Redditors who have paid for a winrar license: why? Is the experience any different? Was it worth it?

I use the software a lot and get a lot of value out of it. I paid for it once a decade ago and I'm still using it.

As far as I know, the paid and free versions are identical The reason the paid version exists is for businesses. Independent users can use WinRAR as a "trial" to see how it goes, but there's no penalty to using that forever. Businesses however are legally required to pay for it and can come under heavy fire if they don't. Since WinRAR has an almost total monopoly in its market (yeah 7zip exists as well, but it doesn't work well as a corporate tool, just as a personal tool) it means every business will be buying a huge amount of licenses to make sure it can be used on every computer in their system, and that's where WinRAR makes its money.

So... There's no difference, don't waste your money, it really doesn't matter. One day you might take up an office job, and since you and so many others will be used to WinRAR, the company will have to get it if it doesn't have it already, and that's when they get their money.