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Comment by xnx | Hacker News Reader

Look like that costs money though?

It's absolutely bonkers that an adblocker needs to cost $15/year, when the actual filter lists are maintained by volunteers and there's (presumably) very little in the way of code changes needed.

If you don't dont see any additional value, then chose choose one of the free ad blocking options.

One of the nice things for developers working in the Apple ecosystem is that users are willing to support well crafted software.

Although, sometimes you do run into developers as selfless as Gorhill who still craft excellent software.

Don't you have to pay money to host your app there in the first place which is why there is so few good, free applications?

Also: what would be "additional value" in an adblocker? Either it works or it doesn't.

> Also: what would be "additional value" in an adblocker? Either it works or it doesn't.

uBlock has over 13k commits, include just 15 minutes ago right now.

https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/commits/master/

Well, what do you think makes them work or not? A lot of constant work.

The restrictions on iOS content blockers mean that it's not possible to add value, it's just basic competence to apply pre-existing filter lists maintained by someone else.

Gorhill's browser extensions are great, have actual features. This isn't possible in iOS.

I dunno, I’m not a fan of paying for wrappers but I get a lot from 1Blocker and I’m happy to pay for it. As far as I know it’s just one dude who builds the app, and he spends a lot of time keeping it working in the face of YouTube tactics, etc.

>and he spends a lot of time keeping it working in the face of YouTube tactics, etc.

Does he? Is he doing original research, or just copying whatever ublock origin/easylist puts out? After all, all the bypass methods are just javascript snippets that extensions inject into the page, so it's not like you have to spend much time porting to iOS or whatever.

You think that doesn’t require time? Doing user support? Keeping up with API changes, etc?

I'm not claiming it requires 0 time, only that it's nowhere near the amount of time that would justify a $15/year price tag.

You’re assuming that the price for a product should be based on the cost to offer it. In most markets, price is a function of the value perceived by buyers and relative pricing of similar products. Cost doesn’t enter into the equation.

I'm well aware of how markets work, but that doesn't make it less bonkers. Bottled water companies take municipal water, do some "filtering", and sell it for a 10x-100x markup. I'm sure the people buying the water thinks they're getting their money's worth, but that doesn't mean we can't point out how absurd it is, nor is " in most markets, price is a function of the value perceived by buyers and relative pricing of similar products" a satisfying counterargument to that.

I don’t see what’s absurd about paying a buck for the convenience of bottled water when and where you want it.

Or paying $15 for a year of someone keeping a content blocker up to date.

Maybe you are completely desynchronized from what people find valuable.

That you start valuing software at $0 because someone is producing it for free is a sad part of open source.

How many hours a month do you think is needed to “justify” charging $1.25/month?

If your time has so little value, please do create an alternative and offer the same level of support and updates for a price that seems more fair to you. $0.50/month maybe?

>If your time has so little value, please do create an alternative and offer the same level of support and updates for a price that seems more fair to you. $0.50/month maybe?

This thread is literally about someone providing a free alternative.

Unless someone else makes an equivalent product and sell it for $14/year, and every user switches to the new product, this statement is moot. A product justifies its price tag as long as people are willing to buy it at that price.

Revenue optimisation is a different concern. Would they sell more if they priced it at $10? Maybe. Would the total revenue ($10 * number of users) be higher than now? Maybe not. There is a local maxima and it appears that they calculated this to be ~$15.

>Unless someone else makes an equivalent product and sell it for $14/year, and every user switches to the new product, this statement is moot. A product justifies its price tag as long as people are willing to buy it at that price.

adguard is free and I don't think I've encountered an ad that it didn't block. There's also open source adblockers like ublock origin lite, and some other one that was mentioned earlier this year but I forgot the name of.

> adguard is free [...] open source adblockers like ublock origin lite [...] and some other one

Yet not "every user has switched to these free products". Apparently the consumers don't feel the same way as yourself, or they are not aware of those options (marketing costs, too). Hence (quoting myself):

> A product justifies its price tag as long as people are willing to buy it at that price.

I'm not a 1Blocker user, but 1Blocker definitely doesn't have to price match anyone else if their customers are happy to pay despite there are many free options.

How many developers do you think would work even a single hour for that price tag?

I'm sure the app has at least 1000 paying subscribers? Take out Apple's 30% cut, and that's more than $10k a year.

I found that over the years, it's easy to look at someone's business and conclude they're making bank.

I use 1Blocker and I'm on a grandfathered plan that's $5 per year. It's absolutely worth it (even at $15).

Having the lists freely available is only part of the battle for the end user. There are different ways of using that free data, and that takes time to develop. A good blocker can also do more than just utilize that free data as well

Charging money fits iOS user culture though. They might even have fewer users if it was free.

Yup and it works on my family plan. No brainer. It’s a set-it and forget-it install. Recommended.

The free functionality works well enough for me that I never saw the need to look further (until now).

You can only enable one filter list, but "Ads" is a single filter list, so I just enabled that. Just means I can't enable the "Trackers" (though safari has some built in tracker blocking) or "Annoyances" lists, or add Custom rules.

Though, it's going to be a deal-breaker for anyone outside of the English speaking world, because the regional filters count as a second list.

It’s okay, you can afford it.

I bought a life-time plan a few years ago.

Feels like a no-brainer investment.

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