The one time payment to remove ads is 20$.
People are really overblowing the price. As other ppl have mentioned, lemmy is less than a fraction of the user base of reddit.
The 4x price increase isn't crazy. Devs need to make a living. I talk to Lj every now and then on Discord. Dude has been scrambling since the Reddit shut down to get out a working product. I really don't think it's price gouging to spend 20$ for an app I'll be using for maybe 30-mins to an hour almost every single day.
Bro it's just a great fucking app, specifically for the design and user experience.
Also I (very loosely) know Lj and want to support his work.
You absolutely do not need to use Sync! Enjoy Lemmy through your app of choice!!