So I'm just going to say that the best way to prevent enshittification of the things you like is to subscribe to them. You can click away now if that makes you mad, but if you're willing to sit and listen, then allow me to explain.

How This Works

Okay so I make apps. I've got two apps in development right now, both of those apps cost me time, in addition to that I run websites associated with the apps and there are backend server costs associated with some of it as well. Basically by doing this it's costing me money. At some point I need to be able to recoup that if I'm going to be able to continue working on my app. To do that there are a few different ways I can do that: sell the app as a one-time-purchase, sell a subscription to the app, or sell ads on the app. There are benefits and drawbacks to all of these approaches for the user, so we'll just go through all of them.

Ad-Supported Apps

We all know the plight of add-supported apps: they're data hogs. There's a saying that there's no such thing as a free product and if it looks like there is one, then that's not the product. Think about most traditional social media: they're all free and they make money by selling ads to stick in your face. On the other end, there's a lot of free to play games that interrupt you with an ad every chance they get. We know this isn't a good experience, but it's a necessary one for services that can't or shouldn't be locked behind a paywall completely, especially news. Are there news sites that go so overboard you can't actually read anything? Absolutely, but the ad supported model is necessary and important.

Subscription Apps

This one is really common these days, but a lot of people are getting tired of having to pay monthly for things. There's a lot of people who will gladly pay more for a one-time-purchase than to pay a small subscription. This is, however, the best option for developers, as it gives them consistent income to work on their projects.

One-Time-Purchase

The one-time-purchase (OTP) model is one that a lot of people tend to prefer: you pay a couple bucks and then you're off, that's all you have to worry about. Updates forever, no matter what. Here's the problem with that: any work a developer does on an app is now free for you. The only other option to recoup costs is to pay for major version updates, which can be a hassle, especially with things like support, it's really just too much for a small developer to really handle, especially one who isn't full-time like myself.

Subscription vs OTP

So while you really like the OTP model because you can just pay once and access everything forever, that's the model that actually causes the enshittification a lot of the time. Think about it: you've already paid. The developer isn't going to make any more money off of you, at this point, you're getting all of their work for free. This means that the only way that a developer can continue to support themselves and work on the project is to eat the cost, which they could totally do if they wanted, or to try and attract more users to the app. This means that they're going to try and add a ton of features to try and attract any possible user to come purchase the app and, when that no longer works because the app is a bloated mess, it all falls apart. In that time, the developer has completely abandoned the purpose of the app and everyone's mad about it. The number of users has grown to more than they can manage and support requests often go unanswered. That's just the inevitable end of an indie app like that.

What a subscription model offers is the continued support from the userbase. I don't have to constantly grow the app and add dumb features to try and get more people to use the app. I can build a core audience of people who give regularly to the ongoing support and development of the app. I can keep the app focused and really support what the people who subscribe to the app need. On top of that, the smaller userbase means I can keep up with support requests and be way more responsive online with the userbase of the app. Sure, you're going to have to continue paying to use the app, but I also have to continue paying for you to use the app. I have to continue working for you and building the thing you like. I think it's a worthy tradeoff when the other option is infinite growth hacking.

Closing Thoughts

So that's really all I've got for this one. I know people don't like subscriptions, but honestly it really is just the best way to support indie developers. There are subscriptions out there that are bad and there are subscription services that end up down the rabbit hole of enshittification, but at the indie level, it's really the best for everyone involved. Please don't shy away from supporting the developers of the apps that you use every day, we're just trying to make everyone's lives a little easier. Feel free to leave your thoughts down below, or on Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, or email.