Subscription-based pricing is dead

I am not a fan of those trendy payment models. I do not want to worry about how much I regularly pay where and constantly receive payment confirmations in my inbox. I already have enough stuff floating in my head.<p>I use a really nice graphics application that&#x27;s missing out on my money because it expects me to pay $50 a year for the unrestricted Pro version. But I&#x27;m not a professional, I&#x27;m an occasional user who just likes the intuitive interface. I would gladly pay that amount once to get the non-pro version forever but without the constant nagging or the requirement to login to use it. This &quot;you&#x27;re either a professional who pays the bills with this software or you deserve to get spammed with popups and other annoyances&quot; stance is a pain.

For desktop software, I really like the Jetbrains model. They reward loyalty by giving you a discount for continued usage. ($149 for first year, $119 for second, and $89 from third year onwards)[1]<p>And if you have paid for one year and then decide to stop paying, you can download a perpetual license for the version you were currently using.[2]<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jetbrains.com&#x2F;store&#x2F;#personal?billing=yearly" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jetbrains.com&#x2F;store&#x2F;#personal?billing=yearly</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sales.jetbrains.com&#x2F;hc&#x2F;en-gb&#x2F;articles&#x2F;207240845-What-is-perpetual-fallback-license-" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sales.jetbrains.com&#x2F;hc&#x2F;en-gb&#x2F;articles&#x2F;207240845-What...</a>

I think the way to go is a mix of the two. It is covenient for companies to get guaranteed money in advance. As for customer it&#x27;s way cheaper to start with usage based model. This is because a lot of users are underusing their services.<p>This at least is the case in hosting industry where overscheduling is a big thing.<p>So best scenario for customer would be a pay per usage for low usage and subscription for moderate to high usage. At least this is what AWS is doing and I believe this is fair for both bussiness and customer