Unfortunately the freemium + subscription model usually works so much better money-wise that it's difficult to justify publishing a simple paid app with upfront cost.
I'm not a video editor so I can't speak to that but here's one example:
Most calorie counting apps want ~16AUD a month from me. That's what Disney+ costs and they spend billions of dollars making content. It's 3$ more than Spotify charges and they have almost every song ever made. It doesn't have to be free, or even a one-off cost, but it has to be reasonable. I'd pay 4$ for calorie counting features. 16? No.
There are some apps in this genre that are absolutely insane - $300 or so for an AI image analyser, which you have no way to try unless you sign up for a trial where you are committed to that amount unless you remember to cancel.
I’m offering a one-time in app purchase of life-time subscription. Currently it costs 6x the monthly subscription cost.
I'm worried that makes it too expensive for a simple app, at the same time lowering it would make the monthly subscription less sensible.
I'm curious if anyone has indie experience and thoughts regarding this.
I'm fine with it if includes some monthly re-occurring service, like cloud storage/sync.
I purchased YNAB4 and I ran it just fine on my desktop. But YNAB5 went to subscription, and it included things like syncing multiple devices (which of course needs servers, which cost), but I have no need for that, and so I did not move to it. I'd much prefer I pay some one-time fee, and if I want syncing I can subscribe to just that.
I also understand that if I pay $x for Version Y, then if I want Version Z there may be an upgrade fee.
What sucks is when the developer adds some recurring service to their software that I don't want, purely as an excuse to justify moving to subscription, and then no longer offers the software without the "service" for a one-time price.
For most of the software I use, I specifically don't want to be tethered to some kind of online service, have to have a network connection to run it, and so on. And I'll actively look for the competing software that's a one-time cost and isn't Cloud-ified.
The only annoying thing is you have to get the free app, wait a day or two and then it will offer you the discounted premium subscription.
People can only afford a limited number of subscriptions at a time, and with an ever-increasing number of companies putting their hand into that pocket, there is less to go around.