Why Can't You Pay Once for Everything and Forever?

We are constantly working to improve our software for both existing and new users. Like all app developers, we have to balance building a sustainable future for our software with the needs of our customers. By letting our customers buy only the licences they want, we think our licensing model is the best way of achieving this.

Were we to provide a single licence covering all operating systems and major updates, we would have to either charge significantly more or move to a subscription model. We prefer the “pay upfront for what you need” approach because there are so many subscription services out there now that we don’t want to add yet another monthly bill to your expenses. We also don’t want you to have to worry about being locked out of your writing because you missed a subscription payment.

We therefore provide a licensing system that is flexible and affordable, with pricing that compares very favourably to other software. If you take a look at writing apps that use a subscription model, for instance, you will find that they generally cost between $50 and $120 per year. Compare that to Scrivener:

• If you buy for a single platform, that’s only $59.99 (and only $23.99 on iOS) and you don’t need to pay again unless you choose to do so (for another platform or a major update).
• If you decide to buy for another platform, because we offer “cross-grade” discounts, that costs at most $37.95. (The iOS version is only $23.99 anyway; if you have the Mac version and buy the Windows version or vice versa, you get a discount and pay only $37.95).
• This means that if you buy Scrivener for all three platforms (macOS, Windows and iOS), you pay a total of $121.93 - which is the equivalent of paying for a subscription to other software for between one and two years. (And while we occasionally release major paid updates, these are always more than two years apart and as an existing user you get a big discount on them.)

This licensing model thus allows us to compete with subscription-based software and fund ongoing development, while you only pay for what you use and own the licence you’ve paid for.