Now just waiting for Things to become a subscription app.
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Well that would make sense, as I finally bought all 3 versions about a month or so ago.
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Happy to bet $5 that Things 4 will be a subscription app!
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MindNode is a great app that I use heavily a few times a year, so purchasing a separate subscription would be a difficult choice for me. I hate being locked into something, and they haven’t said if these subscriptions will be run through the App Store or not. Subscriptions mean extra work for me.
I have no problem paying a subscription for apps I use daily. It’s the other cases where it’s tricky — software I need for periods of time, not always. Those things don’t map to monthly subscriptions — why should I pay monthly when I don’t know when I’ll need it next? Subscribing and unsubscribing is not a solution — too much management. And subscriptions make it very easy to keep paying for stuff that isn’t worth it.
Which is why I love SetApp; great utilities and small apps that I use but not regularly. And that’s where I currently pay for MindNode. They’ve been silent on whether or not they’ll continue with SetApp. I certainly hope they do, but I suspect that they won’t because it’s only for the Mac.
All of the benefits they list are for the company, not the customer. We are left to hope that those filter down to us by allowing the company to survive and the product to improve, but it’s a gamble.
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There’s a fine balancing act here. Agenda only has an annual subscription. There is no monthly fee. It wouldn’t help the developers if I paid a $5 monthly subscription to get all the features and then cancel after 1 month.
A monthly subscription would give us all the features for 1 month and then go into reader mode only. Or it would go into free mode with basic editing features allowed like MindNode is doing.
Meanwhile an annual fee mode like what Agenda is doing allows us to keep all the features and future bug fixed. We will need to renew the subscription if we want the new features that come out after our subscription ended (if we didn’t renew).
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I understand the need and benefit of the subscription model. Nevertheless, I am not willing to continuously add to my monthly expenses. I like Mindnode but I will not subscribe. So I’m going to end up just deleting the app. I will simply use my iPad and pencil to sketch my mind maps. It’s free, and it works just fine. This is another reason why I have been steadily decreasing the total number of apps that I use and sticking with the ones that I find to be effective – see my resolution last December not to change apps. Again, I don’t fault the developers at all but as the consumer of the product I am going to limit my subscriptions to only the absolute essentials that give me the greatest return on the investment.
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Perhaps it’s a bit nuanced, but Agenda doesn’t use “subscription”:
Agenda does offer extra premium features that require an In App Purchase , and that make the app even more powerful. If you decide to purchase the upgrade, you permanently unlock all current premium features across all of your devices. Each of them is described in detail below.
Additionally, any new premium features we add in the 12 months following your purchase are also permanently unlocked .
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What I love about this model is that you can “subscribe” on >1 year cycles. If Agenda rolls out features I don’t care about at the 1-1.5 year mark, I can ignore them happily. If they then implement something I do want, I can pay, and I’ll get the features I ignored as a bonus.
It’s superb from a perspective of systemic incentives. The developers need to build things people would pay for, and you only pay when they actually develop novel, useful features. The actual subscription model is the opposite! We subscribe so that we don’t lose access to the features we wanted previously.* It’s perverse.
*Obviously this isn’t true in the case of services.
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Exactly. I’m there already. That in mind, I’m excited to announce I will be dropping MindNode like a hot potato.
I’m done.
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Won’t it be worth trying the free version?
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My main use is to brainstorm significant presentations. I’m finding the use of a pencil stimulates better thinking than typing- which the science supports. If for some reason I need a mind map typed I’ll have my admin. assistant type it up but that will be an infrequent need. It is a useful app. but as I’ve posted elsewhere I’m minimizing the apps I use. For my use case I’m finding that this is increasing my productivity and reducing points of friction. For some of us, and obviously I can’t speak for others, there is a diminishing return by adding apps to one’s portfolio.
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I will do without rather than subscriptions. Too many already (Netflix, etc.) and way too many downsides (lack of capability if subscription ceases and potentially locked out of my own information depending on the app). I don’t need more hands in my wallet.
The problem is they’ve gone too far the other way. The prices have been artificially low and this move is an attempt to swing it back. But it’s too far for me.
Relative to mind node, I always preferred iThoughts much more anyway. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ithoughts/id866786833. Began with the iPad version, bought the Mac version and am very happy with both!
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I’m afraid this app just isn’t worth a subscription for me. I use it occasionally but not enough to justify paying monthly. I’m also deleting it and will go back to drawing with a pencil.
It’s a shame but I am not willing to pay a subscription unless I get value for money.
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I know I’ve mentioned this before somewhere, so apologies if it’s repetitious.
The solution to software pricing is to revert to the model used in the 1980’s onwards. You purchased a licence that entitled you to use the software (usually for an unlimited time), but what you got was that version and that version only. If you wanted updates, be that bug fixes, changes required to support a new version of the underlying OS or new features, you had also to buy a maintenance contract. Maintenance was typically 10% of the licence fee per annum. My company’s policy was to charge people who didn’t have a maintenance contract for major updates if they wanted them. The amount charged was basically the same that they would have paid under the maintenance contract.
Support was also chargeable. If you wanted something more than (printed) manuals, you either took out a support contract or purchased support tickets.
The approach generates regular cash flow for developers from users who gain sufficient value to want every update and to get the absolute maximum from their investment, but as a user you aren’t locked in a subscription just to continue using the software.
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Great perspective. I’m looking to trim my subscriptions; first up will be TextExpander. There has been little to no innovation since going to an subscription model if you’re not using “Teams” or Windows.
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Thanks for the heads-up, I wasn’t aware of this coming change.
Like several other people here, I’m an irregular user of MindNode, so I’m not sure if the subscription part will be for me. At the moment, I have subscriptions for a few services that I really depend on - 1Password, Backblaze, iCloud, Apple Music - plus a few other apps like Bear. I’ve trimmed that down quite a bit over the last few years.
I’ll definitely have a look at MindNode 7 when it arrives, but I’ll also be looking at alternatives for those occasions when I do need to do some mind-mapping.
Mindnode is on Setapp. Already paying for the subscription for a while😇.
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I’ve said it before; I really like the model that Xojo (a development environment) uses: Downloading and using the software is free, but you can’t build stand alone apps without buying a license. A license entitles you to forever use all of the licensed features for any version of the app released before the it expires. Their regular releases have enough improvements that keeping my license more or less up to date is worth it for me.
This model encourages continued development, leverages that effort into a revenue stream for the developer, and reduces the risk for the purchaser. It may not work for every kind of software, but I’m pretty sure it’d work for a lot.
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All of these apps going to subscription models has made me reevaluate what it is I actually need. I’ve dropped many subscriptions to apps that I don’t use enough to make it worthwhile. This has simplified my iPhone/iPad setup. I have less apps to manage/learn.
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It is a shame. It was good while it lasted. I dont do subscriptions. Another one bites the dust.