Buy once, use forever A directory of one-time purchase software

As others have also expressed, a lot of the software here doesn't really live up to the what most people mean by 'one-time purchase'.

Screen Studio: $9/month vs $220 "one-time purchase" with only one year of support.

Sizzy browser: $12/month or $499 one-time purchase.

Then you often have a one device limit - I can't be two places at once but I do have both a laptop and desktop machine.

Who in their sane mind would choose these? Note that the problem with "one-year of updates" is not that you'd want free access to a newer major version of the app, but a year+ is enough time to have a new OS version make your app unusable or subject to security updates. While companies in the before times would quickly release a patch to keep their old users happy, the one-year term just ensures you'll be left hanging.

This is just paying lip service to the idea of a one-time purchase.

Regarding Screen: Agreed.

Originally I was going to say that's not what I'd assume "Support" to mean (Personally, I would differentiate between patches/updates and support, as in, customer support), however, we should point out that in their own words, on Screen Studio's own site, the fine print under "Pay Once" Says:

> Renew to get the latest updates or keep using the version you have forever.

So indeed, that's disingenuous in my opinion as a "one time purchase" option for the reasons you point out.

Sizzy however states:

> The lifetime plan includes all future updates

So I would think that passes the muster of "one time purchase", not just paying lip service.

Broad picture, I think you bring up an important distinction regarding "one-time purchases" and the expectations therein.