I agree with you: maintaining the SAAS server and has a cost. However he may consider the downloadable, local software: it would be cheaper for him (= more profit) and safer for its users ("lifetime until OP eventually gets out of business " vs "this is mine").
Obviously for the Lamborghini - the monthly subscription SAAS with discounts if you pay for 3 years and good luck to understand the unsubscribe funnel - will be more effective but OP said he didn’t target the moon. Reading his story, his target seems to be the status - or the fame - and for that I can’t help placing here my Hero’s for inspiration :
Dan and Tanya have build and maintain the most amazing GIT graphic client I tried :
It’s been 9 years, it’s their only "job" and there’s two price:
- free: all features + pay reminder at startup
- pay (60$): remove the reminder
There’s also tons of pre-2010 companies that did well with lifetime plan, and many users here and here complains about the subscription models. I’m sure they’ll consider paying more for a non-SAAS software.
But the pricing you have set up... Two tiers: 1) free tier and 2) lifetime access for $32.
Giving any sort of unlimited/lifetime option is a recipe for losing money. Your amortized MAU value for lifetime is approximately zero. Okay, it's slightly more than that, but 20 years of access and you're looking at getting $32/20/365 per day from each user. And I just don't see how 1.2 daily active users at ~0.4 cents per day is going to keep any job away. Unless you mean you'll have to quit your job to support all the free accounts after a few years.