$500/year is a nontrivial amount of money anywhere, but especially in many countries outside the U.S.

Oh, thank goodness! You're right, it's $40/mo now for ZBrush 2020. ZBrush 3 and earlier was $895 with no monthly option, which is great for CAD professionals but out of reach of hobbyists. I'm glad they have an option now; thanks for pointing this out.

(I'm surprised you're getting beat up for this sentiment. $40 is definitely below the threshold of "purchase on a whim and try to learn it for a month." FL Studio was another great one at $99. Still, I'm sympathetic to people who simply can't afford it – children especially.)

40 bucks a month is a huge amount of money for most of the world's population.