Afternoon everyone,

I wanted to go over a few points related to pricing, stats and the roadmap

Pricing

  1. Sync for Lemmy is completely free with ads (the same as Sync for Reddit)

  2. You can remove ads in the account picker or drawer for a one time fee of ~$20

  3. Sync Ultra also removes ads but it’s not required

  4. I’ll be working on regional prices over the coming weeks

There are now 24k installed users up from 100 the previous day!

I’m going to be spending the next few days going through all of the comments / messages and fixing any crashes.

As always thanks for the support and hope you’re liking Sync!

Lj

Edit: testing edit

  • Polar@lemmy.caEnglish
    19130·
    1 year ago

    I just wanted to say I’m sorry for the backslash you’re getting for charging money.

    I’m also sorry people expect it to be $1 because the Reddit app was $1 back in 1825. I genuinely believe it’s children complaining, because no functioning adult would complain about a price increase when rent has tripled or quadrupled since the $1 Reddit app. It’s also annoying to see that people think that saying they bought the Reddit app for $1 and enjoyed it for 10 years is an argument. It goes to show it was severely underpriced.

    It must be frustrating to have that type of response. Lemmy users seem to be really entitled when it comes to software, and the response you’re getting scares me for the future. I really hope the Boost developer doesn’t cancel his app after seeing how entitled Lemmy users are being right now.

    What frustrates me more is the people complaining are continuing to use the free open source apps. Like great, you already have an alternative you prefer. Shut up. Stop bringing others down.

    I wish you the best. Thank you for choosing to develop for Lemmy. I have my eyes on Boost, but I’m gladly using your free tier for the time being.

    Thanks again!

    • Taako_Tuesday@lemmy.caEnglish
      45·
      1 year ago

      I paid 5 dollars back in 2016, and I was fully expecting to pay more for this version. 20 dollars for no ads is fine by me. However, I don’t feel like the 100 dollars for lifetime ultra is worth it. Maybe someday when I feel like those extra perks are worthwhile

    • chemsed@lemmy.caEnglish
      281·
      1 year ago

      What bothers me with this controversy is that it’s not clear for me how one can earn a living in the lemmy ecosystem if everything is FOSS. Also, one should understand that the app is in beta, but there was so much hype around that app.

  • Redredme@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1265·
    1 year ago

    LJ,

    I too am a reddit refugee. I like what you’ve done with this place.

    :)

    But we have to talk about pricing and privacy.

    Pricing: tbh I see not much wrong with the 20 bucks. But I do think that you should take 2 bucks from that and donate one to the lemmy org (this is not reddit, nobody is getting paid, the lemmy devs also need an incentive) and the other one to lemmy.world because that’s the instance you’re dumping us all on. Hosting is not free, lemmy.world costs money and probably a lot of time to run. Being a reddit admin is a payed job, being Ruud at lemmy.world most certainly is not.

    In this way “we” are giving back to the Foss community and it should silence a lot of critics. In that way you don’t look like the evil capitalist earning a quick buck over the back of free labour of the foss community. I think that’s 2 bucks well spent.

    Edit: same goes for ultra subscriptions of course, a similar percentage should be fed back to the lemmy org and lemmy.world.

    Privacy: since you’re using admob and I forgot the other one, privacy is out the window. That’s a big issue for the Foss community we’re all relying on. Maybe it’s wise to point out that once you pay for sync all that tracking that admob and the other one (not you I hope) does is out the window.

    Edit edit: maybe you could also add a yearly reminder to donate to the users favourite lemmy instance.

  • aetrix@lemmy.worldEnglish
    761·
    1 year ago

    I’ll repeat what I said in some other thread:

    I loved the old app, I still love the new app, it’s a pleasure to use compared to the alternatives I’ve tried, and I find the ultra subscription rate both reasonable and worthwhile to support a product I truly enjoy.

    Sync is good for me. There’s plenty of other options if it’s not good for you.

    Please keep up the good work!

  • Taeye0n@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10432·
    1 year ago

    Yeah man…I am a dev myself but $20 to remove ads is just too much, especially without regional pricing.

    • WorseDoughnut 🍩@lemdro.idEnglish
      284·
      1 year ago

      $20 once, for an app you’re going to use daily for the foreseeable future mind you, is not the unreasonable take that people on here seem to think it is.

      You get what you pay for, and Sync has proven it’s track record with the Reddit app already. This isn’t just some random app dev asking for money on his bejeweled clone.

      • Serinus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        16·
        1 year ago

        It’s $100 once. The $20 option is a yearly subscription.

        Edit: Some misunderstanding. It’s $20 to remove ads, and $100 to get all features. Maybe the $20 subscription is for full features and removing ads?

        • WorseDoughnut 🍩@lemdro.idEnglish
          4·
          1 year ago

          You have completely misread the app. The “Sync Ultra” is not the same as the one-time “Remove Ads” option.

          If you want “Sync Ultra” for a lifetime, it’s $100 or w/e it’s listed as, that comes with all the extra features listed in the app. If you just want to remove ads and use the app without the Ultra features, you only have to pay $20 once.

        • WorseDoughnut 🍩@lemdro.idEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Re: your edit

          Yes, the subscription option has a monthly/yearly/lifetime structure set at $2/$17/$100 respectively. Each of those unlocks all the Ultra features (which includes removing ads).

          Which is separate from the one time payment of the $20 to only remove ads.

    • SlovenianSocket@lemmy.caEnglish
      1358·
      1 year ago

      Agreed. $5 MAYBE, $20 is out to lunch. And a subscription model for full features? Nah get outta here with that, that MIGHT be worth $20. The direction app development has gone over the last few years is a huge disappointment

      • GinDaHood@lemmy.worldEnglish
        511·
        1 year ago

        $5 as a one-time payment is not enough for a single developer to sustain his livelihood on.

        And ultimately, “worth” is based on what the market decides.

          • ShakeThatYam@lemmy.worldEnglish
            214·
            1 year ago

            Many of us former Reddit Sync users requested that he make the app for Lemmy, so in a sense we do have a contractor type of relationship with him. Hence why many former Sync users are comfortable paying the amount. I think a lot of people who are complaining about the price are just not the target audience for Sync.

          • GinDaHood@lemmy.worldEnglish
            8·
            1 year ago

            I think you’re mistaking value for cost. ljdawson doesn’t work for us and sync is not work for hire. Lawrence is not a contractor nor do we have an employer/employee relationship so we don’t owe him a wage for the work he has done or compensation for his time. We have a customer/vendor relationship, and the only thing that matters to the customer is the value of the end product that the vendor is trying to sell.

            This is a fair response, and ultimately it is incumbent on the developer to create the value-add that justifies the cost.

            I suppose my comment is directed at the sentiment that the developer is “greedy” or trying to swindle consumers in an immature market.

        • Frog@lemmy.worldEnglish
          96·
          1 year ago

          This is by far the best app for Lemmy. By a mile. It’s a lot faster and nicer looking. That said, pricing feels a little steep. Imagine being able to sustain your livelihood on making an app for Lemmy, an otherwise free service providing no additional content. It’s not like we are paying the persons who invest in all the infrastructure for the servers running the Lemmy instances. They provide for the actual service. If a part of the money went to instance servers it would feel way better. Because if they go down, so will Sync.

          Not taking anything away from the massive work Lj is putting into this, but pricing do feel a tad off. If 1500 people subscribe he has a yearly income equal to a decent job. If he gets 5000 subs he will earn almost 100 000 dollars a year. Which in Sweden equals to about 2.5 times of a well paid job. That’s excluding ad revenue from everyone who don’t subscribe or pay for removing ads. Pricing can be fairer without compromising the livelihood of said dev. That’s all.

          • GinDaHood@lemmy.worldEnglish
            6·
            1 year ago

            The fair pricing is what the market will tolerate. I’m not saying it’s 100% “justified”; even the dev understands that he needs to tweak it for other regions. But the value add is from the superiority of the app experience, which right now is much better than anything else available (for me; of course this is all subjective). In the future, perhaps other apps will achieve parity with Sync, at which time market forces will cause the developer to course correct on pricing.

            I’ll also add that I purchased Sync for Reddit (Pro) for USD$2 nine years ago. If I get nine years out of Sync for Lemmy that’s a bargain at even 10 times the price (which is the current offering).

  • TurboDiesel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    59·
    1 year ago

    Beta 26 is already a MASSIVE improvement over Jerboa or the web client. Thanks for making this happen so fast!

    As for the pricing, I was a paid Sync for Reddit user for YEARS. $20 is nothing for the countless hours of scrolling I got out of it.

  • Tudou@feddit.ukEnglish
    50·
    1 year ago

    I’m seriously impressed with how functional this app is from the start. Like lots of others have said, it felt like coming home given how long I’d used Sync for. Didn’t hesitate to pay for the ad free version once that option was added.

  • gingernate@lemmy.worldEnglish
    46·
    1 year ago

    I’m all on board with FOSS, but I used sync for reddit for years, ljdawson has my support on Lemmy too. I don’t mind supporting a good dev. Do I prefer things be FOSS? Yeah, but I have no issues using a closed source product if it works. And sync has always been top notch. Responsive dev, all around good product.

  • chaorace@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    37·
    1 year ago

    I was floored when I opened the beta and found that almost all existing features survived the transition. In a single month! You’re a monster that makes the rest of us developers look bad 😉

    I know that there’s an active ongoing discussion about monetization models and I’m certain that there’s room for improvement… but at the end of the day you can’t make everyone happy. I just wanted you to know that, as a long-time fan, I sincerely appreciate what’s been accomplished here. Cheers! Don’t forget to take some well-deserved you time once things quiet down a little.

  • SmugBedBug@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    415·
    1 year ago

    The backlash has surprised me a bit. I agree the price is a bit steep but considering the userbase is only a fraction of what Reddit has, it’s understandable that the price would be higher.

    I just didn’t expect such negative reactions to either the ad component or the price. A lot have mentioned that it could become a form of gatekeeping for newcomers. I just hope it won’t turn out that way.

  • nanny07@lemmy.worldEnglish
    35·
    1 year ago

    A part from the comments on the images, I think there is a bug with alignment because the first comment has 3 lines instead of one as you can see from this image

  • chaircat@lemdro.idEnglish
    331·
    1 year ago

    Took me a while to figure out how to sign in with my lemdro.id account.

    Maybe it’s embarrassing to admit but I must have scanned through that long list of servers five times before realizing I could just type in my own server. Could be helpful to add a line inviting users to type in their own server.

  • arc@lemmy.worldEnglish
    30·
    1 year ago

    Please don’t let the controversy get to you, I love this app mainly because I feel back at home. It makes sense that if someone has never used sync, feels put off by the pricing but I think it makes sense purely because of the smaller userbase and the amount of work that goes into an app like this.

    I’ve used some other open source alternatives and they feel rough compared to sync