[joshspankit]

I feel like this is one of the great cases for a “residential” vs “commercial” model.

From a software dev perspective, I definitely understand the benefit of monthly/yearly subscriptions vs feast and famine cycles (with the hope that you can justify an upgrade to your users), but it.has.gotten.out.of.hand.

Some of your best customers start out bootstrapping and becoming experts in the cheapest (workable) solution. If you tell them they’re “too poor” for not wanting to pay your prices at the door, you just lose out.

With an excellent product, it’s even viable to have free tiers and then charge businesses $$$ (basically all past Windows software if you count piracy as free), or move to a Patreon/sponsorship model (Vue.js).

If you have to pay “cloud” costs, I get the struggle of giving it away for free, but if it’s all on-device? What’s your argument?

[ponker]

I don’t need an “argument” to charge a specific price or business model. I’ve created something and am offering it to anyone who will pay what I’m asking.

Why, as a customer, would you care about my “argument” for my price as opposed to the value it creates for you?

This product is expensive and I expect most people to walk away but I also see why they don’t want to go down the old Windows 3.1 route of a perpetual license.

[bnegreve]

>I don’t need an “argument” to charge a specific price or business model.

I disagree, you need to sell your business model just as much as you need to sell your product.

As a customer,

1. I need to know whether this is a fair pricing for the service, because I need to decide whether I should pay for it, or search (or wait) for an alternative. If it is overpriced, a cheaper alternative is likely to appear soon, and it is probably better to wait.

2. I want don't want to encourage business models that don't fit my usage, to avoid the proliferation of such business models across the industry.

[joshspankit]

^This

Also, I will add that as a (potential or actual) customer: if I think your product is great, I want your business to succeed and for it to succeed it has to have a business model that is positioned for the long-term.

Flat out: If the model doesn’t work, I’m going to look for another alternative.

If the model does not work it could mean you go out of business, or “pivot” to private buyers, or lose focus and clutter the software with “upgrades” in an attempt to catch up. In each case it means the software would no longer work for me and I’d have to find an alternative anyway so I might as well find the alternative first.

[michaelcampbell]

> 1. I need to know whether this is a fair pricing for the service,

That answer comes from you, not the content producer. He's said what he considers fair, for him. You need to decide if it's fair, for you.

[eitland]

I partly agree, as an author it is your software and your choice. Demanding anything (unless one has an existing relationship as a customer that warrants it) is probably a sign of feeling entitled.

Also these days I expect software to need security fixes for the lifetime of the software which is why I am somewhat less hostile to subscriptions than I would otherwise be.

But I also partly understand very well what the users upthread writes, so let me try to explain:

> I don’t need an “argument” to charge a specific price or business model. I’ve created something and am offering it to anyone who will pay what I’m asking.

Fine, go right ahead. Consider the posts upthread as an explanation for why they wont use your software and will recommend against it.

If people still buys it: Power to you. And, I should say, it looks like something that certain people will pay for

> Why, as a customer, would you care about my “argument” for my price as opposed to the value it creates for you?

Maybe they shouldn't care to write it, but at least now you know their reasoning.

[dusted]

"Why, as a customer, would you care about my “argument” for my price as opposed to the value it creates for you?"

Because I am a human with feelings, and if I _feel_ I'm getting screwed, you can prove to me all day long how I'm actually saving money, it won't matter because I'll find something else where I feel treated right (not that that's that easy these days).

[meheleventyone]

Price and in particular an on going cost factors into the value a product provides. Positioning in the market via pricing and other factors are as much part of selling your product as making sure people know what it does. Customers will have an opinion on it and it will be something worthwhile to understand in the large. Further if the pricing raises eyebrows customers will want a justification to feel good about buying.