>why pay for Deno

Pay for Deno? I never had to do that, what am I doing wrong?

You're not using their SaaS platform, which like Vercel with Next.js, is what keeps development rolling in.

What many are doing wrong is not paying for our tools like in other professions, and then acting surprised when the authors decide to pivot for something else, when funding dries out.

It's a great move for the brand Deno. They will be seen as the saviour of javascript.

Maybe between some folks, for me it looks like acquisition of node market share isn't going as expected, so we get these kind of activities.