Why Pomely costs $3.99 forever instead of $5/month

Every productivity app on the App Store wants your money every month. Focus timers, habit trackers, to-do lists — they've all moved to subscriptions, and it's getting exhausting.

I get why developers do it. Recurring revenue is predictable. It funds ongoing development. Investors love it.

But here's what it does to users:

Subscription fatigue is real

The average person has 3-5 active app subscriptions. That's $15-50/month on apps alone. When you add streaming services, cloud storage, and SaaS tools, the "small monthly fee" becomes hundreds of dollars a year.

And what happens? You stop using the app but keep paying. Or you feel guilty about canceling because you might need it later. The subscription becomes a source of anxiety, not value.

"I was paying $7/month for a focus timer I used maybe twice a week. The math never made sense."

One-time pricing aligns incentives

When you pay once, the developer's incentive is to make a great product that you love. When you pay monthly, the incentive shifts to keeping you engaged — even if that means dark patterns, streaks, and notification spam.

Pomely doesn't need streaks because we don't need you to come back every day to justify your subscription. We just need you to love the app enough to recommend it.

"But can you sustain a business on one-time sales?"

Yes. Here's the math: if Pomely sells 10 copies a day at $3.99, that's ~$1,200/month. Not a fortune, but enough for a solo developer — especially when you don't have to maintain billing infrastructure, handle refunds, or manage subscription lifecycles.

The real question is: can you sustain a business by annoying your users? Subscriptions say yes. History says no.

What this means for you

Buy Pomely once. Use it forever. Every update is free. No hidden costs. No "premium features" locked behind a paywall. No engagement tricks designed to make you open the app when you don't need to.

Just a good tool at a fair price. That's it.