The lifetime subscription model has gained attention in SaaS, but is it sustainable?
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What Type of SaaS Works for Lifetime Subscriptions?
Certain SaaS tools, like design or analytics software, may suit lifetime deals, but high-maintenance services might struggle. What types do you think fit best?
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Do You Offer Lifetime Subscriptions?
If you’ve offered this model, how has it worked out? Was it a good revenue boost or hard to maintain?
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What Happens If Service Ends?
If a SaaS shuts down, what should happen to lifetime subscribers?
Depends on what you sell, I’d say that is almost the same as 1 time payment and own.
- If Software as a service NO, since it needs constant effort money to support specially when backed by backend.
- If Software as a product then definitely YES example: audio equalizer software per computer, or iPad calculator app (and yes iPad does not have built-in app lol) OR recently popular one people selling website builder kits made by JS frameworks.
It is a terrible idea. I will never buy from a company that offers a lifetime subscription even less invest in one. It shows that you either intentionally plan to take people money and run away with it or that you are terrible at math - either way that you will not stay in business for long and the “lifetime” will be a short one.
You cannot build a business with recurring costs and no recurring revenues unless it is some sort of Ponzi scheme.
No ! You will not have recurring revenues.
Lifetime customers are worth essentially zero $ if you want to sell the business later, wheras recurring customers are worth 4-6x annual revenue.
Me personally. Customers hate subscription services. I’d go for a one time payment, or if your product is dependent on resources, (like ai) then put a credit system in place. Easy as that.
Depends on your cost per user per month for usage.
Generally not good unless it’s a near zero cost per users.
it’s the original software sales price… pay once, get the software… the problem is when it is hosted and actually has ongoing costs… I think it works best for downloadable/non hosted apps… For hosted apps, if there is anyway to abuse the service, especially one that runs up your bill, it wouldn’t be a good fit, just asking for trouble. I wouldn’t offer it on any AI apps… again, unless it’s downloaded and runs the AI locally.
Generally, people ate willing to pay more as a 9ne time fee than as a subscribtion. I think the question should he of your product/service does offer a recurring value or now
Lifetime makes sense if the plan costs significantly more than the LTV of your regular users. (assuming your unit economics make sense)
No as the saas people mess arround with lifetime they release a new version and that is not covered the old version is lifetime but the new version needs an upgrade fee.
I never trust lifetime deals. So don’t bother with them.
It’s good for people who want to build a software product and then sell it - zero updates. But the second your competition releases 5 updates to their SaaS product yours will become obsolete. Best to just pick a price $30-$120 per month and keep it at that price and consistently add features
You’re probable young, but there was a time where software was generally one-time purchase. You can be profitable with lifetime purchases, but you obviously make much more with recurring subscriptions.
The oldest license I have is nearly 15 years old and while it’s past it’s prime, it still receives regular updates. I wouldn’t trust a lifetime license from a brand new company, but if you do your due diligence, there are many still around.
They’re actually worth a lot less than zero because they cost you money indefinitely. Not good.
If your customers tend to stop using your product after a while then you need to figure out why and make your product more sticky.
I’m old enough to having owned a Pong console. I used to run a software company making desktop software. The difference is that there are no recurring has the software ran on the customer’s computer. Support was also limited to a year or two until a new version came out and new versions we sold at additional costs.
SaaS has recurring hosting and support costs and there are no new version you can sell again - that’s why it is a bad idea.
That was back when software was downloaded and didn’t even require an internet connection to run. Like photoshop or excel. In the online world, all software pretty much runs on the business’s servers/databases and requires an ever-increasing cost for the business to run.
Yes. I think we’ve been through a similar thing. I’ve have people try to copy my SaaS “core offering” and offer it for one time fee (whilst lacking 90% of the supporting features as mine). I noticed that when they launch, it only makes my product appear even better, and it drives more customers to me. Have you noticed this?