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Tech glossary

Defining IT & technology terms

Subscription economy

The subscription economy describes the trend toward asset access and away from asset ownership. As cloud technologies become increasingly common, businesses and individual consumers have increased their adoption of digital services, which allow them to access resources on an as-needed basis.

Within the subscription economy, services typically align with one of two models:

  • In consumption-based services, the customer pays only for the portion of the service they use.
  • In subscription-based services, the customer pays a recurring fee to access a service, and they can cancel their membership as needed. Some subscription-based services adopt a tiered model in which users pay a premium to access particular tools or features.

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Related terms

  • Anything as a Service
  • Data Center as a Service
  • Device as a Service
  • Infrastructure as a Service
  • Software as a Service

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