Wait… nobody said anything about giving up hamburgers… I may need to think about this commitment to Drafts Pro 
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It’s sad that so many users are so entitled. It’s fine to not believe a new pricing model is for you, but to attack the developer? Such a shame.
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As an aside, I far prefer a subscription model because it helps me to know that the app has a future, even the developer decides to move on, they will have an asset in the subscription base that another developer would be willing to pick up and run with!
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I’m really happy with Drafts 5 so far. It was a bit of a chore to do the transition from Drafts 4, and getting to know the new interface is taking a bit of time. But now that I’m getting the hang of it, I’m thinking this is going to be my main text input tool on my iOS devices. And it makes me want a Mac version!
I like Drafts and I’ve bought the last couple of versions but a move to $40 for a two year usage seems like a pretty steep price hike so I can understand why some people are balking at it.
It feels a little harsh as well if you have bought the previous versions and their isn’t a soft landing for existing customers.
$40 just feels (I know it isn’t in the scheme of things) a lot for a phone app, especially when you are used to zero or very low upgrade costs.
That’s $40 assuming no additional price hike next year.
The app world is changing. To remain a top class app these days requires more work and the new users aren’t as easy to come by. So the business models have to change and prices have to change. It’s not a choice between the old pricing and the new pricing. It’s a choice between having great apps and not having them.
I don’t disagree, it just feels a steep rise.
The omnigroup have been charging much higher prices for OmniFocus than equivalent apps like Things or ToDoist.
I’m not sure Things and Todoist are equivalent but they do a similar job. OmniFocus is a very power user focused app so it makes sense that they have to charge more.
I love being able to give Greg money to keep focusing on making Drafts better. I don’t love the subscription model either, but for me it’s a weird mental / neurotic thing about truly owning vs. renting software. I would pay a significant premium vs. [the expected subscription cost over multiple years] to be able to have a Drafts 5 “lifetime” subscription or to be able to buy it outright. I suspect that at least a significant number of the others who recoil from subscriptions are similar. It’s not at all that they are cheap or expect to get good things without paying anything for them. They actually want to give Greg money, but want to be able to do it in a way where they feel like the software is theirs and not a rental.
Just wanted to add that point to the mix.
In reply to those mentioning that the Drafts 5 subscription feels like a sharp price rise let me offer some specific data from one user’s (my) perspective without additional editorial comment: I purchased Drafts 4 for $9.99 on December 2nd, 2014 (roughly 41 months ago). (I don’t remember for sure but I suspect this is when Drafts 4 came out.) From now to then that works out to $0.24 a month to own (a license) for this software (and, obviously, as an early purchaser this works out to a lower monthly cost over the life of version 4 than purchasers who may have bought more recently). The new yearly subscription for the Pro version (I use custom actions so I’d have to use Pro) is $19.99, or $1.67 a month. For one user, me, in this particular instance, that is a 696% price increase.
And yet, $20 for a tool you use every day is minuscule compared to the benefit. If it means the developer can eat and have a roof over their head? That’s a bonus. It means Drafts will be around for the long term. Way too many iOS apps languish because in some ways, people’s expectations are ridiculously excessive.
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I used to rabidly dislike the subscription model until I heard episode 393 of Mac Power Users with Greg Scown, Dave Teare, and Ken Case. Now I get it and they can happily have my money! Great episode.
I think there’s more to it than just ongoing income. The subs model completely changes the way apps are developed. Developers can focus on small but meaningful features instead of having to have big flashy features that drive upgrades, and they don’t have to hold stuff back for new versions, so they can add new features more steadily and improve and iterate on those features gradually as the users of the app evolve.
I’d argue that not only is sustained income great for the development community but subs make for better software.
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Yes - I look at it as a “retainer” for the app to continue being supported by the developer. I use the app as entry point to create various calendar tasks/reminders/event logs etc. And I do not wish to be caught halfway looking for alternatives.
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I am brand new to Drafts. I found out about it via the Facebook Mac Power Users Group. I thought I would give it a try. I’m currently running the 7 day trial, and I’ll go ahead and subscribe after that. I’m already hooked.
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This forum is not for discussion about the subscription model…but we can’t seem to help ourselves, can we?
Please forgive me.
I usually ask folks this: Do You work for free?
Lets see. Drafts. For the last two years, more or less. $9.99 / 730 days = 0.01368 a day. Well, that’s not free, but well, even at scale, that’s just not sustainable long term on the App store.
I’ve had a version of Drafts since the beginning of my iPhone experience. Could I live without the app and my various First World problems? Sure.
But here’s the thing.
I balance my list of subscriptions accordingly. Like most, I can’t afford to subscribe to everything.
I could live with the very generous free version. It’s fantastic. But the brilliant new custom extensibility of Drafts 5 does not disappoint; it is a logical progression from Drafts 4 and has key solutions for how I want to work with text on iOS going forward.
$19.99 / 365 = 0.05476 a day.
At the end of the day how do you assign value?
Drafts 5 is a culmination of not only the last 5 years, but also a lifetime of experience, training, effort by a talented and hard working professional. I am grateful to be able to enjoy access to a Pro tool that saves me so much time and tends to make my life that much easier.
If you can, support this excellent work too.
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