Sketch has a 'soft' way into making you constantly buy subscription. Plugins usually target only the latest released version of Sketch, so if you are dependent on plugins (and you ARE dependent on plugins if you use Sketch), then you either upgrade or eventually lose extended functionality. Because plugin manager will update plugins regardless of their compatibility with your current version.
if you need to hold back on an old version (whether because your license lapsed or whatever else), you should stop updating your plugins as well. They don't force auto updates or anything.
A lot of plugins require some external APIs. They get obsoleted way faster than you can imagine. And it doesn't end at plugins. If you use any design resources, they are more almost always using the most recent version, so you are doomed to load them with issues.
I use Sketch rather rarely once in maybe few weeks, but i've found out that it quickly becomes uncomfortable to use if you don't renew the license.
Main issue is that ongoing changes in the environment will eventually render whichever Sketch version you are using possibly unusable. I am on a version (that isn't too far out I think) that now can't save anymore on Mac (I suspect the file system/access changes they introduced). So where I previously had a version of Sketch I was totally happy with feature-wise, I now have one that I can't really use anymore. Would've been nice if there was a separation of "free fundamental" updates and paid-for feature updates.
That’s Apple’s fault. You could, say, dedicate an old Mac to Sketch and keep it on an old OS, and the setup would work basically forever.
I do think Apple could do much better with backwards-compatibility. They don’t need to go Microsoft’s extreme. I thought they’d found a good compromise for years on the Mac, but it’s tipped much too far towards just breaking everything lately.
But sadly Sketch is garbage now. I've gone from paying for v.x.0 - x.09 and its solid and stable. Now I pay $XX a year and it bricks with every update. It was a great program for awhile there. Its making me look at XD at this point... SMH
It’s honestly been made irrelevant overnight by Figma.
Once even one person on your team moves to Figma it becomes absurd to use something where you have to share fixed files around and are stuck with only using Macs for your design work.
I still use Sketch for things that only I work on outside of work because I’ve already paid for it but having living documents and being able to share with the rest of the company without them installing software is essential now. Not to mention being able to use my powerful PC workstation not just my Mac laptop is great too.
