The WinRAR Approach

For the past five years, I have offered the site for free. The wallpapers are free, and the site doesn't feature any popups, paywalls, or ads. This has been and will always be my intention, even as the site has grown from 50 visitors a month to as many as 400,000 a month.

And as the site has continued to grow, so have the operating expenses. Until now, I have financed the site myself and relied on user tips, helped along by some much-appreciated tips from readers. The site has grown to essentially qualify as a part-time job as I pour hundreds and hundreds of hours into it each year.

You may have recently noticed a new approach I've started using with some of my wallpapers, beginning with the Gradients of April collection and continuing with the Commander 2025 and MacBook Pro: 2025 Update wallpapers: the option to purchase the collection. Much like leaving a tip, you can now make a one-click purchase and instantly download an entire wallpaper collection. By purchasing any collection, you get the good aura of supporting this site and a much faster and easier way of downloading the collection: a single click versus opening and saving all the images. And if you're unable or prefer not to purchase a collection, no worries, all the wallpapers are still available to download, completely free, with no ads or gimmicks. They're the same images offered in the paid bundle.

I thought long and hard about whether or not I should include exclusive wallpapers behind this paywall but ultimately decided against it. I want anyone who visits my site to have access to everything, even though I believe it could improve sales to offer exclusive works.

So what I'm introducing to the site is something I'm calling the WinRAR approach. If you're familiar with WinRAR, the Windows file compression tool, you'll know where this is going. WinRAR became infamous for offering a "30-day trial" that never actually expired. Instead of cutting off access or locking features, it simply asked users to consider purchasing it if they found it useful. It ran on goodwill, and that model worked.

That's the spirit behind the WirRAR approach. Everything I share remains free and fully accessible, but if you've found value in my work and want to support it, there's an easy way to do so. No pressure, just appreciation.

I think this approach strikes the best balance of ensuring the work remains free and fully accessible to everyone and that the site remains, to quote Nilay Patel from The Verge, "Unsponsored for Flavour." I appreciate all your support over the years.