[01HNNWZ0MV43FF]

You could use the time value of money formula to convert between one-time prices and subscriptions. just multiply annual price by 30 to get forever price.

So my $6 per month VPS would be about $2,000 upfront.

And a $500 game console would be a $1.50 monthly subscription. (Obviously glossing over tons of differences in say, a PS2 and a Stadia subscription)

It feels easier to ask customers for $1 per month than $360 up front... Especially since I don't know if my service will be up forever

[freedomben]

If pricing were consistent, I would fully agree with you. However, it is not. People will charge what they think the market can bear. When you're asking for it all up front, you can't charge a huge amount because nobody would pay it. When you mask the request by dividing it up into small chunks, people don't realize how much they are actually paying. In many cases now with automatic billing, people may not even realize they're still paying. The whole subscription thing is an exploitation of human psychology.

[breadsniffer01]

If pricing is too expensive the next month, then just cancel. It’s that simple. Monthly subscriptions simply give more freedom both for the user and the builder.

[jamwil]

I don’t think a perpetuity is correct in this case. Software depreciates rapidly without updates and the norm was to charge the one-time price for each major version, which was always somewhat analogous to a subscription assuming you wanted up-to-date software.

[Scoring6931]

It's hardly annual price times 30. You must account for inflation.

[dghlsakjg]

What is the math on multiplying times 30?