worth to you.

👤 Anton_MegaPort
What software subscription are you asking about?