Yeah this seems like a really reasonable way to make this change. You also don’t lose access to Starter or Unleashed if you don’t pay that version upgrade fee, they will let you keep downloading the version you’d paid up until. Having it be a unified upgrade fee for both is nice too. I think it makes clear that it’s to cover ongoing development and support in a way that’s more transparent than a lot of software subscriptions.
They also still allow you to buy a lifetime license, even if it’s more expensive. Considering Broadcom’s VMware just removed all of their perpetual options, it’s nice to see a different company going against that trend.
I would like to see them offering lifetime upgrades at the end of your first year with Unleashed though. Paying $140 to upgrade to that rather than $36 for a year makes a lot of sense at that point. If it’s a new customer they might not want to commit upfront.
Edit:
You can upgrade from Starter to Lifetime for $209 and Unleashed to Lifetime for $149. Prices are subject to change at any time.
There you go, you absolutely can, and they only charge $9 for the privilege of doing it later on. That seems good to me.