Reason For Sublime Text $80 Price: I Think I Have It

[frou]

I’m perplexed why you need to think so deeply about this, given that the unregistered version has effectively identical functionality to the registered version.

Leave it to those inside Sublime HQ and on the payroll to worry about this stuff.

[tamj]

Ah, I see that now.
I just assumed it was just for 1 month.

You talk sense, frou

[jfcherng]

You can use it for 1 month free of charge. Then it stops and you must pay $80 for it to continue.

On the contract:

Sublime Text may be downloaded and evaluated for free, 
however a license must be purchased for continued use. 
There is currently no enforced time limit for the evaluation.

Source: https://www.sublimetext.com/3

---

What actually happen: People “evaluate” ST forever.

[tamj]

Yeah, just read that now . . .

But I like to pay a fair price.
Maybe the instalments plan that you suggest is the solution . . .
if STHQ Pty is happy to lose more on payment charges !

Maybe we can accumulate donations until they reach $80 . . .

[jfcherng]

Yes. People can save $80 in “no enforced time limit” until they have enough money and willing to buy it.

[michaelblyons]

A thread like this one springs up from time to time. I freely admit that I was an “installment plan” purchaser.

Why is the license so expensive?

This is what I did. I appreciate that the payment structure allows you to do that. Shareware typically has a time-boxed use limit that I find frustrating: I’m not going to understand your product’s utility (to me) in a month. If I reach the end of the period and realize that I’ve fallen back to my old programs to do things I didn’t know how to do in yours… I’m not going to pay up; I’m just going to drop your program from my workflow. But with the indefinite “continued use requires a license” m…

[ChrisAustin]

Sublime is something I can’t live without, incredible productivity boost. $80 is way underpriced imho

[tamj]

*Sublime is something I can’t live without . . . *

Have you discussed this with your doctor ?

Seriously, please elaborate . . . using a sample project to show how this productivity gain was attained.

[Fire-Dragon-DoL]

I assume this is not the same in the entire world, so there will be differences, but Sublime Text is aimed at software developers, which have a decent salary nowdays.
I struggle to see $80/lifetime be a high price for a job that can go on for a lot of years.

Usually freelance jobs have a higher entry cost than a computer, a text editor and internet+power.

[tamj]

I struggle to see $80/lifetime be a high price …

But it isn’t paid over a lifetime - it’s paid in one go !
$80 easy to pay for a small utility program by the average developer with family, mortgage, car loan, health insurance, life insurance, pension, children’s education fund, etc, etc ?

Neither is it lifetime.
When ST 4.0 comes out we have to pay more.

[jfcherng]

But it isn’t paid over a lifetime - it’s paid in one go !

As I said. ↓

Yes. People can save $80 in “no enforced time limit” until they have enough money and willing to buy it.

[jfcherng]

When ST 4.0 comes out we have to pay more.

I think this makes a product healthier. Otherwise, eventually, the product will no longer be profitable and the author will just leave it dead. For what I found, the upgrade fee from ST2 to ST3 is $30.
http://www.sublimetext.com/blog/articles/upgrades

There are still 0.5% people using ST2 even if ST3 has been released for a VERY long time. So I guess history will repeat when ST4 is out. And it may take even longer for people to upgrade to ST4 because I expect the bundled Python version will be upgraded to hopefully at least 3.8. So you can try to save $30 in “no enforced time limit” until they have enough money and willing to upgrade it?

[braedsjaa]

I believe @tamj hit the nail on the head with their analysis of the price point: $80 means fewer paying customers to support; and those who choose to “evaluate” long-term may one day find they can afford/want to pay and meantime may spread the word about ST’s benefits to other potential customers. This is certainly how it worked for me and I have always thought it a great pricing model.
I was first introduced to ST at a low paid job when I couldn’t justify paying, but after a few months, and finding I could switch between Windows, Mac and Linux environments with ease, I was very happy to pay for a quality product. After six years it is excellent value.
I have also installed Sublime Merge. As I only use this occasionally I am still on “evaluation” but can see that personal circumstances may one day make sense to pay for it.

[tamj]

@jfcherng

Jack, I’ve had it in earnest for 1 week. (Okay, I’ve looked at it casually a year ago but seldom used its power - in fact I didn’t even know what Emmet could do then ) But already I’m getting pop-ups looking for me to buy the damn thing.
Maybe we should all wait till ST 4 comes out
Just joking.

@braedsjaa

… finding I could switch between Windows, Mac and Linux environments with ease …

Whoa ! You saying that if I get it for Windows, I can freely download the Linux version ? I’d sure love that as I’m sick of the memory sucking sump that Win 10 has become.
I saw that ST was written in C and Python. I’d thought that different versions (Win/Linux/OS) would have been compiled for each op system. And whenever there are different versions, there are different transactions and separate charges . . .

[FichteFoll]

Whoa ! You saying that if I get it for Windows, I can freely download the Linux version ?

Yes, you get a per-user license and may use that on as many machines and operating systems as you want.

[facelessuser]

The ability to use it cross platform was the thing that pushed me to buy Sublime initially (aside from all the other cool features). I code outside of work as well as inside work, but I don’t code on the same systems I do at work. At the time, I primarily coded on Windows at work, but used macOS at home. Now I’m using Linux at work and macOS at home.

The freedom of not being bound by the shackles of a specific OS was a big deal for me. Now I can code freely where ever I am, and I don’t have to lose my muscle memory of where things are in my editor or what shortcuts I use (outside of using super for macOS vs ctrl in Windows/Linux ).

[tamj]

@facelessuser

Originally, did you buy ST for yourself AFTER using it at the day-job ?
I ask as ST looks like a no-brainer proposition for an employer (double/treble code output for $80 a head) but, I believe, is not something a coder would buy without experiencing measurable performance gain, as you would in a job situation with all those KPIs and all that.

[facelessuser]

I evaluated it at work and at home. And yes, my employer probably would have paid for it (I know of some who actually went that route), but I wanted it for personal use. At the time, the price was somewhere around $40 - $50, so I just bought it myself and use it at both home and work.

[tamj]

@frou

Leave it to those inside Sublime HQ and on the payroll to worry about this stuff.

I’m just considering it, not worrying about it.
Wish I had the “problem” of STHQ revenues and profits to “worry” about

[MAN]

I think the $80 price is supportable if updates/improvements were thrown in without charge rather than having to repurchase a new version. Just my opinion.