Wenote - All in one note app.
CoinCalc - Currency converter.
MiXplorer - Best file manager.
Niagara Launcher - Minimalist launcher.
Pix Material You - Decent icon pack.
Pluma - great RSS reader.
Simple ABP - Minimal Audiobook player.
Tilla - Subscription Manager.
Unit Lab - All in one converter.
ReadEra Premium - Good ebook reader.
Showly - TV and Movie tracker.
What are your favourite paid apps?
The following is my opinion 😁
If you’re familiar with software development, for these apps the dev is the “product owner”: they have a vision for the direction of the app/project, the look and feel, the purpose, and the experience. The project is essentially no more than an incarnation of what that product owner wants, and they are likely the most active (or sole) code contributor. Without this product owner, the project can start to stagnate, deviate, or begin to make trade offs. In most cases, the project may serve as the product owner’s primary source of income. These projects are where you’d be supporting a developer
This kind of thinking doesn’t really fit into every project though, which is probably the perspective you’re looking from: e.g. Debian, yt-dlp, and various other open source projects that have a set goal or purpose, and guidelines/rules for volunteers on how to fit their contributions into this puzzle. There may still be product owners here, but things are much more democratic and open. A product owner, if present, may also have a much more hands-off role. These projects are where you are supporting the development itself
In your example would you ever donate money to a developer for software you had never used and have no intentions of ever using?
You might donate to a projects developer because you want them personally to keep on with the project, but that would likely only be ontop of the other reason that you want the software you are using to continue to be developed.
Otherwise it would make more sense to donate to charities.