How renewal works
Plain-language guide to Bench's one-time purchase and optional renewal · Zentsu LLC
Bench is a one-time purchase. We added an optional renewal so we can keep shipping new updates without ever needing to switch the app to a subscription. This page spells out exactly what that means in practice. No marketing fog, no fine print.
The questions people actually ask
Does my copy of Bench stop working if I don't renew?
No. The version of Bench you purchased keeps working forever, with no time limit. We don't lock features, throttle the app, or pop up "please renew" prompts. If you never renew, nothing breaks.
Then what does renewal actually buy me?
Renewal buys access to new updates released after your initial 1-year window expires. New tools, new features, performance work, new file-format support, that kind of thing. If we ship Bench 2.4 a year and a half after you bought, and you haven't renewed, you stay on the version you have. Renew, and you get 2.4 (and everything that follows for the next 12 months).
What if Bench's price goes up later? Does my renewal cost go up too?
No, and we want to be specific about this: your renewal price is locked at the rate you started on. If Bench's list price climbs from $19 to $24 to $29 over the next few years, the cost to renew your copy stays where it was. This is a commitment, not a vague intention. The whole point of the renewal model is that it stays predictable for the people who already trusted us with a purchase.
Is this a subscription? Will I be auto-billed?
No. There is no subscription, no auto-renewal billing, and no surprise charges. When your renewal year ends, nothing happens automatically. If you want another year of updates, you come back and pay $9. If you don't, nothing is charged and the app keeps running.
What happens if I skip a year, or several, and want to renew later?
You can renew at any time. There's no penalty, no back-payment for the years you skipped, and no expired-account state to recover from. Pay $9 and you're back on the update train for another year.
Can I just keep using the version I have forever?
Yes. That's the whole design. People buy software for different reasons. Some want the latest of everything; some want a stable tool that does what it does and doesn't shift under them. Both are fine. We built the renewal model so the second group is never punished for not buying upgrades.
What if I want a refund?
Bench is sold through the Mac App Store, so refunds are handled by Apple via reportaproblem.apple.com. If something in the app isn't working the way you expect, please email us first at [email protected]. There's a good chance it's a fixable bug, and we'd rather fix it than have you give up on the app.
Why use this model instead of a subscription?
Bench has no servers, no accounts, and no recurring costs to operate. It's a native Mac app that runs on your machine. A subscription would charge you indefinitely for something that doesn't have indefinite costs. The renewal model lets us fund ongoing development without forcing the app onto a billing cycle. If we ever stop shipping, the app you bought stays exactly where it is, and nothing of yours disappears with us.
Why a renewal model at all, instead of pure one-time purchase?
The honest answer: pure one-time-only purchases push small studios into either aggressive paid major upgrades or, eventually, an emergency conversion to subscription under revenue pressure. We didn't want either of those failure modes to hit Bench's customers. A small, optional, capped renewal lets us keep shipping updates steadily without ever needing to migrate the model. Adopting it on day one means we never have to ask anyone to switch later.
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