I wouldn't mention 1Password. It's a cornerstone for your digital security, if you're using it. As such, I don't want it free, I want to pay for it. My current family plan suits us very well and I'm very happy. Security is hard and I want it done right. Not to say that free tools are bad and paid tools are always good, but it certainly helps.
I also do want "easy" things to be free, like a note-taking app.
I think OP is talking about how 1Password stopped letting you use the one-time-purchase version and pushed everyone to the subscription.
Personally, I was pretty frustrated at that shift because I successfully and happily used old versions until it was “time” to update (2 then 4 (which was at the upgrade cost), then one more before I was pushed to the subscription). It always worked great. Tbh I’m still frustrated that their choice to self-host the syncing service became our costs (I used Dropbox just fine and that didn’t cost them anything), but now that I’m past the sticker shock (my costs easily went up 8X) I’m more comfortable with the stability of their company and breathing room they have to build the hard technology.
Thanks for bringing it up: 1Password is a necessary example for this debate.
I, too, have fond memories of the old one-time purchase modality of software vending, but I have to admit such an arrangement is largely untenable for any software company which wishes to maintain a high quality product across multiple platforms over the long haul.
Regarding building in their own sync, I think it’s actually a good thing. Naively syncing encrypted files can’t achieve the reliability of conflict resolution that a semantically aware app-level sync can.
On a side note, I moved away from Dropbox a couple years ago as their product became bloated as they seek growth with increased desperation. That is not a trait that I want in a company I allow to install kernel extensions on my machine.
The "naive" apps, like KeePassXC/Keepass2Android do have app-level syncing of conflicting files. Granted it's more cumbersome than it would be to use a cloud service, but works very well. I end up using it more often than I'd like to.
I also do want "easy" things to be free, like a note-taking app.