Why is DailyBalance a subscription?

The Short Answer

DailyBalance is an app that runs on your device, but that app is just part of the larger DailyBalance solution. DailyBalance stores your data in the cloud as a backup service and to enable you to access your data on multiple devices. DailyBalance uses cloud storage and other services to enable the functioning of the app. Operating these services result in recurring costs for DataViz. So, charging a one-time fee doesn’t match up with those recurring costs required to keep DailyBalance running. 

The steady flow of income from the subscription model also allows us to dedicate resources to the continued support and improvement of DailyBalance. A one-time fee also doesn’t match up with the costs of continual development.

Some app makers charge a highly priced one-time fee and hope that it covers the recurring costs for most users. We’ve opted to charge a lower price and spread the amount you pay out over the time that you actively use the product. We do have a Lifetime Subscription option that is a one-time payment, see our pricing page for more information.

The Background

DataViz has been making consumer software for a long time (see About DataViz). Through that time, the software business has gone through several stages of evolution. DataViz has attempted various business models through these different stages to roll with the times and keep ourselves in business.

In our early years, we would sell our software for $70 or more. We would then continue to advance the product and sell upgrades to the next version on a yearly basis. This got expensive for end users who wanted to stay up to date with the latest features. This also wasn’t great for users who didn’t upgrade, as old versions would eventually stop working as they upgraded their devices. This model wasn’t always the best for the product either. Developers would need to be split up between the old and new version efforts, rather than everyone focused on moving the product forward.

When the mobile device phase of software started to take off,  there was enormous pressure to reduce the price of apps . The idea was that you could charge $10 for an app that used to cost $50 or more, but you would sell so many that you make up the difference. This worked for some apps for a while, until the app craze settled down. The problem with apps being so inexpensive is that the cost of helping a user out with a single tech issue would be more than the user paid for the app.

At the same time as this push to lower prices, the concept of selling a “version 2” to the users who purchased “version 1” went away. Users don’t feel like they should have to buy a piece of software that they already purchased. Some app creators still try to make this model work but it’s hard for people to understand. This gets especially tricky when you rely on app stores to sell for you and you don’t have the customer data to verify when they purchased. The app stores don’t make it possible to do things like giving users discounts, or to have “upgrade pricing” for existing users.

Apps with embedded advertising is another potential business model to keep an app profitable. DataViz has tried this approach as well. But, for most apps, it is difficult to make enough money from ads to continue to dedicate resources to the further development of the app. And, ad revenue from mobile apps is shrinking as more and more privacy controls go into effect. More privacy controls means ad targeting is less effective; less targeted ads mean advertisers will pay less for those slots. Even worse, ads in apps are really distracting and annoying to users. They take up real estate on the screen and reduce the app’s ability to give a great experience.

Subscriptions are a much better fit for apps like DailyBalance. DailyBalance is more than an app that runs standalone on your device. DailyBalance also includes services that continually back your data up to the cloud and synchronize the data across your devices.  Those cloud services have recurring costs that are required to keep the product running.

Subscriptions also provide a steady stream of income that we can reinvest in improving the product and keeping up to date with the changes in operating systems and devices. This allows us to make a deeper commitment to continuing to grow and improve DailyBalance.