--- title: A note from LWN | daily.dev description: LWN.net is raising its subscription prices by approximately 20% to match cumulative inflation since its last price increase in early 2022. New monthly tiers... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-note-from-lwn-9hazih09m twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A note from LWN | daily.dev og:description: LWN.net is raising its subscription prices by approximately 20% to match cumulative inflation since its last price increase in early 2022. New monthly tiers... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-note-from-lwn-9hazih09m og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/9hAZIh09m.png og:image:alt: A note from LWN og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A note from LWN **[LWN.net](https://daily.dev/sources/lwn)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary LWN.net is raising its subscription prices by approximately 20% to match cumulative inflation since its last price increase in early 2022. New monthly tiers will be $6 (Starving hacker), $11 (Professional hacker), $19 (Project leader), and $55 (Maniacal supporter), with group subscriptions increasing proportionally. Existing subscriptions remain valid at old rates through their original expiration, and active monthly subscribers get six months at the old rate before the new pricing kicks in. The site cites stalled subscriber growth and rising costs, including efforts to fend off scraper attacks, as reasons for the change, while noting it will enter its 30th year of publication in January. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 2 discussions and 201 comments across hackernews, lobsters (as of 2026-09-02). **TL;DR:** The reaction is overwhelmingly supportive, with many longtime readers renewing or subscribing outright to help LWN survive, though there's a side debate about free-rider ethics and a few gripes about pricing, marketing, and site CSS. **Sentiment:** 78% positive · 18% mixed · 4% skeptical **The case for** - Many describe LWN as uniquely high-signal, ad-free technical journalism worth paying for. - Numerous commenters say they just renewed, subscribed, or plan to donate after reading the announcement. - Some value it as a patronage/community-service subscription even when they don't read every issue. - The EPUB export feature is called out as a standout value-add. - LWN staff engaging directly in the thread (clarifying title, line-height, email throttling) was appreciated. **The pushback** - A few argue the free-rider dynamic (reading via HN-shared links after a week's delay) makes subscribing 'irrational.' - Some find the $5-6/month price meaningful for cost-sensitive readers, unlike a pure donation. - Complaints about poor line-height/CSS readability on articles. - One commenter suggested cutting staff pay instead of raising prices, which others pushed back on strongly. - A couple of skeptics doubt the content is worth paywalling or that the subscription model has much value. **By community** - hackernews (positive): Discussion is dominated by long-time subscribers expressing gratitude and actively renewing or subscribing, with only scattered skepticism and a side argument about free-riding and fair compensation. **Hottest debate:** Whether it's 'rational' to subscribe when the same content is accessible for free via a one-week delay and shared links, versus viewing payment as necessary patronage to keep the publication alive. **Open questions** - How will LWN actually grow its subscriber base long-term beyond price adjustments? - Could new revenue streams like archive sales or AI licensing supplement subscriptions? **Highlights** > LWN is one of the cornerstones of my very successful career. Starting from the beginning, I have (at least) read through every story and every article, every week, since 1998. Especially in the beginning, there was a lot in each article I didn't understand. I would try to do some digging into those topics. One way or another, just the weekly exposure to absolutely top notch technical writing was foundational to me. When newer folk would ask me how to really get good with Linux, I would always point them to LWN.net. I've been a subscriber since the beginning. That small investment is the least I can do given the incalculable value LWN has brought to me. > — [Diederich on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536089) > I'd argue otherwise. Crab-bucket mentality aside, what they do is extremely important and hard to do. I can't write an occasional blog post without wrestling with my ideas and words, and they constantly churn out this high quality material, without ever slowing down. They deserve what they earn. OTOH, thanks for nudging me towards subscribing to LWN a bit more. Edit: Just subscribed. Thank you. > — [bayindirh on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536511) > That's the thing though. You can get all the value from LWN through here. Even if it wasn't for them tolerating subscriber links being posted on HN, the week-long delay isn't nearly enough an incentive to actually subscribe, rationally speaking. > — [rdpintqogeogsaa on hackernews · 9 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536068) > This is pretty close to "I shall stand under this tree during the storm to stay dry, and if this tree starts to drip on me I'll just run over to that other tree and stay dry there" thinking. If LWN goes away, that value leaves HN too. Rationally speaking. > — [kjs3 on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49538727) > > There are few things we like less than raising prices, which is why we have done it so rarely. It would be far better to keep LWN as inexpensive as possible and make it up in volume. Subscriber growth has stalled, though, in recent years, making that strategy unworkable for now. We are working on schemes to bring in more subscribers again, but that is a long-term process; getting there requires some short-term help. I can see why they’d want to keep bumping prices occasionally (to keep up with inflation). Why do they need plans to increase subscriber growth, though, are they not currently profitable? It seems like they must have hit a steady-state by now. > — [bee\_rider on hackernews · 2 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49537255) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49535752) · 398 points · 201 comments - [lobsters](https://lobste.rs/s/krcehd/note_on_subscription_prices_from_lwn) · 1 points · 0 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Phoronix Marking 22 Years Of Linux Hardware Coverage This Week](https://daily.dev/posts/phoronix-marking-22-years-of-linux-hardware-coverage-this-week-jo1c50g6t) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Self-Host Weekly \(22 May 2026\)](https://daily.dev/posts/self-host-weekly-22-may-2026--850bwlevd) · selfh.st · 39 upvotes · 0 comments - [Ad-Free Viewing By Showing Your Support During The Phoronix Oktoberfest / Autumn Sale](https://daily.dev/posts/ad-free-viewing-by-showing-your-support-during-the-phoronix-oktoberfest-autumn-sale-b7cbhn7l3) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Phoronix Premium Cyber Week "Black Friday" Deal To Help Enable Linux Hardware Reviews](https://daily.dev/posts/phoronix-premium-cyber-week-black-friday-deal-to-help-enable-linux-hardware-reviews-clrgw9bbh) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Black Friday Reminder For Those Hating Ads But Loving Linux Hardware/Software](https://daily.dev/posts/black-friday-reminder-for-those-hating-ads-but-loving-linux-hardware-software-d9syfurye) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-note-from-lwn-9hazih09m) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A note from LWN","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-note-from-lwn-9hazih09m","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-note-from-lwn-9hazih09m"},"datePublished":"2026-09-01T18:19:20.709Z","dateModified":"2026-09-02T18:35:29.332Z","description":"LWN.net is raising its subscription prices by approximately 20% to match cumulative inflation since its last price increase in early 2022. 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