I probably wouldn’t pay a monthly subscription (which may very well just mean I’m simply not part of your target audience, and that’s fine) — though if I could use something super simple like Apple Pay to buy a few scans for $1, I would probably do that.

Interesting thank you. It looks like an additional resource-usage model could work in OP's case. Though with financial transaction fees starting at $0.33 of that $1, starting higher at 3-5 might be more appropriate.

A different product would be evaluated differently based on its usefulness and quality compared to free options.

As many others here stated, there are free trustworthy alternatives like PlantNet and iNaturalist. For now, even Google Lens is more reliable… until Google gets flooded with bad data and AI generated images of plants.

$3 seems like a better entry point for a product to test the market. Equivalent to a cup of coffee in most cities.