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Ask YC: Do you mention that your service is free?
Let's say you're developing a web application for a problem space where, until now, people have come to expect some kind of pricing model. And you've developed a way where you can do it for free.
When you're in this kind of disruptive position, how much attention do you draw to the "free" part of your service?
Is it cheap to mention that you're free? Is it informative? Would it be confusing if price is never mentioned at all?
- cperciva 18y agoIs it cheap to mention that you're free? No. Is it informative? Yes. Would it be confusing if price is never mentioned at all? Yes. There are many companies which don't publish their pricing -- rackspace is the first example which comes to mind -- and nobody would presume that their services are free. In most cases I'd make the opposite presumption -- that the pricing falls into the "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" range.
- babyshake 18y agoGmail doesn't mention that it's free, but Facebook does. It does have a lot to do with expectations, so I agree with you.
- lacker 18y agoGmail does mention that it's free. From the sign-in page: Lots of space Over 7256.934852 megabytes (and counting) of free storage so you'll never need to delete another message.
- gscott 18y agoI have gone similiar route, but I would suggest to not go totally free. Having something for a fee in the outset with a free version is better because your users will sign up knowing that not everything is free. If everything is free they could even end up resenting that at some point you have some add-on for a fee that they are not getting, regardless of there ability to pay.