[ravenstine]

On the inverse, just because a business relies on ads doesn't mean it won't start charging money for certain things.

Businesses are always changing and there are no guarantees. Some money hungry bozo might become CEO of your favorite product and enshittify it. That's just reality, and it doesn't mean that paying for things is futile. Best to avoid having too many eggs in one basket and paying for things that you can't actually own.