Dan and Tanya Pristupova are doing a great job developing the macOS and Windows version of this software [1]. I use it intermittently along with other applications that offer a graphical interface to interact with a Git repository and Fork is one of my favorites.
I think $49.99 is a fair price if you compare it with similar programs like Git Tower that ask you to pay (minimum) $69.00 per year for a subscription, $99.00 to include pro-features, and $149.00 to include additional enterprise features. That’s a lot of money for a non-permanent software license. I’m glad I could find a bug in their licensing library to be able to bypass their checks.
Notice that I’m complaining specifically about the subscription model rather than the price. I happily paid $99.00 for a Sublime Merge [2] lifetime license. I know that if I am not interested in future updates I can keep running the program with the license I bought. With Git Tower, they can —and probably will— disable the license next year if I don’t pay for the upgrade.
Source Tree [4] is still one of the best free Git graphical interfaces for both macOS and Windows. It is unfortunate the community was unable to convince Atlassian to port the code to Linux. I remember using Smart Git [5] in the office because all developers’ computers were running Linux. I was happy switching to macOS and being able to install quality software with polished user interfaces.
Last year I discovered Git Fox [6] which unfortunately also uses the subscription model, asking you to pay EUR $24.99 per year.
I am sure that many developers are willing and definitely able to pay these prices, but I don’t know how many are comfortable renting software. Whoever started this trend (Apple?) is bathing in buckets of money. They are being very smart, but god it is gaining the hatred of many people.
Yes, I am also very impressed by Fork. I wondered how they could make such a polished client for free, doesn't seem very sustainable. I hope they switch to a plain and simple license model and make enough off of it to not have to resort dark patterns like advertising, data brokering and rental models. We'll see, they certainly deserve some reward for their effort!
2 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 11.9 ms ] threadI think $49.99 is a fair price if you compare it with similar programs like Git Tower that ask you to pay (minimum) $69.00 per year for a subscription, $99.00 to include pro-features, and $149.00 to include additional enterprise features. That’s a lot of money for a non-permanent software license. I’m glad I could find a bug in their licensing library to be able to bypass their checks.
Notice that I’m complaining specifically about the subscription model rather than the price. I happily paid $99.00 for a Sublime Merge [2] lifetime license. I know that if I am not interested in future updates I can keep running the program with the license I bought. With Git Tower, they can —and probably will— disable the license next year if I don’t pay for the upgrade.
Source Tree [4] is still one of the best free Git graphical interfaces for both macOS and Windows. It is unfortunate the community was unable to convince Atlassian to port the code to Linux. I remember using Smart Git [5] in the office because all developers’ computers were running Linux. I was happy switching to macOS and being able to install quality software with polished user interfaces.
Last year I discovered Git Fox [6] which unfortunately also uses the subscription model, asking you to pay EUR $24.99 per year.
I am sure that many developers are willing and definitely able to pay these prices, but I don’t know how many are comfortable renting software. Whoever started this trend (Apple?) is bathing in buckets of money. They are being very smart, but god it is gaining the hatred of many people.
[1] https://git-fork.com/about
[2] https://www.git-tower.com/pricing/mac
[3] https://www.sublimehq.com/store/merge
[4] https://www.sourcetreeapp.com/
[5] https://www.syntevo.com/smartgit/
[6] https://www.gitfox.app/plans