“MacPaw wants to make subscription-based Mac software popular by offering a bundled suite of apps for $9.99 per month,” Susie Ochs reports for Macworld. “Setapp, its new subscription service, launches Wednesday.”
“For a flat monthly fee, subscribers will get access to 61 apps at launch, including Cloud Outliner, Focused, Blogo, Pagico, RapidWeaver, Ulysses, Screens, CleanMyMac, and more,” Ochs reports. “MacPaw will add more apps to the service over time, and they’ll all be available ad-free with no in-app purchases or upgrade fees.”
Ochs reports, “MacPaw hopes Setapp will be an alternative to the Mac App Store that improves upon that experience for both developers and consumers alike.”
Full article, with a list of 61 apps included at launch, here.
MacDailyNews Take: By allowing developers to focus on development, rather than marketing their apps, this sort of thing could lead to better software. The viability of this offering, of course, depends on the software included, whether it meets users’ needs, quality levels, etc.
Anyway, it’s always good to see experimentation in app delivery and sales/rentals and expanding options for Mac users!
To good to be true….
$120 a year for 6 or 7 apps that actually use right now. I’m not sure if that’s a good deal for me. Now if I could keep using the apps after letting my subscription go, just not receive updates, that’s a possibility. But to rent something that I would later have to buy in a full version should I decide not to continue my subscription for whatever reason… I’m just not sure if this is a good way to go for consumers.
I stay away from any subscription based services now days… so no thanks
Subscriptions suck.
Look at the 61 apps and you’ll find only a handful that you actually will use regularly. You’d be money ahead to buy and own just the titles you use and keep using them for a few years.
Word to the wise: one of the unending memes of subscription salesmen is that when you sign up to the subscription, that means you will have automated updates and increased features in the future, all baked into a nice tidy package. Problem is, nobody guarantees it. There is no guarantee. Just as likely is that the software developer doesn’t update at all. Next year you’ll have 55 unimproved apps and 6 bugfix releases perhaps. Or if it’s Apple, it will just axe Aperture and pretend that freebieware iCloud thin client Photos is a good enough replacement.
Nothing against MacPaw, but subscriptions are anti-consumer and should be offered on a single-app basis as an option only. For professional software, subscriptions might be a good way to go. For these little consumer utilities, subscriptions make no fiscal sense to most users whatsoever.
As with Adobe’s Photoshop/LR $10/month deal, it’s a heck of a great deal if you USE THE HECK out of these apps and they help you make a living. Otherwise, it’s a terrible deal.
Not a fan of subscriptions,and not something I will ever do again thanks adobe! I use a couple of these programs but I’m not paying to use them every month. I do like them but if I can walk away from Photoshop and lightrooom that over the years cost me several thousand dollars I can do the same that this.