> without at minimum ponying up a credit card and signing up for a free trial
You're right, there's a bit more friction before you can install and use a project, but I think if a user gives enough value to a certain open source project then that friction shouldn't be enough to deter them from using it altogether.
It's also worth mentioning that once you input credit card information and connect your paypal account, you never have to do it again for future subscriptions. You just go to a payment page, hit 'Subscribe' and install the package, all in a matter of seconds.
Yup, totally understood about the second subscription. The challenge is getting that first subscription though, when a particular user hasn't yet signed up for (or even heard of) the service. At that point, it's a fair amount of friction from where I'm sitting.
You're right, there's a bit more friction before you can install and use a project, but I think if a user gives enough value to a certain open source project then that friction shouldn't be enough to deter them from using it altogether.
It's also worth mentioning that once you input credit card information and connect your paypal account, you never have to do it again for future subscriptions. You just go to a payment page, hit 'Subscribe' and install the package, all in a matter of seconds.
Here's a bit more information about how subscriptions work: https://gitroyalty.com/docs/faq/how-do-subscriptions-work