Why We Chose One-Time Pricing That Covers Every 1.x Release
What you really want to know when buying a tool is not the price itself, but when the next bill will come. Once you buy mori, you will not be charged again within that major version.
Markdown editors are usually sold in one of two ways. You either pay $15–$50 once, or $3–$6 every month.
Subscriptions tend to work well for note-taking apps in the Apple ecosystem. But the people who seek out mori first are developers who keep documents in repositories. They do not like subscriptions.
That is why you only need to pay for mori once.
At first, we also considered a “one year of updates, then renew” model. But while it was called a one-time purchase, it was effectively no different from a subscription. Users would have to worry about the expiration date, and developers would end up cramming features in right before renewal.
In the end, we abandoned this model.
You Purchase a Major Version
mori’s regular price is $24.99. The launch price is $19.99. In Korea, the prices are ₩34,900 and ₩27,900, respectively.
You can use one license key on up to three devices. The same key works across different operating systems, including macOS and Windows.
There is no additional charge for updates to the major version you purchased. As long as it is version 1.x, there is no additional charge, no matter how many updates are released or how many years it takes.
The next major version is a separate product. Existing customers can purchase it for $12.49, which is 50% of the regular price. If you purchased within 90 days before the new major version is released, you can upgrade without paying anything extra.
There is no automatic renewal. We offer a no-questions-asked refund within 14 days of purchase.
Here, “forever” is not marketing copy. It defines the scope of the promise. Users do not lose out even if features arrive late. The only time you pay again is when the first number of the major version changes.
The macOS and Windows apps are under development, and there will be no additional charge when they are released. Educational institutions and nonprofit organizations can receive a 40% discount.
Team pricing varies by number of seats.
- 5–19 seats: $16.99 per seat
- 20–99 seats: $13.99 per seat
- 100 or more seats: custom quote
We issue a single invoice and license key. Each seat can be used on up to three devices.
We Will Not Be the Cheapest Editor
Our closest competitor, Typora, costs $14.99. We could have priced mori below it.
We did not.
A lower price makes a product more likely to be seen as a “lightweight alternative.” Then the price stands out before its speed and principles for handling files do.
mori competes through measured performance and clear principles instead of price. But that does not mean we charge more or make you pay again for each operating system.
License Verification Is Completed Offline
We thought that if a product is purchased once, verifying its license once should be enough.
A license key is signed data beginning with MOTE. It contains the purchaser’s name and email address, license tier, time of issuance, and number of devices allowed.
The app contains only the public key. It can verify whether a license is valid, but it cannot create a new key. The verification process does not require an internet connection, either.
You can open mori on an airplane or in an office where external internet access is blocked. Even if the activation server disappears someday or we shut down the service, the app you already purchased will continue to work.
An editor is a tool you use for years. We believe this guarantee is also included in the price of the product.
The only time a server connection is required is during the initial activation to verify the number of devices. After that, it works offline.
Of course, there is a tradeoff. Offline signatures alone cannot completely prevent license keys from being shared. We decided to reduce sharing through initial activation without trying to control it perfectly.
Paddle handles international payments. It also handles country-specific taxes, receipts, and refunds. In Korea, we offer Korean won payments through Toss Payments, and VAT is included in the displayed price.
You Can Try the Beta for 90 Days
The 0.x beta version works for 90 days from its release date. When the period ends, you need to update to a new version.
The full license and 14-day free trial begin with the release of version 1.0.
At first, we described the beta as “a product you do not pay for.” But the beta’s features were already almost the same as those of 1.0. We changed the wording because it was inaccurate.
We do not create files or track users to manage the trial period. We do not store the installation date or count the number of launches.
The only reference point is the time the app was built. This value is embedded in the binary. For official releases, we use the timestamp of the release commit.
Deleting and reinstalling the app does not extend the period. Deleting the settings folder does not shorten it, either. Because there is no server counting down the period, there is no need for code that watches users.
We do not show the remaining time every day. Starting 14 days before expiration, we display the number of days remaining in the header, and starting seven days before expiration, we show a notification banner once a day.
When the beta expires, it shows only a “Check for Updates” button. We also separated it from the screen that appears when a license expires. One requires installing a new version, while the other requires entering a license key.
No matter which screen appears, your documents remain untouched. Because mori does not use its own file format or a dedicated folder, you can open them immediately in another editor.
This is how we keep our promise not to hold your files hostage.
We disclosed the price in advance for the same reason. We did not want to create an experience where you learn the price only after using the beta extensively.
A good price list is not simply a cheap price list.
It is a price list that tells you in advance what will happen next.