One-Time vs. Recurring Payments for WordPress Products
Jeff Starr posed the question at Digging into WordPress: Which Pricing Model Do You Prefer: One-Time or Recurring? https://digwp.com/2019/12/pricing-model-better/
It is not the first time the question has been asked in the WordPress community and will not be the last. It is important that we keep coming back to it from time to time.
In the early days of the commercial WordPress ecosystem, many shops sold products for a one-time fee. This was particularly true during the 2007-2010 years, which were what many dub the “WordPress themes heyday,” a period in which theme shops raked in tons of cash due to lack of competition.
As the market became more saturated, many businesses saw the writing on the wall. One-time fees for commercial themes or plugins did not make for a sustainable business model. Of course, some companies pushed forward with that model. They were either large enough to capitalize on an influx of new customers every year or they continued to push out new products for existing customers to buy.
Today, most theme and plugin shops utilize a recurring business model. Many of those shops also set up automatic renewals. From a business perspective, companies need to keep existing customers while bringing in new buyers to continue maintaining, supporting, and building new features for the current product catalog. Companies also need growth to build new products. A recurring fee helps ease the burden of supporting and maintaining the existing products.
https://wptavern.com/one-time-vs-recurring-payments-for-wordpress-products