Show HN: I quit my job and made an automatic time tracker | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I quit my job and made an automatic time tracker

taimapp.io

136 pointsrocksalad91 comments

Hey Hacker News!

This is my first post here. About 5 months ago, I left my job because I was completely burnt out. After taking some time off, I started freelancing. But I found tracking my time to be a real hassle as I kept forgetting to start or stop the timer and often had no idea what I’d worked on.

So, I decided to build Taim as a side project, while also working now on some freelancing gigs. Taim is going to be automated time tracking tool for freelancers and teams. It’s designed to make tracking time effortless and accurate, so you can focus on your work and not worry about the clock.

I’m excited to share this with you all and would love your feedback! Currently planning to launch it to the public in a few months.

Open articleView on HN

This looks like exactly the kind of thing I've been searching for, and I'm happy to pay a one-time price. I'd much rather own than subscribe.

Two things:

1. Will the local storage version be dependent at all on your servers? In other words, if I buy it once, can I use it forever even if you stop supporting it?

2. I would hit "buy now" today if there was a limited trial period before I was charged for it. $90 is a fair price for software (a little high, tbh, but I don't know another app that can do this) but I wouldn't pay that without having the chance to do a test drive first.

Best of luck, this looks awesome and I want to see it succeed!

Thank you for your support and interest!

1. The local storage version will not be dependent on Taim servers, so once you buy it, you can use it forever, even if we stop supporting it (although currently user data is stored on cloud, but it will change)

2. I appreciate your feedback on the pricing. I plan to offer a limited trial period, once I've actually launched it and it is out of development stage.

Thanks again for your encouragement. I’m excited to see Taim help you and many others!

It's not quite a free trial, but the FAQ at the bottom promises "no questions asked" refunds upon request.

> but I don't know another app that can do this

I've never used this product and I have zero connection to it, a friend suggested it to me but I've not checked it out: https://rize.io/

It's $10/mo so more expensive than the pre-order price of this but less expensive than the full price. And it doesn't let you use the old version if you stop paying, just wanted to throw out a datapoint of something that seems similar.

Congrats on making a product! I've been using Qbserve for a decade with a one-time price (and it looks to still be just $29). Things that I love about it:

- No connection needed. - Ability to categorize my time by project - Adding Rules to categorize by page url pattern, document path, or window title. - Exporting the data from the local sqlite. - Ability to annotate the timelines and attribute it to specific projects. This is useful when navigating off my Rules while I'm working a project. - High level summaries of my time. - Ability to bucket (or discard) my time AFK. Useful if it was a client call.

Good luck on your product! I'm sure you can bring additional innovations to the space.

[https://qotoqot.com/qbserve/]

Thank you for the detailed feedback and kind words! It’s great to hear about your positive experience with Qbserve. I appreciate you sharing the features you love—many of them align with what I'm aiming to offer with Taim. I'm working hard to bring these features and more to Taim, with a focus on simplicity and efficiency. Your insights are very helpful, and I hope to add some innovative touches to improve the time tracking experience even further. Thanks again for your support, and stay tuned for more updates!

Hi hi, Qbserve's dev here. Not to be a downer, but time tracking has turned out to be one of the worst possible niches for starting as an indie dev.

The app did great on Show HN (sales were fantastic that week), but then I spent almost a year on marketing and SEO with almost zero results and a mild burnout. Being Mac-only did not help, of course, but there are larger problems:

1. There were so many time trackers even in 2016, and the field is even more crowded nowadays. But at the same time, there are only a few keywords available to rank in search engines. You'll be fighting big corporations like Toggl and Clockify, who have whole marketing departments and recurring revenue from subscriptions.

2. There's so much you can write about time tracking, and honestly, there are already too many productivity articles on the internet. So content marketing doesn't take you far either (and the corporate time trackers do it too, a lot).

3. If you try to run ads, then again the few important keywords are expensive because those corporate products bid for them across all platforms.

4. Desktop software seems to be generally hard to sell because of the long funnel: landing page > download > installation > launch > retention > payment. No wonder web-based SaaS has been the way to go for most.

At some point, the revenue dropped because Zapier removed Qbserve from one of their listing articles, and I just gave up. Qbserve has been bringing in only a few hundred dollars monthly for over five years now. I maintain it to keep it working with browser and OS updates, and add some small UX improvements, but that's pretty much it.

I sincerely wish you luck, maybe you'll find some way around these challenges. But it's tough out there and, just in case, adding more features does not increase sales – I learned it the hard way!

Cheers!

Hi there,

Thanks so much for sharing your experience and insights — it's incredibly valuable to hear from someone who's been through this journey. I really appreciate the honesty and the heads-up about the challenges.

1. You're right, the time tracking space is indeed somewhat crowded, and competing with big players like Toggl and Clockify is a huge task. I'm aware of the uphill battle with SEO and marketing, and your experience reinforces the importance of having a solid strategy.

2. Content marketing is definitely tricky, especially with so much already out there. I'm exploring unique angles and user stories to hopefully stand out, but it's clear that traditional methods have their limitations.

3. Advertising costs for competitive keywords are another tough hurdle. I'll be keeping an eye on creative marketing approaches to get the word out without breaking the bank.

4. The long funnel for desktop software is something I've been considering as well. Ensuring a smooth user experience from download to payment is crucial, and I'll be focusing on making that as seamless as possible.

Thank you for maintaining Qbserve and sharing your learnings. I hope to find ways to navigate these challenges and appreciate any advice or tips you might have.

Wishing you all the best as well, and thanks again for the candid advice!

Cheers!

This is actually great feedback (even though on the surface it looks like a "your idea won't work" message).

But to see a list of the top challenges from a close competitor is what I think most developers should look for. That way, they can either fix those problems or look for ways around them.

Also not to be a downer, but there are tons of time tracking apps in the market.

It's saturated, and honestly not a big pain point to solve for most people.

Customer profile that make sense and might retain: freelancer, agency that employ freelancer.

General public will find time tracking cool, but they majority won't use it day to day because it doesn't solve a problem.

Or it solve a problem, but resolved in a short period of time.

You can use app.sensortower.com (pretty accurate with some margin of error) to benchmark revenue for similar apps—at least those that released on App Store.

It may work, but some luck is required along with the right market fit. For example, a few years ago I shared similar concerns to the author of Session time tracker[1] when he was starting the app's promotion. Back then I believed he won't make it either, but, as far as I know from his twitter, he managed to reach at least a decent 4-digit revenue. Although his product is subscription-based, so there's no endless acquisition trap like in case of Taim in Qbserve.

[1]: https://www.stayinsession.com

Looks like you might have been inspired by Klokki, which is what I've been using for a while. Seems like a decent UI direction, but quite a lot of UI for something designed for people who forget to use their time tracking app. The roadmap indicates you've got plans for a bunch of features that are hard to reconcile with the idea of something getting out of my way.

I do feel like that pricing scheme is also too aggressive, especially for a pre-order which I don't think I've ever gone for in software. Likewise your subtle comparison to "other apps" in terms of performance seems a bit silly, either have a clear comparison with real numbers or leave it out, imo.

My feeling is that $30 is on the very high end of what I'd pay as a freelancer, unless I was doing quite a lot of work and this offered me substantial value, and you don't have the trust up-front that other Mac stalwarts like OmniGroup or Panic have, who are also asking in the hundreds for their much more sophisticated and niche offerings.

Perhaps with a small upgrade/subscription fee, or a little less than $30 for a complete app, but with optional in-app purchases or subscriptions for integrations with third-party task management platforms, since an individual is going to need either 1, none, or a mix of integrations depending on how many clients in what industries they work with. A great app with an additional but substantial Asana integration (from your roadmap) would be a huge boon to people working with it, and only a hypothetical plus that I don't want to pay for if I'm not using it. Right now I'm working with no external time tracking systems, and don't expect to be, so I'd feel a little annoyed paying for an unfocused core product.

I do like the site, and you present the app in a way I like to see. I'd encourage you to iterate on the direction a bit, and depending on how many pre-orders you've landed (maybe I'm off on the price) adjust accordingly. I pre-ordered the Matias Sculpted keyboard for marginally more than you're asking, and it hasn't shipped yet, but I'm willing to take the chance on it because they already produce keyboards, it's so critical to my workflow that I'd be screwed without it, and it's a reasonable cost compared to other enthusiast keyboards.

Incredible value is worth good money, but there are some ambiguous constraints to how much I'm willing to bet on a piece of software in particular categories, despite also wanting a fair exchange for the developer and myself.

My gut reaction is that independent of the quality of this product, $30 is easily spent on lunch for 1 in many places. I would like to see more developers willing to pay for tools that they benefit from using. Since we generally don't culturally, it is very difficult to make it as an independent developer which has many unfortunate consequences.

I agree, but I don't think it's equally comparable, and food is too damn expensive to trust most of the time anyway; I feel robbed when I spend $30 on a bad meal.

Although $30 for a meal is the same general benchmark I use, $30 isn't as easy to come by these days, and uses physical resources and a logistics chain to get the raw material and do anything with it. The value is concrete, and time us put into each individual product at time of purchase. You don't buy a burger and wonder if you'll get calories from it. With a productivity app, it's worth more if it's worth more, but it's not inherently worth anything as a more abstract intangible good.

~$30-50 is just the value I can imagine deriving from this specific category of app, but everyone's mileage is different. This app would not enable me to do design or development, it's an optimization on a specific corner of my workflow, which is valuable but not immensely valuable, and it's hard to bet on without the previous one being incredible. I love narrow-focus thoughtfully designed software, and pay periodically around that price for Dash, TripMode, Affinity, and various games. Would I pay double or quadruple? Probably not, because I'm fine working around the issue and using the rest of the money for food or other tools that supplement my flow.

Thank you for the detailed feedback! I appreciate your insights and comparisons.

Taim is indeed inspired by the need for an intuitive and efficient time tracking solution, and while it may share some similarities with apps like Klokki (I heard about it for the first time). I'm aiming to bring a unique blend of features and usability. My goal is to balance robust functionality with a user-friendly interface that doesn’t get in the way.

Regarding pricing, I hear you. I want to make Taim accessible and valuable, and your feedback is crucial as I refine the approach. Thanks again for your thoughtful comments and suggestions. I'm committed to iterating and improving.

It seems like this is macOS only? It's not really explicitly spelt out - you just have to work it out through context clues (screenshots showing macOS borders, "macOS Ventura is 'recommended'").

I can definitely see someone not realizing before getting to the payment page - probably needs to be an explicit list of supported OSes somewhere.

Edit: just noticed the expandable 'what platforms does Taim support' at the bottom. That should be bigger, and not buried with the rest of the FAQ stuff imho.

Thanks for pointing that out! You’re right I should make the supported platforms more explicit. Currently working on macOS side of Taim, but I'm planning to add Windows support next. I’ll make sure to highlight this information more clearly on the site. Appreciate your feedback and thanks for helping us improve!

This reminds of ManicTime which I used many many years ago when it was free. As per my understanding, it kept track of currently in focus windows and recorded window titles an processes. I guess this is doing similar.

Thanks for the comparison! Yes, Taim works similarly by tracking active windows and recording window titles and processes, but it can also be turned off. I aim to provide a seamless and accurate time tracking experience, just like ManicTime did. If you have any other questions or suggestions, feel free to let me know!

How does this compare to something like Timely or memtime? Is the draw for an individual the one time payment instead of the subscription?

A one-time payment used to be a draw. Now I wonder how long my lifetime access will last until I need a subscription. (TextExpander, Sketch, 1Password, Ulysses, for example)

Ironically, I just started playing around with the newest version of Sketch on their free trial, having bought Version 3 way back or something.

And... the performance and UI reliability seems to be wildly worse than ever. Pretty disappointed so far. Features have certainly improved, but when I close a sub menu for colour picking or font selection, the menu doesn't go away. Dragging a selection between artboards is choppy as hell, and it doesn't even seem to be using that much ram. It's like they shot themselves in the foot trying to compete with Figma on the collaboration aspect; while the collab functionality seems fine, the main interface is just getting me down.

I am still using 1password 6 standalone though, fuck em it's fine for me.

Or even just when support ends. "It's been two years, time to buy the new version!"

I think it would be absurd to expect continuous updates from something you paid for once.

Sure, but I want to know how long do I have it for. Six months? A year? Five years?

Great question! You’re on the right track — I hate subscriptions myself. Unlike others, Taim offers a one-time payment option instead of a subscription, making it cost-effective for individuals. Compared to many other apps, it is much more resource-efficient and makes time tracking effortless with various features. With some apps I’ve used, I sometimes don’t want automatic time tracking. Taim allows you to track both automatically and manually.

Looks nice. I'm a Clockify fan myself. Your app and homepage also remind me a lot of https://timemator.com/ (which I ended up not using because it was unable to generate reports that show me the percentage(!) of time spent on different projects throughout the day).

Thanks for the compliment! I appreciate the comparison. I’m glad you like the look of Taim. I'm aiming to include advanced reporting features, including the ability to show the percentage of time spent on different projects throughout the day. If you have any other suggestions or features you’d like to see, feel free to share!

Does anybody use these to bill clients? My problem with these dealios is they can usually tell you what applications you have open but not why you had them open.

The auto tracker will tell me I spend a lot of time in notepad++ and mobaxterm but wont relate it to the case that prompted me to do that, so starting a free running timer is the only way to get a billable number.

I understand the challenge. Taim addresses this by allowing you to categorize your activities and sessions manually, in addition to automatic tracking. You can relate your time spent in apps like Notepad++ and Mobaxterm to specific projects or clients. This way, you get a clear, billable number that’s tied to the actual work you did. Thanks for your feedback, and I hope Taim can solve this problem for you.

Well this is an indication of the fundamental issue with tools of this sort that attempt to automate data collection .. if it's not 99% automatic and 99% correct then you're not actually saving me any time vs. manual time tracking. You're actually making things harder by adding another layer to the software stack that must be reviewed for correctness and painstakingly fixed because it doesn't get things right.

Until tools know what I'm doing and what I'm thinking I prefer a one-touch manual approach that I know is right because I entered it. This allows me to adjust for that other project's phonecall while I may have been moving my mouse in a spreadsheet. Or the time watering the plants while I was solving an architectural problem. Or the fact I didn't record 5 minutes yesterday so am rounding up 5 minutes today. Etc..

Lots of people use the same set of tools for all their projects, so the application doesn't really help allocate to projects or clients.

Instead of going off the active app, doesn't it make more sense to categorize based on the open document, or the folder tree that the document is in?

sounds like something you could implement easily in emacs, having full access to whatever is in the buffer

It would be nice if you could account for two devices instead of one. I typically use a Windows desktop at home and a Macbook when I'm outside. Also, I noticed the plan widget only says 1 MacOS device while the text under the pre-order button says Windows 10+ is supported — not sure if that means there is windows support or not.

Thanks for your feedback! Currently, Taim licenses are tied to your account, so you can sign in on multiple devices, including both your Windows desktop and Macbook, just the other device will be logged out. I apologize for any confusion regarding the supported platforms. Im focusing on macOS first (that's why there is also macOS mentions everywhere), with Windows support coming next. Appreciate your input!

This looks awesome, I’m definitely going to give this a try.

Also, how has freelancing been for your burn out? Do you feel rejuvenated?

Thanks! I’m glad you’re excited to try Taim. Freelancing has been a great change for me. It’s given me more control over my time and helped me feel more rejuvenated for sure.

Hope to get it out by this autumn, also for everybody else who is not sure about purchasing yet, I’ll be adding a mailing list soon for updates and special offers. Thanks for your support!

Looks sleek.

I just went through a period of testing out TimingApp, ActivityWatch, and Clockify, for automatic time tracking.

One important feature for me was a good API for generating reports, so that I can integrate it with my custom client dashboard. I ultimately decided on Clockify because I found their API to be easiest to use.

Do you anticipate adding an API?

Thanks for the compliment! I’m glad you find Taim sleek. For teams, there will definitely be an API. For individual users, I'm planning to offer webhooks, and I’m exploring options to potentially allow APIs through proxies or other methods. We’ll have to see how that develops. I appreciate your interest and will keep you updated as it progresses!

Your website looks awesome. Congratulations on the launch!

Thank you so much for your kind words and support!

+1 the UI for the site and app looks top notch. I'm not the target customer so can't really comment from a value perspective, but would use it if I had this kind of need.

A couple of very tiny details on the marketing site:

- The animation below 'struggling with tracking your work hours?' kicks in a bit too late for me, maybe a quirk of browsing fullscreen QHD, but I felt like I was in a kind of no man's land [seeing this](https://imgur.com/a/1mB8d5j). I would start this when the title is at about 50% of the viewport height.

- Logo in the header pixelates a little bit and looks weird, I believe this is a Chrome rendering issue, not sure what the fix might be.

Love this idea! Made by people who quit their job, built for people who quit their job. :)

Haha, exactly!

Do you have any experience running any affiliate programs or is it your first crack at it?

Being totally honest, not really. It is currently also not finished and no integrations have been made for that. Thanks for making me nervous haha, removed it from the footer for now.

Affiliate programs for desktop software are difficult to pull off.

If commissions are low, there will just be no interest. If commissions are high, it allows affiliates take out Google ads for your product name and route all searches for the name through themselves.

> How does automatic tracking work in Taim?

> Taim tracks your activity by monitoring the applications and windows you use, recording session data without the need for manual input. This ensures precise and effortless time tracking.

The "Application flow" screenshot shows Mr. Demoman working on XYZCorporationsite.com - 2h 15min / Header.tsx for 1h 32min as well as a block of time in Slack, I wonder if this is really how Mr. Demoman works - totally focused inside VSCode and Chrome.

For my own workflow I know there'd be a lot of window switching between IDE, database tool, maybe StackOverflow/other reference sites, and the web UI. It'd be interesting to have "AI" (or what traditionalists might call "machine learning") recognize those to be belonging to the same project... And to also see that if the browser is on Hacker News, those aren't billable minutes. ;) -- unless the IDE is compiling[1]?

[1] Relevant: https://xkcd.com/303/

Oh you really scanned through everything :D There will be "ignore list" and as you can see the "Suggestions" screenshot, this does exactly..almost that, sees that those applications & windows belong to one project with 87% certainty ;)

Trite comment, but your website is sweet. Really aesthetically pleasing.

Thank you so much for the kind words! I’m glad you like the design. It means a lot to hear that the aesthetics are appreciated. If you have any suggestions or feedback, feel free to share!

grear work, two questions:

1. what UI framework do you use, since I see Windows support is already announced?

2. if I pay for an early bird license, would that work with the Windows version later on as well?

Thank you! I’m glad you like it. For the UI framework, I’m using Tauri, which allows for cross-platform support and a smooth user experience. Yes, if you pay for an early bird license, it will also work with the Windows version once it’s released, licence isnt linked to a OS, rather to an account, which can also be unlinked in the future.

Hey. Well done on launch. Looks very sleek. So the frontend is some sort of JS/CSS app. How did you get it so native looking? What UI libs are you using, or just tailwind classes?

Hey, thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you like the design. It’s a mix of Tailwind CSS and Tauri to achieve that "native" look. Using Tauri helps me access some OS features to create effects like the “glass/translucent effect” If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

Thanks. I am about to start an app using Tauri, and styling the UI so it doesn't feel like a "web app" is a concern of mine

Looks interesting. How are you saving the data under the hood?

Thanks for the interest!

For data storage, it uses a local database, specifically SQLite for its reliability and lightweight nature.

Via CoreData/SwiftData?

Looks awesome!

I do wonder will there be Linux support in the future?

Thanks for the compliment! Right now, I'm focused on launching Taim for macOS and then Windows. Linux support is something I’m considering for the future, but it’s not a definite plan yet. I’ll keep you updated as things progress. Appreciate your interest!

is this only for Mac? is the UI a native app or web based technologies and running on like electron? just curious

Currently, Taim is going to be available for macOS, with plans to add Windows support next. Yes the UI is built with web-based technologies, specifically using SvelteKit and Tailwind CSS, and it runs on Tauri, which allows for a lightweight and native-like experience.

This looks super promising. Two things caught my eye that give me pause:

> Save your seat for 67% off

The price listed ($89) is only 50% off the $179 listed. At $60 (~67% off), my gut reaction is "Oh that's just like an early release videogame, not bad for how promising it looks!" but $89 crosses into "Ehh, I don't know. Maybe I'll wait and see" territory.

> We are planning to launch Taim to the public in early Spring

Early Spring...2025? Is a preorder now really almost a year away?

Definitely something I'll keep an eye on though!

(edit: ope! Ignore point 2 -- I see you already updated the time to fall. Thanks!)

Thanks for pointing that out! I appreciate the keen eye.

1. The discount is indeed wrong, I've adjusted the pricing a bit.

2. I apologize for the confusion — I actually meant early Autumn, not Spring. So the launch is much sooner than you thought!

I hope this clears things up, and thanks for your interest! I’ll keep you updated on our progress.

I love the responsiveness and communication -- I'm preordering now!

Thank you so much for your kind words and support! Your feedback already was incredibly helpful.

I've been wanting a tool like this, and just spent the last weekend hacking together a bare minimum version for myself [0], so it's awesome (and hilarious) to see this pop up now. Clearly you're doing a much better job at it than I ever could ;) Do you have any plans for Linux support?

[0] https://github.com/bo0tzz/focustime

Thanks for the kind words! It’s great to hear that you’ve been working on something similar. Right now, I’m focused on launching Taim for macOS first. After that, the plan is to roll out a Windows version. Linux support is something I’m considering for the future, but I’m not entirely sure yet. I appreciate your interest and would love to keep you updated as things progress!

I'd love to stay updated too, do you have an email list somewhere I can sign up to?

Im going to add a email list to the site soon, but until then -> https://emails.taimapp.io/subscription/form

I saw this and thought, all I really need is an app that tracks Hyprland focus events (in my case) along with the title.

Thanks for paving 90% of the way.

better time tracking is sorely needed! If I never see the SAP Concur UI again in my life, it still won't be enough.

Quick bit of copy-editing: You probably want to say "Forgetting to start a timer is an issue *of* the past"

I hear you, better time tracking is definitely overdue! Thanks for the copy-editing tip.

Going to post this here as it's too small to deserve a top level comment, but I have a copy-edit tip too: at the bottom near the pricing, "be sure to checkout our roadmap", "checkout" should be "check out".

I didn't know you could presale simple productivity app a whole half a year before release, smells like scam.

Also username is from 2016 with zero activity before this post.

But website sure looks nice, although I hate this distracting mouse flashlight effect.

I understand your skepticism, and I appreciate your honesty. The presale is a way for me to gather early supporters and fund further development. Rest assured, I am committed to delivering a high-quality product and the first users will get their hands on in 2-3 months already. Account was created a while back for sure by me, just wasnt a Y user before.

Regarding the flashlight effect, thanks for the feedback! I'll look into that. If you have any concerns or need more information, feel free to ask. And thanks for the compliment on the website design!

good to see someone still making beautiful desktop apps.

with web apps all over, we tend to forget the benefits that full desktop apps provide such as full offline access, not being dependent on the 'cloud'.

congrats on launching and good luck.

Thank you! I completely agree — there’s something special about the reliability and performance of a full desktop app. I’m excited to bring these benefits to users with Taim. Thanks for the good wishes and support!

and by the way - for your landing page is that a custom sveltekit theme ? been wondering where to find a theme like that .

Yes its custom, mainly tailwind is used for styling

This is a bit of a digression, and I might write a blog post about this, but I welcome comments, either way.

It really seems we live in a kind of Twilight Zone when it comes to indie software (both productive, as we see here, but also in entertainment) pricing. AAA software (say, stuff being churned out by companies like MS/Apple/Figma/Adobe/etc.) is so aggressively priced, so egregiously recurrent (I actually am not even sure how many hundreds of dollars+ I spend a year on software I probably don't even use, except for maybe a handful of times a year—like Word or PowerPoint). Similarly, games are routinely being sold for 70-80++ dollars.

However, indie games (and as we see here, indie software) is held to this wild and insane standard. To me, even 100 bucks as a one-time-payment for productivity software (that is: something that literally helps you make more money) is kind of a no-brainer. And yet, there is so much pushback here. Even though we all probably pay for Google's garbage, for Apple's garbage, for space we don't use, and so on.

It's kind of how people brutally skewer the $5 Steam indie game, but if the $80 game made by the AAA billion-dollar studio sucks, folks seem to be much more forgiving (looking at you, Diablo 4).

I'm also working on some local-only software I plan on releasing some time this year, and pricing is something I'm very torn on. On one hand, it should be obvious that a one-time fee is the more consumer-friendly option. But something like $10 a month not only probably makes you more money, it also seems to be way more palatable by the general public.

> It's kind of how people brutally skewer the $5 Steam indie game, but if the $80 game made by the AAA billion-dollar studio sucks, folks seem to be much more forgiving (looking at you, Diablo 4).

While I know the point you're making, gamers certainly went up in arms over "the first AAAA game" priced at $70 instead of the standard $60 for AAA games, even before seeing it was a poor game. Additionally, the people who are typically complaining about the shortcomings of $20 indie games have given up complaining about $60 games' shortcomings. They expect them to suck and stopped paying attention to them, so the lack of comment is apathy toward AAA games and a desire for indie to succeed. They give passionate response, good and bad, because they care.

The very low priced indie games (<$5) also fall into the same problem category of most low priced things above free. The exchange of money makes people demand much more from something than if free, and price sensitive consumers are much more picky than those who can more easily put out hundreds of dollars.

"But something like $10 a month not only probably makes you more money, it also seems to be way more palatable by the general public."

I might be biased, but I think people are feeling pretty subscription fatigued at this point too, so I'm not confident you can win either way.

Also, I will say that there is at least some reason for AAA games costing a disproportionately larger amount of money considering that they usually have hundreds of people on staff versus an indie dev company which might have a few people and often is just a solopreneur.

The best you can hope for is something that makes a modest amount of money that doesn't require a tremendous amount of personal investment and risk.

> It's kind of how people brutally skewer the $5 Steam indie game, but if the $80 game made by the AAA billion-dollar studio sucks, folks seem to be much more forgiving.

...yep. It gets really tiring. Expectations for even a $5 Steam indie game are really high. Needs to have achievements, leaderboards, steam cloud saves, works on Steam Deck, have online multiplayer, be localized in 8+ languages, accessibility options, controller mapping, have zero bugs, have every single game option you expect in a AAA game, work flawlessly on all platforms with zero bugs, and have 10+ hours of gameplay (but preferably 40+), or else you'll get buried alive in the reviews.

There's a reason it's taken me like 10x longer to get my current game out compared to past games. It's trying to get somewhat close to all these sky-high expectations (also more responsibilities and less energy now that I'm older, though).

I didn't have any of this crap in my old Flash games I used to make (except maybe zero bugs, but even that wasn't always true), and somehow those got played millions of times then. But expectations are much, much higher now.

Granted I would like most of this stuff in the game myself too, it just takes a long time to get it all in there, especially as a solo dev.

For multiplayer and leaderboard are those things that already have pre packages you can equivalent of pip install?

> To me, even 100 bucks as a one-time-payment for productivity software (that is: something that literally helps you make more money) is kind of a no-brainer

It's only a no-brainer if you've had the credit card at the ready because whichever problem you have is costing you enough in time and you have confidence that this purchase will be the one to finally make you more money. A new $5500 MacBook would improve my workflow a bit, but by what point would I break even on the purchase? A new iPad Pro might hypothetically let me draw a chart or two sometime in the next 10 years, but its value is where its value is for different people.

But I also don't pre-order games and don't typically buy games over around $50, even then it's rare, but I know lots of people with thousands in pointless game buys.

> $179

Ballsy... unless you mean to make that deep discount permanent, which is a can of worms of its own.

Thanks for your feedback! The final price isn’t set in stone yet. My goal is to make Taim accessible and affordable for individuals. The current discount is a special offer for early supporters, and I’m still considering the best pricing structure to ensure everyone gets great value. I appreciate your thoughts and am always open to more feedback!

I'd encourage you to do a thorough competitor reseach, but anything over $100 will be a hard sell. It's not that $179 is unreasonable, it's that people aren't used to shelling out this sort of sum for software in one sitting.

Consider sweetening the deal by offering something like a $20 one-year license with an option of converting it to the perpetual after a year.

Tangentaly related, make sure your permanent licenses do not include permanent support and upgrades. Provide bugfixes for free, but if they buy a perm license, it should be good for whatever version they have now plus X months worth of future versions. After that impose a fee to extend this upgrade access for another X months. This is a 100% fair arrangement as you do need to be compensated for the work that goes into new versions.

Also, with early birds - again, speaking from experience, consider labeling what you have a "beta" and giving it away for free. Then, after few months, do a proper release and offer deeply discounted licenses to all beta users. This kills 3 birds with one stone - builds a loyal userbase, monetizes them and avoids having deep public discounts. Discounts, once you offer them, will be expected and you will lose sales if the only option will be a full-price one. And if you are to have a permanent sale, it will cheapen the perception of the product. So discounts should be used sparringly and in a very controlled manner.

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