Pushbullet has decided to adopt a freemium subscription model

Pushbullet is one of the most useful mobile apps out there at the moment, to the point where I’d even say it’s essential for people who use both a computer and a smartphone regularly. Now that it has a large enough userbase, the service has decided to adopt a freemium model in order to start making money, but that shouldn’t dissuade you from giving it a try. Most of the features are still available on the free version, but those of you looking for a bit more functionality will now have to pay $4.99/month to get it.

Your grandfather was right: there really is no such thing as a free lunch. Consider Android fan favorite Pushbullet, an incredibly useful app that just unveiled a “Pro” level subscription service. Some of its best tricks, like the universal copy and paste feature, will now require a subscription of either $4.99 monthly or $39.99 per year. Most of the features will hang around at the free level, though with some limitations. For example there will now be a cap on storage space for files, messages, and total storage. It’s a pretty straightforward equation: if you want to keep using everything Pushbullet offers, you’re going to have to pay. Good software and services deserve monetary support, but it’s always kind of a letdown when you’ve been using a free service for a while and suddenly you’re asked to start paying a monthly fee. It’s a good thing to keep in mind when you check out that next hot app that’s artificially propped up with venture capital money.