The Subscription Tax
The average person now pays for dozens of software subscriptions. Streaming, storage, productivity, notes, passwords, VPNs, budgeting. Each one is “just $5/month” — until you add them up.
When we decided to build Zeroed, the first question every developer friend asked was: “So what’s your MRR model?” Monthly recurring revenue. That’s the metric the industry worships. Our answer — “there isn’t one” — was met with genuine confusion. But we’d done the math from the user’s side, and it told a very different story.
For a budgeting app specifically, the irony is hard to ignore. You’re paying a recurring fee to a tool whose entire purpose is to help you spend less money. That’s not a business model. That’s a contradiction.
What You’re Really Paying For
When a company charges you monthly, they’re not charging for the software. The software was written once. What you’re paying for is:
- Server infrastructure to hold your data hostage
- Growth metrics to satisfy investors
- Retention tactics to make it painful to leave
Your monthly payment isn’t buying you features. It’s buying the company permission to keep your data on their servers — data they could monetize, lose in a breach, or hold hostage if you try to cancel.
The Stillware Alternative
We charge once. You own the software. Your data lives on your device, encrypted and synced through your own Google Drive.
If we go out of business tomorrow, your app keeps working. Your data stays accessible. Nothing changes for you. That’s the way software should work.
The Math
Let’s compare a typical subscription budgeting app at $99/year versus Zeroed’s one-time Founder’s License:
| Time Period | Subscription | Zeroed |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $99 | $0 (Founder’s) |
| Year 3 | $297 | $0 |
| Year 5 | $495 | $0 |
| Year 10 | $990 | $0 |
The subscription app costs nearly $1,000 over a decade. Zeroed costs nothing for Founder’s Edition users — and will cost a one-time $79.99 for everyone else.
Try It
Zeroed is available now on Windows and Android, with iOS coming soon. The first 500 users get lifetime access for free in exchange for honest feedback.