Go ahead - I'm ready to be down-voted again and again until folks realize it is inevitable, as is inevitable that many companies in the area of business software are going down down down.
So still, for ransom business much cheaper and better to buy software from SaaS vendor.
In this case it was better ONLY because the client is the wife of the developer.
And even now, if he sells this to other businesses - it will be MUCH cheaper to buy his subscription than homebrew the same version of it - as if it starts selling it he will be adding features and support which requires time (which is money).