[prepend]

> Because if it's a one time fee, there will be no recurring income and the developer will have to stop development.

I’ve bought software for decades and reality disagrees with you.

There’s software that I’ve bought as a one time fee years ago that still releases small maintenance patches. I don’t want to run your business for you, but there’s typically multiple products and the work developing new paid major updates or other products allows for some small amount of maintenance.

A really niche product called Moneydance has done this well, I think, and I’ve used them since 2009. I think I’ve paid $50-100 once or twice but would never pay a monthly fee. It’s software that runs on my desktop.

It’s certainly possible, but some companies think they make more money with monthly subs. And they might.