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Comment by torstenvl | Hacker News Reader

Love the idea and, from the screenshots, the execution looks great. I've been looking for something like this and I'm still undecided, with Joplin and StandardNotes leading the pack for my use case.

It looks like you've settled on an App Store-only distribution model and a subscription-only pricing model. I'm curious about how you made that decision - subscription-only would suggest you're revenue-sensitive and want to provide continued updates, but App Store-only distribution means giving up revenues and putting someone else in control of updates. As a result, from the outside looking in, it seems a little incongruous. Just wondering :) obviously don't feel obligated to answer, either way it looks like a great piece of software.

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Awesome, thanks for your feedback! Yes, I plan to provide continued updates. I have lots of more ideas (block based editor, large calendar view, smart search folders, …). I considered a one-time paid with paid upgrades model, but decided to use a subscription.

What would be your use case and is there something in particular that leaves you undecided between Joplin and StandardNotes?

Not the commenter, but I’ve been in a similar struggle to find “thw perfect note app” since evernote went South. I’ve been trying Obsidian, Joplin, Bear, and Craft.

A must have for me is a code-block (three backticks enter or similar).

A killer feature would be a rest api so I could integrate with cli tools (bash, jq, grep, etc) without having to parse html.

I’m excited to try this out.

You say you've been struggling even though you've tried Obsidian. It has support for code blocks. I don't know about a rest API, but if you want to use CLI tools, the files are already stored in markdown format on your hard drive. I use CLI tools on my Obsidian files all the time.

Like others have mentioned, I'm not a fan of the subscription model either. After watching the demo video and reading through your site, I instantly went to download the app in the app store, only to be disappointed in, yet another subscription.

I'd gladly pay for the software and repurchase at major releases (if I wanted to upgrade)! I'm not looking for more subscriptions though. Give it a thought. I'd like to be one of the paying customers :-)

Thanks for your feedback! At what price would you consider the app for a one time purchase?

This probably sounds odd, but I'd be happy with the subscription's yearly price, or even a little more. It's not the price that bothers me, it's the subscription aspect to me.

The application is sold as, "with data longevity in mind", but the subscription model makes me feel like that is only the case while I pay for a subscription. From what I read in some of your other comments, that may not be the case, but it's still a worry. What if I can't access my notes/data in the future unless I have an active subscription?

Thanks again for your input! Yes, the app remains fully functional forever, with the limitation being that you cannot add new notes. Sounds like I need to make this more clear in the docs.

My dude, hear the words of wisdom and you shall be handsomely rewarded if you heed them.

You are not Adobe or Autodesk to pull off a subscription model. Not successfully.

Sell a perpetual license that is valid for the current version plus anything that is released in X months after that.

Then, sell an option to extend the access to upgrades for Y% of the original purchase price once X months are almost over. If X months are over, sell the same option with a mark-up.

This is universally perceived as a fair arrangement and it gives you a recurrent revenue from people who do keep on using your software (just like with the subscription). Best of both worlds.

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