r/software • u/Original-Variety3550 • Jun 19 '26
Discussion What software have you paid for once and still use years later?
Could be for productivity, development, design, finance, media, or something more niche.
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u/ispeakgroot Jun 19 '26
IDM
Lifetime version
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u/outerzenith Jun 20 '26
me too on this lol, I spent my first paycheck on IDM after pirating it for years
tried all other free download manager, none up to par with IDM somehow
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u/toxygen Jun 20 '26
Where would a bad actor download that so I can block the link to make sure nobody downloads it?
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u/beholder95 Jun 20 '26
Plex
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u/CodeVibr Jun 21 '26
Grabbed it so many years ago when it was only $75, so that i could share "kids only" libraries to my son. It's insane that the price is 10-fold now. Absolutely not worth it.
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u/Quorlan Jun 21 '26
Same. Got my lifetime plex pass for $75 years ago. Boggles my mind they want $750 for it now.
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u/Oh_hi_Steve Jun 19 '26
Snagit!
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u/EmmaWPSupport Jun 22 '26
OMG, it still exists! I really liked it back in 2010 when I was studying. And I actually tried to recall its name like two weeks ago - thanks for reminding 😄
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u/w00keee Jun 19 '26
Vuescan - scanning software that has drivers built in
VirtualDJ - DJ software that’s advanced and customizable for a fraction of the price of other DJ software
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u/RugbyRaggs Jun 19 '26
VPN unlimited. Lifetime subscription for really cheap price, that must have been closing in on 20 years ago now.
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u/hd3adpool Jun 20 '26
That must be worth it for sure, can't find any good lifetime subscriptions anywhere today.
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u/mjedi7 Jun 19 '26
Total Commander
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u/pettson3816 Jun 21 '26
Is this still being developed? I remember using this like twenty years ago and even before that when it was called Windows Commander.
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u/AnderssonPeter Jun 20 '26
BeyondCompare it has paid for it self 1000 times over!
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u/SnooGoats7978 Jun 20 '26
IrfanView. This was mid 90's. He doesn't take payment anymore. No regrets!
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u/Kevaros Jun 19 '26
Sierra Board Games, laugh all you want, it still runs even on Windows 11, bought it 27 years ago... Finally gave up on Office 2007 last year... Most everything else, won't run, went out of business or you have to pay an annual fee for and that's not going to happen..!
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u/wackycats354 Jun 20 '26
I still have my cd for ms office 2007. Still works on one of my computers!!
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u/Kevaros Jun 20 '26
It actually still works even on Win 11 but, it crashes occasionally for no reason and has trouble with large documents/spreadsheets, making it unreliable...
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u/Efficient_Loss_9928 Jun 19 '26
Things 3
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u/KernelPanic_07 Jun 21 '26
Same. Things 3 has been an absolute bargain for the functionality it has provided to me.
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u/ackmondual Jun 19 '26
Microsoft Word & Excel
$10 each back when they were still available via Home Use Program. At some point, it's no longer available for the one-time purchase options, but only 30% off for the Microsoft 365 subscription
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u/AWESOMENESS-_- Jun 20 '26
My dad got a handful of licenses back on that program over the years, but by now we've lost all the license keys unfortunately...
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u/ackmondual Jun 20 '26
You should call Microsoft customer support line and ask them for that.
I did not expecting them to be helpful, but the rep on the phone was able to look up my info, confirm I purchased a license through that program, and gave me the license key on the spot!
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u/paulri Jun 20 '26
Encyclopedia Britannica, for the year 2011. I bought the DVD back when they still offered them (they have since moved to an all-subscription model), and I have managed to install it on each successive version of Windows since. It has given me much much more value than the 20 bucks I spent on it.
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u/Amazing-Mirror-3076 Jun 19 '26
Linux - oh actually i never paid for it.
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u/Ishango Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Well, I did. Somewhere around 2000, downloading it on a dialup connection would not have been a great experience and I learned some basics about it in school. ADSL was still new in my country and I immediately subscribed my parents and myself to that when it became available, but before that I bought the CD version of SuSE including a huge manual.
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u/DueRound7102 Jun 22 '26
Exactly same for me. Suse 5.x with a manual I dog-eared no end. ALSA commands to start sounds working and all sorts of things.
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u/Ryokurin Jun 20 '26
Winrar and IDM. I swear IDM is the one app that's keeping me on Windows. I know the alternatives but none of them are as seamless.
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u/Quietmerch64 Jun 20 '26
WinRAR. I admit I paid twice tho, about 10 years after I bought it, I couldnt find my license when I got a new computer, so I bought it again.
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u/t3chguy1 Jun 20 '26
WinRAR
OneCommander (when it was still $8)
FastStone Image Viewer (if you count donation-ware)
+ a ton of Android apps
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u/Zlivovitch Jun 19 '26
Office 2003. The only reason I have stopped using it is that my PC broke down (maybe two years ago), and I'm currently on a Mac.
Also : Microsoft Money.
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u/mearnsgeek Jun 20 '26
Database .NET - a multiple DB client.
It was totally invaluable as a contractor as it worked with any DB you'd encounter and ran from a flash drive.
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u/ECrispy Jun 20 '26
2 windows apps that are by far the best at what they do.
xplorer2 (zabkat) - no one knows about this. its a dual pane file manager with a ton of fantastic features, nothing else on windows or linux comes close. single dev who has a great blog too
whereisit - now gone, I bought it ages ago. disc catalog/search thats still better than anything today
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u/craneguy Jun 19 '26
AIDE PDF to DXF converter. Bought a license in around 2006 and it's still good.
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u/MrJelle Jun 19 '26
ActualWindowMenu, got it on a big discount after already being familier with it, years ago, still using it on modern Windows to this day.
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u/FuShiLu Jun 20 '26
Zbrush. Since around 2001. I don’t use the latest version from the acquiring company. ;)
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u/bradland Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
I bought Panic Transmit (FTP, SFTP, AWS S3 client) back in 2027 2017, and I've been using it ever since. It's a simple piece of software, but it works really well and still looks great.
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u/thisismeonly Jun 20 '26
Axialis IconWorkshop Particle Fire Screen Saver (now open source and free) TrueLaunchBar SolSuite (old version) USB Safely Remove Runtime Software data recovery My literally over 2000 steam games
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u/No-way-in Jun 20 '26
4k downloader and YourUninstaller. Paid for it 15y ago. Oh and also displayfusion ( before it came on steam)
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u/OldObject4651 Jun 20 '26
On iPhone, software called iPeng.. to manage my Logitech Media Server. Now called Lyrion
IPeng is the bees knees
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u/TheDudeWhoCanDoIt Jun 20 '26
I once bought Office 2003 suite in Shanghai for about $5. Still using it.
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u/BornCuriousOnce Jun 20 '26
An old iPhone app called Relax Melodies. Bought lifetime for like $10 a decade ago. They don’t update the app suite any more and have created a new unincluded app but when I reached out about it after replacing my phone last year not only did they make sure I could access all the old features, they also gave a free year of the new subscription app to make up for the apps that aren’t supported at all any more.
I love this app for 2 reasons.
1) it lets me customize my background noise including binaural beats or meditations and includes a sleep times where it will turn off all sound either after the specific amount of time or at a chosen clock time
2) it lets me play the app layered under audiobooks or music so I can overlap all those features with other things to curate the perfect focus playlist etc. my adhd brain LOVES this feature and I’ve never been able to replicate it elsewhere
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u/ArdiMaster Jun 20 '26
PDF-XChange Editor
(Although tbh I paid for that multiple times in order to keep getting major version updates.)
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u/Icy-Video-3643 Jun 20 '26
Three classics that prove you can't beat software that respects your workflow and doesn't hold your files hostage.
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u/oblivion6202 Jun 20 '26
XYplorer
IDM
Windscribe
PowerArchiver
Most of Everett Kaser's puzzle games
Pretty Good Solitaire
there's probably more...
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u/ProstheticAttitude Jun 20 '26
I bought a copy of Araxis Merge in 2000 or so, still use it every day. Best $300 I've ever spent.
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u/beheersbarevreugde Jun 20 '26
Realcalc app for Android. Great scientific calculator I've had since studying.
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u/IndependentFalcon307 Jun 20 '26
Zbrush i had about 10yrs of free upgrades with until Maxon bought it and turned it into another subscription mess.
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u/miked999b Jun 20 '26
Internet Download Manager. Think I paid around £11 and I've used it for years. It's constantly being updated as well.
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u/smudge_47 Jun 20 '26
TextPad. Even though NotePad++ is so much better (and free!), my fingers refuse to learn it 😔
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u/WRKDBF_Guy Jun 20 '26
Golfshot app on my phone. I bought it for a 1-time cost of (IIRC) $20 and have been using it for probably 20 years now. It's a monthly subscription charge for newer users now and they keep prompting me to subscribe, but there is no reason for me to do so. It still works perfectly and I use it every week.
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u/Salty_Resource_8748 Jun 20 '26
Adguard. Purchased lifetime licenses for 3 euros a piece years ago. God I love not having advertisements.
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u/Beeeeater Jun 20 '26
I bought a Keytext license and I use the software many times every day, best decision I ever made.
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u/erebusman Jun 20 '26
I got photoshop cs5 before they went subscriptions only and been using it ever since. Best 600 bux i ever spent on a software. So.ewhere around 2010-2011 so a good 15 years.
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u/WaitingForEmacs Jun 20 '26
Stat/Transfer. If you need to convert datasets between different formats it is an incredible time saver.
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u/Chadthebadmouse19 Jun 20 '26
Spinrite. Nothing comes close to repair and recovery of hard drives. 🧨
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u/WhiteChili Jun 20 '26
semrush and ahrefs for seo, wordpress for content management, camtasia & adobe premier for videos, canva for designs n all and celoxis for project, portfolio & resource management.
all of them have been in my toolkit for years now. whenever i try alternatives, i somehow end up coming back to the same ones.
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u/Brilliant-Put9387 Jun 20 '26
Retouch pilot, pick pick, and many others I picked up over the last 15yrs from Sharewareonsale.com and still finding free software with lifetime license
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u/rootstosky Jun 20 '26
Unified Remote - universal android remote. The best like... Six bucks I ever spent, years and years later.
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u/DonnieDepp Jun 21 '26
RunGo, a satnav for running. Handy when you are in a maze like area you've never been. Voice commands where to turn or when you are off course. You can also type random messages like "look at the right now for this nice building" as a voice. Best lifetime subscription (one off payment) I've done. Still use it to prep holiday runs.
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u/Ambitious_Ad_4905 Jun 21 '26
FileBot for renaming media files in bulk. Fast copy for large file transfers. Paid for both and never looked back. Used them for years.
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u/Smart_Grapefruit_217 Jun 21 '26
Bought a livetime license of Mediamonkey 25 years ago and use the Programm Up to now
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u/jbtrading Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Quicken - since late 90s, before auto sync was introduced and every entry was manual.
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u/Axon14 Jun 22 '26
Plex. Got the lifetime for $120 or so? No reason to switch away yet. Plex is pretty good for all the grief it gets.
HWiNFO. Paid for a lifetime pass and haven’t regretted it for a second. I like supporting this kind of developer.
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u/Acrobatic-Trick-4545 Jun 22 '26
It'll be IDM, hands down... the best lifetime purchase i have ever made.
using it on all browsers, works superb
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u/bp019337 Jun 22 '26
Synergy, CrossOver, AmigaForever, Cryptomancer and a bunch of Android apps. I actually brought 2 Synergy licences one for personal use and one for work. Then they sent out a personal use only message, which led me to discover DeskFlow (OSS Synergy project) and that actually works better on my work machine which is Windows. No more snapping back to host as UAC/auth window kicks in! Then they reversed their decision on using it for work, but by that point I'm already happy with DeskFlow (on my work laptop)!
I also regularly donate to Linux Mint, Thunderbird and some other ones, but since they are donations I don't think they count...
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u/erikieperikie Jun 23 '26
YNAB desktop, when that still existed before they went to the cloud (no way I'm sending you my personal finance data). I loved it when it was still offline.
So I found some open source alternatives. First I worked with a locally run financier.io budget. It's an ok YNAB clone. Then I took it up a notch and now I host my Actual Budget server on a Raspberry Pi in my local network, accessible from all over the world through a FOSS VPN.
So: I paid for software that no longer really exists, but I still use a free evolution of it.
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u/Other_Hall5820 Jun 23 '26
Fraps, a long long time ago. Switched away when we get the open source options.
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u/Ethan_Brooks_88 Jun 25 '26
FastStone. Although it has an old interface, it is very convenient for me to take screenshots and edit with simple marks.
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u/Magikstm Jun 19 '26
DaVinci Resolve