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Ask HN: Should I have a free tier while starting out?

1 points by Vishal19111999 2y ago

Hey HN , I currently have 0 users I am building an AI SaaS, Cheatsheet (https://cheatsheet.to) Currently, I have planned to onboard only paid users at a small price of $2/month/user And avoid free users from the fear of them diverting my feedback loop in the wrong direction But yesterday, a user said that he wanted the product a lot, but is broke and can't pay As I have 0 users, and no one for any feedback, should I onboard him? Or avoid?

PaulHoule 2y ago
Can't pay $2, really? How does he eat? Where does he live? What kind of computer is he using? That said, if you have 0 users and want feedback you may need to take what you can get.
- Vishal19111999 2y ago
  I had similar questions in my mind too
tombert 2y ago
I don't know anything about business, but it seems like the only way that business survive with a "free" price is to either gather and sell lots of customer data or to play into a Ponzi scheme with investor money (or both). If this is AI, presumably you're farming out to OpenAI or Anthropic or something, which would cost you some money right? $2/month really isn't much money, and I think giving unrestricted free access sets a bad precedent and will make it harder to make money in the future. I think it might make sense to have a generally-available one month free trial though. That way, you can get some users to give you feedback without making special exceptions for individuals.
beardyw 2y ago
Without knowing your business, a free tier can be a good way to gain business if you put limitations on it which are at the Goldilocks level - not too much and not too little.
noashavit 2y ago
Who is your audience? If they are developers or technical users I would highly recommend a fee tier. If they aren’t but the product can lead them to an aha moment fairly quickly I would recommend a free trial
- Vishal19111999 2y ago
  I'm afraid that the direction of product could move more towards free users, how should I handle this?
  - noashavit 2y ago
    Implement a time based free trial (e.g. 14 day trial) / usage based free tier (up to x users/ y API requests), etc. These are ways to gate your product while still being able to provide users with a way to experience and validate it for free. I hope this helps

PaulHoule 2y ago

Can't pay $2, really? How does he eat? Where does he live? What kind of computer is he using? That said, if you have 0 users and want feedback you may need to take what you can get.

Vishal19111999 2y ago
I had similar questions in my mind too

tombert 2y ago

I don't know anything about business, but it seems like the only way that business survive with a "free" price is to either gather and sell lots of customer data or to play into a Ponzi scheme with investor money (or both). If this is AI, presumably you're farming out to OpenAI or Anthropic or something, which would cost you some money right? $2/month really isn't much money, and I think giving unrestricted free access sets a bad precedent and will make it harder to make money in the future. I think it might make sense to have a generally-available one month free trial though. That way, you can get some users to give you feedback without making special exceptions for individuals.

beardyw 2y ago

Without knowing your business, a free tier can be a good way to gain business if you put limitations on it which are at the Goldilocks level - not too much and not too little.

noashavit 2y ago

Who is your audience? If they are developers or technical users I would highly recommend a fee tier. If they aren’t but the product can lead them to an aha moment fairly quickly I would recommend a free trial

Vishal19111999 2y ago
I'm afraid that the direction of product could move more towards free users, how should I handle this?
- noashavit 2y ago
  Implement a time based free trial (e.g. 14 day trial) / usage based free tier (up to x users/ y API requests), etc. These are ways to gate your product while still being able to provide users with a way to experience and validate it for free. I hope this helps