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Comment by stanmancan | Hacker News Reader

My favourite licensing models for self-hosted software are perpetual fallback licenses. Jetbrains does this well and their description of it is:

   A perpetual fallback license is a license that allows you to use a specific version of software without an active subscription for it. The license also includes all bugfix updates, more specifically in X.Y.Z version all Z releases are included.

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My gripe with the JetBrains license change is that the perpetual license is for a version that's already 12 months old when they have an aggressive release schedule that put's your perpetual license as a _large_ step backwards.

I say this as a personal subscriber to the JetBrains Toolbox. I'm unhappy about the mechanics of the fallback license, but I also find utility in paying the subscription for right now (really the last few years).

Just don't update for 12 months then decide if the updates are worth another 12 months. Rinse, repeat.

The fact that they do churn out lots of good updates is an argument for SaaS.

This is great until a company starts making file formats completely incompatible with back versions, making it impossible to use with friends or anyone else. Oh or when they just change the plan to subscription only anyways.

I'm looking at you, Sketch.

I KNEW you were talking about Sketch from the moment I read your first sentence. I have a hypothesis that Figma never would've become so big had they not screwed up so badly with their licensing and lack of seamless collaboration features.

The only reason I started using Figma was because of how annoyed I was at the Sketch licensing as a paying customer.

Is Sketch subscription only? I had it on my list to purchase because I thought they offered a perpetual license.

But you're right, now that I'm reading the FAQ on their pricing page, I'm finding it really confusing:

"""

Q: Is Sketch only available as a subscription?

A: No. You can still get a Mac-only license for $120 yearly [sic] if you don’t need the web app and only want to use the Mac app to design. (...)

"""

Their answer seems rather contradictory. Does anybody know whether they offer perpetual licenses or not? Or know of a competitor who does?

cough solidworks

This happened with me for Evernote. Incredibly frustrating. I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised with how well the latest versions of Microsoft Office still support most non x formats (eg .doc, .xls).

Even better is the licensing model where you can keep using the version as-is after the subscription ends. You just don't get any new features. It's even possible to do on iOS, as Working Copy [0] is doing it. (You also get all the bug fixes and stuff, only new features are behind a flag that requires you to purchase another year of updates. I would also argue that Working Copy specifically is too cheap, but I guess it's working for them.)

[0]: https://workingcopyapp.com

This is what Binary Ninja (Reverse Eng. tool) does, and why its a community favorite. https://binary.ninja/faq/#subscription. However it seems they don't keep download links public, but my old license/dl link from my email still seems to work.

I would rather have them offer a full purchase option, with, say, 10 years of upgrades included. I could pay 750 EUR for it once, and be set for the rest of my career, basically, instead of having to deal with purchases every year.

I paid JetBrains for a subscription that will last 3 years, so that I won’t have to renew it again in a good while.

I bought that subscription in September 2022, after having paid monthly for a long while.

Now I won’t have to think about renewing the subscription again until September 2025.

My problem with Jetbrains' software is that it comes with DRM so, sure, i can buy their thing once but i'm still reliant on them regardless. It isn't like i can pay them once and forget about their existence afterwards.

I agree. It helps customer to renew yearly license or to do it only when really needed.

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