Given the nature of the hobby, I get the feeling that few people have paid for it. That said, the older IDA Pro 5.0 has been released as freeware: https://www.hex-rays.com/products/ida/support/download_freew...

If price is an issue, consider the freeware version: [1]. It disallows commercial use, and lacks recent features, but it should be great for a hobbyist. If you need more than this feature set, $1199 is a bargain for what you get with IDA Pro, as others have mentioned.

[1] https://www.hex-rays.com/products/ida/support/download_freew...

Given the maturity of the tool, the breadth of functionality, plugins, scriptability, etc. these are petty money for what IDA Pro has to offer to a professional that has to do Reverse Engineering for a living.

I do agree that for a tool used for a hobby it is expensive, but for hobbyists there are other, simpler tools that could be used.