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Comment by renewiltord | Hacker News Reader

I like Jetbrains' subscription model. Haven't ever not been on the subscription. It just gives me peace of mind knowing I won't be left out to dry if I need to be off it.

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For those who are not familiar with JetBrains' subscription model:

> A perpetual fallback license is a license that allows you to use a specific version of software without an active subscription for it. [0]

There are some details about which version you are eligible for. The spirit is that if you subscribe for ≥ 1 year, you have some version available when you stop paying.

[0]: https://sales.jetbrains.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207240845-What...

Thanks. I was just going to ask what made it unique.

JetBrains was initially going with a more traditional subscription model, and introduced the perpetual license fallback in response to negative feedback.

HN comments and the original announcement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10165334

The followup introducing the perpetual fallback license: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10278285

Yeah I was a bit unhappy but accepted it for what it was when it was announced. I'm glad other people complained. I really like the current form.

That’s actually pretty smart, but if only 1 year of subscription is equivalent to a license, it feels like the subscription is overpriced (but I know nothing about the prior price)

Their software is really good and every year gets you more so I've never felt like my $150 has been poorly spent. I could use the old version, but honestly I'd much rather use the newest.

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