
Ask HN: How many of you have paid for sublime text? - blhack
I have recently moved to sublime away from years and years of vim over ssh.  The price is pretty steep ($70).<p>ALL of my developer friends use it, and I don&#x27;t know anybody that pays the $70 for it.<p>I&#x27;m curious how this pricing model has worked out for the developers vs either a lower price point (~$10) or a SaaS subscription (~$1-2&#x2F;mo).
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BjoernKW
I've been using Sublime Text (TextMate before that) professionally for several
years now. I gladly paid those $70 and it's certainly paid off. Just as with
IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA (of which I'm a happy customer as well) that boost
your productivity I never understood that petty kind of mulling over paying
for a reasonably priced software product that makes your professional life
easier.

Developer time is expensive. If there's a tool that allows you to make better
use of that time buying such a tool is no-brainer. I also never understood why
the same enterprise-sized companies that often frivolously spend millions on
licences for database and application servers are extremely stingy when it
comes to software that makes the people that work for them more productive.

Finally, if a particular piece of software does make you more productive as a
software developer and you then don't pay for it but just keep using it while
occasionally cancelling the nag dialog that's at least a tad bit unethical and
unprofessional. You'd expect your customers or your employer to pay you for
your work as well, wouldn't you?

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skylark
I'm guessing most of their money comes from businesses who purchase licenses
for their developers. I've personally been responsible for four license
purchases (my own + 3 companies bought a license for my work computer).

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andreyf
Sublime license follows you around, so new employers don't need to purchase
new ones.

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iaw
Depends on the employer, my big co handles it opaquely so I'd have to get a
new one at a new company.

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andreyf
Then you don't own a license, the business does, and they can re-use it for
any employee, as long as only one employee gets a license at a time. Their FAQ
explains it all well:
[https://www.sublimetext.com/sales_faq](https://www.sublimetext.com/sales_faq)

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lanna
really, is $70 for a productivity tool you use for most of the day, every day,
"pretty steep"? many developers make that in a hour. i paid for it.

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wjoe
It's not steep in the value it provides, or the amount I've used it. But it's
steep enough that it's more than I often pay for one thing. It's steep enough
to make me come up with some excuse -

"well, it's optional..."

"I can't afford it this month, maybe later"

"It's good, but it's not $70 better than other text editors"

"I'm mostly using it for work, so I'm not going to pay for it out of my own
pocket" (and the company isn't going to pay for the above reasons)

"It's not open source, and I don't want to contribute to proprietary software"
etc...

I think if it was a limited free trial, the price was cheaper, or if they had
some sort of subscription model, they'd probably get more money from people.
Personally, I put off paying for it when I was poor and unemployed in the
past, and now Atom is a decent open source alternative, so I tend to use that.

Until Atom existed, if you'd given me Sublime for a month, then told me to pay
up or go back to using Scite/Gedit/Notepad++, or learning Vim, I'd have
dropped the money on it in a heartbeat

~~~
lanna
> well, it's optional...

no, it is not. payment is not optional, you are abusing the developer's trust.

he is not apple, he is not google. he is a developer, like you and me, and he
needs to make a living out of his work, too.

there is nothing wrong about paying for software.

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yodsanklai
I've been using Sublime for a couple of years (switched from vim). I haven't
paid for it. I probably would have paid already if it was cheaper (< $30).

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storrgie
I paid, I stopped using it because I felt like there wasn't a whole lot of
transparency with development. I now bop between vim and atom.

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Alupis
The problem with the $70 price tag, is it's expensive enough to make me think
twice before buying.

I know Sublime has an "unlimited trial", but that can end arbitrarily, and I'd
rather not learn a system that might get yanked out from under me at any time.

In a world filled with good text editors, I find $70 too steep. If it were in
the $20-$40 range, it would be easier to justify the expense to myself, as
well as be more of an "impulse buy".

Some may call me "cheap" \- especially for not wanting to pay for a tool I'll
use daily. I just find it hard to swallow the price tag, when alternatives
exist.

For now, I'm sticking with Atom.

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kylecordes
I paid for it, and I'm happy to have done so even though I mostly use other
editors. It fits an important niche, it loads very quickly and handles very
large files without trouble.

However, I'm in rooms with dozens of developers (as an instructor) regularly,
and I always ask how many of them use sublime text. Many. Then I asked how
many of them paid for sublime text. Very very rarely one hand is raised.

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Ruphin
I've been using Sublime for many years, and I think I paid for Sublime a about
a year in (I think it cost like 30$ back then). I think my current employer
also got me a License. However, after the n-th re-install I got too lazy to
find my license key and just used the unregistered version. I think I've been
running that for years now.

The popup wasn't annoying enough for me to go and find my license key. If you
really want to use Sublime but find the 70$ a steep price, it's still
completely usable for free if you don't mind a popup once a day.

As an aside, I recently switched to Atom, mostly to stop the programming
hipsters from constantly nagging me about how Atom is such a superior editor.
With a little configuration I got it to look pretty much exactly like Sublime,
and I don't have any issues with performance. If you're looking for a free
Sublime alternative, Atom is pretty usable right now.

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doublerebel
Hell yeah it immediately was a clear timesaver for my business. I've never
paid for a software faster. I develop on Linux, Mac, and Windows and it really
is incredible on all three. Sublime Text really understands the UX of its
target audience, which is rare, and inspiring. Good UX should be regardless of
platform.

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kup0
If it's used for commercial reasons / business then it should be paid for per
the developer's current licensing structure and should be overall a small
expense for people that use it constantly. I think people can't get past the
"I'm paying $70 for a text editor" idea when so many code editors / IDEs have
often been free, but that's a poor excuse the brain tries to make. Just as a
developer that uses Sublime should be paid for their work- the developer of
Sublime deserves the same.

I have moved to VSCode for the time being (after trying Atom and others),
since for me, my use of Sublime is commercial but on a very rare/hobbyist
basis. It bothered me ethically to continue using it without paying for a
license, once I had commercial uses for it. So, it makes more sense
economically for me to use something free like VSCode for now.

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lowmagnet
I've paid for Sublime Text, TextMate 2, and IntelliJ IDEA.

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ilarum
Paid. Used for a few years but now leaning towards Code. Feel it was
definitely worth it.

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Abrecht
Yeah, its one of the handful of programs I paid for and well worth it.

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spoiler
I've paid for Sublime Text 2, and I got pretty annoyed when v3 came out with
only extremely minor or patch-level changes only a couple of months after I
bought the previous version, and I was required to pay for the license again
(I didn't and used it only for a short while after this happened). I've
recently moved to Atom and enjoy it a lot.

Yes, it's not as fast/light as Sublime, and it can't handle very big files,
but that's rarely been a problem in my case.

~~~
akhilcacharya
I just recently completely switched away from Atom to VS Code. Also highly
extensible, but starts up much faster and has some nice built-in extras like
Git-diffing and limited intellisense. Can't live without it now, even on OSX.

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hoodoof
Divide the $70 by the number of hours that you use it, and then think about
the value it provides you.

How much per hour?

Still "pretty steep"?

Next question - are you writing software that you hope someone will pay for?

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ubernostrum
I haven't paid for it but also don't use it.

I paid for a TextMate license years and years ago when it was the hot thing
everybody said to just use, but quickly went back to Emacs and mostly swore
off the "this year, X is the hot editor everybody should switch to" fads.
These days when I need to display some code in a GUI editor (common when doing
code-review sessions projected on a screen), I fire up VS Code, which is
shaping up to be quite good.

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sail0rm00n
I have. I even spent a fare amount of time contributing to the clang-format
plugin for Sublime, but I stopped using it in favor of vim. Mostly due to the
laziness of not wanting to port fzf and YCM... also the the fact the majority
of the community moved away to Visual Studio Code/Atom.

I don't regret any of the money I spent since it used to be my favorite code
editor before I forced myself to learn vim, which definitely isn't for
everyone.

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niosus
I've been using it for many years now, and have paid for it at some point. It
is a tool that makes me so productive, and the only one with python plugins. I
happen to know some python, so I can fix extensions that don't work without
having to wait for a fix from elsewhere. Also, the possibility to write my own
is invaluable. Paying for sublime text was something I have never regretted.

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debatem1
Paid, the software is worth it to me and I feel better having chipped in to
keep the devs happy. Wish more free projects had a buy me button.

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thesagan
Paid with a smile. It's good software, I reward good software (if I can) as a
point of principle.

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DrJokepu
I've paid for it, and for a bunch of other editors such as TextMate, BBEdit
and Chocolate as well. These days I pretty much only use VSCode, which is,
ironically, given away for free (but it's so good that I would actually pay
for it if MS charged for it).

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jrgifford
I paid for it after I got paid for writing code for the first time. Seemed
like the decent thing to do. I was also considering starting a screencast
series, and having an editor that wouldn't nag me for a license in the middle
of a video seemed important.

~~~
securityfreak
Same here. Used it for free while studying and open source projects. Bought it
as soon as I got a paying job, coincidentally coding in sublime. Fantastic
tool. Fantastic community.

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joeydi
I paid happily. ~1hr of work for a tool I use all day every day. Support
independent developers!

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davelnewton
I paid for it, but I use Atom now. Easier (for me) to extend and customize
than Vim or Sublime.

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EspadaV9
I finally paid about 2 years ago when I was using it heavily, however I now
mainly use it for quick edits to single files and use other IDEs for project
work. It has still easily paid for itself in time saved and general quality of
life improvements.

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funkydata
I've paid for it. On the principle that if I were to put out a good product in
the world, I'd like other people to pay for it too.

That being said, I still use it for a quick syntax aware editor, as a
glorified buffer/clipboard or to open big files.

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wraith69
I payed it with a smile. The tech is awesome and the price point for a
lifetime license is beyond reasonable. I hope they get the capital to keep
working on it.

Doesn't mean I don't still use vim, buts that's a different use case to me.

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mmgutz
Just wondering. What advantages does it have over vim? I tried sublime and at
least for JavaScript and Go, the plugins weren't better than what I was
already using in Vim. And what about the ability to use it in an SSH session?

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someotheridiot
I loved it and paid for it. Sure, I didn't have to but I sure feel better
having done so. Besides, I'd easily spend that money on a game that lasts a
few dozen hrs at most so why not a tool I use every day?

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falcolas
After using it off and on for several years, I ended up paying for it. I
hardly regret it; it's a drop in the bucket for the number of times it's
helped me.

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sengelbert
I paid. If other developer tools were around the same $100 range I would
gladly buy them. Others that are $500 range are just too much for individual
purchases.

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chrisrickard
I paid for Sublime, and worth every cent. Loved it, and although I now use a
mix of Atom/VSCode, there will always be a soft spot in my heart for Sublime!

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Womsel
Paid for it few years back and never had regrets. Can't say that about a few
movies in the same period, where I wish I didn't waste money on tickets

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sgdread
$70 feels significantly overpriced: IntelliJ gives you full-blown IDE for $89.
Switched to atom for simple text editing. IMO fair price is $15.

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eivarv
As soon as I decided that I would use Sublime Text, I happily paid for a
license.

It's a great piece of software, and an investment in my productivity.

Well worth the price.

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Womsel
Paid few years back, and never did regret it. There are at least 3 movies in
the same period where I wish I didn't buy the ticket for...

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wink
Treated not paying as a free trial (i.e. only used it for a very short time)
and didn't pay because I was actually not happy with it.

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andreyf
Paid for it gladly! Would pay again for Sublime 3. $70 is not much at all
compared to what I've been paid for the work I do using it!

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hoopyfrood
I have personally and got licenses for whole dev teams bought by employers in
the past too. Aware of alternatives, not as appealing as ST

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Veen
I paid for it. I'm curious how it breaks down between Mac users, who are used
to paying for apps, and Linux users, who aren't.

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LaSombra
I paid for it and use it everyday. One of the reasons is that it's multi
platform and works very well on, at least, Mac and Linux.

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wsc981
I've paid for it after maybe using it a year. The app is very good and I
decided it was worth my money.

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yamalight
I've paid for it as soon as I graduated and got a job that had decent salary.
Totally worth it.

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wyager
I've had employers pay for it.

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TACIXAT
First employer was nice enough to get the license in my name.

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therealidiot
I've done it, it's usually running for a good chunk of every working day

I still use vim a lot though

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faitswulff
I paid for it after using it for free for roughly 3 years. No regrets - also
no nag screen!

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anonfunction
Had two companies pay for me to use it, but prefer the open source atom / vim
combo.

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chris_wot
I paid for it some time ago. I have also paid for a few licenses of Textpad.

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tomcam
I have, twice, for what the anecdata is worth. Still switched to vim :O

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nkw
I paid for it, though honestly these days I'm using VS Code more.

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ld00d
I paid about 5 years ago. I'd say I got my money's worth.

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aprdm
I happily paid the license about a year ago. Love the software.

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raejin
I paid for it years ago. Still use it today with Vim bindings.

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xaedes
After a few years using sublime for free I paid for it.

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20after4
I paid for it a long time ago. No longer use it though.

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oliv__
I can't lie: I keep seeing my friend the pop up.

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jeremyswank
I paid. I also paid for BBEdit. I still use both.

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jeffehobbs
I got my company to buy it for the whole team. :)

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jachin
Yep, I paid. Back in 2011 it was only $60.

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x0ner
Paid. Always worth supporting fellow devs.

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FlorianRappl
Paid. Best investment ever.

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willary
I didn't know they asked for money

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meric
Paid

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willary
No

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ebbv
I paid for it gladly and most developers I know have as well.

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draw_down
I have. $70 is nothing for the tool you use all day.

