Setapp apps upgrade#

Most app developers are small businesses, and Setapp is meant exactly for them. Revenue-per-subscriber growth was slowing as upsells and expansions went away, but the general rule of subscribers is that most of them don't leave.įor developers, the money matters, but the stability even moreso. Zuora's study of the sector found that even during the pandemic, subscription-based companies continued to grow while the overall economy shrank, because consumers like the one-price-for-everything proposition as well. Thanks to COVID-19 and the economic chaos it has brought, the appeal of the so-called subscription economy has become even more obvious.

The obvious answer, of course, was subscriptions. 'We had to keep a lot of functionality for the next major release, because we had to have an argument for why customers would pay for the upgrade.' Throw in in-app purchases and the fact that customers feel like they're being nickeled and dimed all the time, and you have a clear problem.

Setapp apps upgrade#

'Perpetual licenses were very popular, but you have to purchase every two or three years when the new upgrade has arrived,' he said. Even in 2015, he was hearing from developers that they didn't like the App Store way. Setapp, Kosovan said, was all about solving a business-model problem. Developers can sell their apps in other stores as well, but Setapp's rules hold that all features, all in-app purchases, everything has to be unlocked for Setapp users. Setapp users get to-do list apps and wonky Mac utilities, like CodeRunner and Disk Drill, power-user work tools and at least one app for looking at Instagram photos.

Kosovan and MacPaw have spent the last several years building Setapp, a service Kosovan describes as a 'Netflix for apps.' Countless companies want to be 'Netflix for X,' but Setapp actually fits the bill: Users pay $10 a month for unlimited access to a growing list of apps - currently just shy of 200 - that are fully available to all subscribers.