Why I’ll never sell Maryn as a subscription.

I’ve had people on Threads tell me I’m “bold” for charging what I do for Maryn. Other ways people have put it: “expensive.” “A lot for software made by one person.” “Brave pricing.”

Fair. I want to address it directly, because the price question and the kind of company I’m running question are actually the same question.

Maryn costs $197. Once. Forever.

No monthly fees. No annual fees. No “premium tier” upsells. No “pro plan” lockouts. Free updates as long as I’m developing it. And — the part most people don’t think about until it’s too late — your data lives on your Mac, not on my server.

I get asked, fairly often: why aren’t you charging monthly? Wouldn’t that make you more money?

Probably, yes. And here’s why I’m not going to.

Subscription software is built around a quiet threat.

The threat is: stop paying, lose access. To your tasks, your client list, your invoices, your business history. The thing you built. The data you generated. Gone. Held hostage by a billing cycle.

That’s normal now. We’ve stopped noticing it. But I’ve heard too many stories of small business owners getting locked out of their own work because their card expired, or a company changed pricing tiers overnight, or a service quietly shut down. It happens often enough that “what happens to my data if this company disappears” should be the first question every solopreneur asks. Most don’t ask it. The companies count on that.

Here’s what owning your tools looks like instead:

You buy Maryn for $197. It downloads to your computer. It works whether or not your internet is up, whether or not my server is running, whether or not I’m still in business in 2030. There is nothing to “log into.” No subscription to cancel. No data to “export before your account closes.”

If I disappear tomorrow, Maryn keeps working. The version you bought is yours, on your machine, forever. Your business data was always yours — Maryn just respects that.

The honest math:

Most creative solopreneurs are paying somewhere between $55 and $90 a month for the patchwork of tools they’re holding together — QuickBooks, Notion, Monday, Todoist, Microsoft 365. That’s $660 to $1,080 a year. Every year. To rent the tools you use to run a business you own.

Maryn pays for itself in two months. Year two? Free.

About the “bold pricing”:

When someone says $197 is bold, what they often mean is: most software in this category charges much less per month, so you must be overcharging. I get the math behind that — but it’s the wrong math. The comparison isn’t $197 versus $9 a month. It’s $197 once versus $660+ a year, every year you’re in business.

I’m not charging more than the alternatives. I’m just not charging it on a payment plan that never ends.

Why this matters more than the price:

I don’t want to extract maximum lifetime value from you. I want to make something you actually own and use. That’s a different relationship than what most software companies want with their customers. It’s the relationship a craftsperson has with someone who buys a well-made knife.

You bought it. It’s yours. Take care of it. Use it for years.

That’s the deal Maryn offers.

— Jen