Memes

A few points to make and answer:

1. The app is technically free, but yes it is made by a single dev and it is/was his income, so it's ad-supported.

2. The development is still ongoing and so some things aren't finalized, but there is a one time payment option that will be available (something like $10) to just remove ads.

3. The Ultra tier which has the subscription cost (and much higher one time cost at $99) is what incurs monthly fees in this case, mostly for cloud storage for things like settings and I believe an OCR and translation API.

Ultimately, use whatever makes you happy and aligns with your principles, but there are at least a few good reasons why it is how it is.

The app itself uses cloud services and apis. Those cost money. Lemmy and lemmy instances cost money to run as well, and it is struggling to stay afloat with donations according to a post I read from the lemmy.world admins.

That being said, I am sure syncs monetization is setup in a way to at least make the creator a few bucks on top of paying for the services. Also, the ultimate tier on sync that is like ~~100~~ 20 dollars a year basically adds access to some "advanced apis" providing translations and site previews.

Edit: 20 dollars a year not 100 for sync ultra. Also, it's 20 dollars to remove ads forever. I think there was talk about a lifetime sync ultra for 100 dollars at some point and I got confused.

Sync for Reddit had a low one time cost. But it was worth more to me than the few coffees I spent on it. I think the developer knew this, and upped the price to something reasonable. I was happy to pay, even though I already use AdAway. I'm a FOSS developer too, but there is good reason for an app being closed source (sole proprietorship and jury) and paid.

Also, my time is expensive. There's no reason the dev of Sync shouldn't also be paid.

My best guess would be the development cost. I guess they created the app as a business, not for/by the community.

I don't blame them, but I also won't support them. I'll just keep supporting lemmy/jerboa instead. I don't have absolutely anything against sync, but I generally don't like supporting that business model and trust open source a little more.

I didn't know sync was that expensive though lol

FYI There's a 22€ (prolly 20$) lifetime purchase for "pro" which will cover most nice features as well.

"What running costs do they incur if Lemmy is free and open?"

The time they spend to make a product better. That is extra money they can use to put more effort into the app.

Sync's edge is the features it has, the customizable UI and a great developer that listens to its willing consumers that will pay to continue making that app better.

"I saw a subscription model for basic features..."

See this is my issue. The app is usable. You have the choice to pay. So don't if you don't want to. The API and features you want aren't here for a cost and that is fine.

You know what though? I will keep paying for those features a smoother Lemmy experience. An experience that brings more people from Reddit that gives the end user a smoother and much more impactful first impression.

If you were to hand me Jerboa and Sync at the same time and let me look them over. I would still pay for Sync. If you were to tell me which app I would recommend to a new user. I would tell them Sync. Why? Because Sync just over all functions and runs better. The UI is better. The little featured to tweak your experience are better. Navigation is better. I can use Sync on a tablet or larger device.

Sync creates a better first impression. People use things that look nice, work even more nicely. Here is the real shocker, they will even pay for those things.

You don't have to buy Sync. It's got a free version.

It's a $20 one time fee to remove ads, and I appreciate that there's a lifetime option and I don't think $20 is price gouging for an app that will receive updates far into the future.

I looked at the subscription features and most of them are features that requires hosted resources. The additional non standard user features require hosting so it stays with you even if you reinstall the app, plus it has other features that require external paid apis like translation and ocr, so I think it's reasonable to charge for that when it costs money to provide those features.

Either way, the good thing is that there will be lots of options, both free and paid. Free ones will impose a baseline level of quality paid apps need to excel beyond and competing paid apps with keep the price competitive and reasonable. What's important is choice, and because lemmy is an open standard platform, that choice can never be taken from us.

I'm of the same state of mind: it's a superb interface, but I won't give money to an app developer to remove ads from a service that does not display ads inherently.

I have no problem with folks using Sync, web app, Liftoff, whatever. This should not be divisive.

You can pay something like $20 to get an ad-free version.

I've never used it but I might check it out seeing as it has so many fans, and Liftoff has a few things I dislike.

I just like it's a better user interface. And it works.

The dev asked their most ravenous fans about what they would consider acceptable to pay, and to much surprise they said sky’s the limit (while also paying for monthly subs and the dev’s patreon). And here we are.

$100 for lifetime subscription

Bold of them to assume they'll even still be maintaining this app in 4.16 years