Ask HN: Pricing models – subscription or extend license

It seems like the best solution is to have monthly subscription model. That's what most companies are doing.

Personally, as a customer, I like the idea of paying for an update. Let's consider Adobe CC subscription. Currently it's standard monthly subscription, if you don't pay, you don't have access to it. I would prefer to pay only if I want new features and security updates. If I decide not to have them I could stay of the last version that I updated to. Of course to make sure that you earn enough you should have to have a limit of minimum 1 year subscription payed monthly, so nobody would scam you by buying one monthly subscription once a year.

This of course changes is cloud services are involved (storage, streaming, etc.). For those you need monthly subscription to be on)

The pricing model should be based on customers. Time spent thinking about it before building something and setting it in front of actual human beings and getting feedback and responding to that feedback with further design and implementation looks like productive work. It is not. It is just easier than building and showing and soliciting feedback and acting on that feedback until there is something people care about enough to pay.

It is also easier to build a payment system than something people are willing to pay for. Having to decide how to accept payment is a good problem have, but usually not the first one.

Good luck.