I'm just wondering if CoffeeCup ever plans to change its pricing to a subscription-based model. It seems like this is the way forward for a lot of companies. Look at Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Cloud, Apple Music etc. I see the purpose: too many people wanted to buy a digital product and not upgrade when a new version was released. So locking people down to a year-long subscription would ensure they would most likely pay their buck again by renewing 365 days later.

CoffeeCup hasn't gone for this method yet. Instead, they offer very reasonable prices for their products, with easily available coupon codes to get them even cheaper. When updates are available, they are obtainable on one's CoffeeCup account to optionally download. Will this be the case forever though?

Hi Andrew,

I do not work for Coffeecup so I will reserve official response for them. But I would like to add my 2 cents.

Currently Coffeecup does offer one time purchases but they also have some subscription based products too such as S-Drive and the RED Mailer plan.

Who knows what the future holds. Subscription plans seem to be the most cost effective ways to keep maintenance up on any product. Sometimes they are better as the cost of purchasing an app can escallate... then when there is an update you most likely will have to pay for that too. In simple terms a company has to recoup and profit to stay relevant.

Anyways thats my thoughts

Have a great New Year.

One important thing to note is that CC provides value for their subscriptions. S-Drive hosting is obvious. In the case of RED Mailer, your subscription means that your script(s) generated for the various email readers (Outlook, Thunderbird, gMail, Apple Mail, Yahoo! Mail, etc.) are always the latest and up-to-date.

Hi Guys
I also hate "subscriptions" : Please keep in your mind the good sentence "Never change a running system!"
Many programmers should think about that!
Clear, we still need to fix errors or bugs.
Clear we still need to invent something better, or even smarter.
But PLEASE, PLEASE let the customers choose if the want something new or not !!!
With this subscription model, we are FORCED to play the game !!!
And if your are a professional, you know what support mean: not only one year or two, but ten, twenty or like me, in the business since 1980 !!!
Clear that my customers aren't using the same tools today, but it has been a slow evolution, not a revolution!
Sometime, it needs time to the time.
So please, stop bothering us with subscriptions: we want to decide when ever an update matches our requirements or expectations, not to be forced to follow the decisions of others!

The thread you have posted to is over 4 years old, and in the meantime, there have been some changes to the 'running system'.
Whereas Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Cloud will stop working if you don't pay the subscription, CC has a kind of 'subscription' that lets you continue using your apps even after the subscription period has run out. This way the so much loved 'for life' still holds true. However, if you want to catch the new fixes or features that have been and will be added, you need to pay an annual fee for updates.