It seems like we’re moving to the world where app subscription models are the norm and I’m worried about what this means for the future of some of my favourite apps. In December, YNAB announced it was moving to a web-based, subscription model. In January, it was forced to change its strategy a little in the face of a severely negative response.

But the Sketch model seems like a pretty great compromise. Buy a license and you’ll receive a year’s worth of free upgrades. After that, no more upgrades (besides bug-fix upgrades) but your software will continue to work. This seems like a really clever and consumer-friendly way of addressing this problem.