this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2026
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I think donation/investment based freemium is the future of internet content once the bots kill ad viability
Yeah, my shareware did real well - 800 hours in development, $500 in income across the past 30 years. Oh, and it cost me $400 for the compiler tools back then - so my net profit is rolling in at $0.12 per hour invested.
That sounds like the vast majority of "app" developers.
These things are a casino market.
I've tried that before, but barely anyone donates. People expect the world for free.
Once something is perceived as free as the internet has been for ever. It is very hard to get people to pay for it.
I think people will eventually have to get used to paying for things though, if bots / AI / ad blockers kill off the feasibility of online advertising. Either that or everything becoming a freemium service with major limits for free users.