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Companies count on the "cheapskates" and the free plans to work as a "gateway drug" to corporate plans. I sometimes feel this services "need" an affordable pai

Companies count on the "cheapskates" and the free plans to work as a "gateway drug" to corporate plans. I sometimes feel this services "need" an affordable paid plan, so I don't "freeload" on their free plans, and I don't need the expensive big plan. I.e.: I monitor a bunch of my hobby sites with StatusCake. They're great and I use the free plan but I'd like to pay a little for very simple monitoring. But the first paid plan is around $200 a year. But I don't need the premium plan, I just need the free plan, but paying, so I feel like I'm contributing to the business. AWS and the others... you've got a free plan, but once you begin to deploy... ;) DnsMadeEasy. They don't have a free plan, but I'm using their "Small business 10 domain plan". That was $30 a year for years. Past year was $40. Then they got acquired by DigiCert and since last month they've posted their new prices: ~$200 a year for a 5 domain plan. It happens in a lot of providers, so I guess is a regular VC tactic to acquire volume, clients, publicity or whatever.

0x457 4y ago
> I monitor a bunch of my hobby sites with StatusCake. They're great and I use the free plan but I'd like to pay a little for very simple monitoring. But the first paid plan is around $200 a year. But I don't need the premium plan, I just need the free plan, but paying, so I feel like I'm contributing to the business. Odd mentality. You don't want to feel like a freeloader, but don't want to pay the asking price.
- satvikpendem 4y ago
  Hence why they said they want to "pay a little." If this is a common objection to the price of a good in a market, and if someone else comes by offering a simpler product at, for example, half the price, they could take the market. This is an example of a low-cost pricing strategy: https://stratechery.com/concept/strategy/low-cost-strategy/ https://stratechery.com/concept/strategy/low-cost-strategy/
  - petercooper 4y ago
    I know the ending to this story! The "someone else" comes along, gets a lot of buzz, attracts users, gets funded, then the investors say "you should be focusing on the enterprise market and increasing prices!" Then they become like the company they were trying to undercut and sell for $100m to RandomCorp.

0x457 4y ago

> I monitor a bunch of my hobby sites with StatusCake. They're great and I use the free plan but I'd like to pay a little for very simple monitoring. But the first paid plan is around $200 a year. But I don't need the premium plan, I just need the free plan, but paying, so I feel like I'm contributing to the business. Odd mentality. You don't want to feel like a freeloader, but don't want to pay the asking price.

satvikpendem 4y ago
Hence why they said they want to "pay a little." If this is a common objection to the price of a good in a market, and if someone else comes by offering a simpler product at, for example, half the price, they could take the market. This is an example of a low-cost pricing strategy: https://stratechery.com/concept/strategy/low-cost-strategy/ https://stratechery.com/concept/strategy/low-cost-strategy/
- petercooper 4y ago
  I know the ending to this story! The "someone else" comes along, gets a lot of buzz, attracts users, gets funded, then the investors say "you should be focusing on the enterprise market and increasing prices!" Then they become like the company they were trying to undercut and sell for $100m to RandomCorp.