[imron]

This reflects my experience too. Several years back I made an input method for typing pinyin with tones [0] and released it for free with a donation button.

In 5 years and tens of thousands of downloads I could count on two hands the number of people who had made a donation. Then I put the download link behind a 'pay what you want, including zero' button, and I made more in one month of that than the previous 5 years of donations.

Asking for donations is a poor way to monetize your product.

0: https://www.pinyinput.net/