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> If Signal gets too popular then server costs will become significant. Signal needs a viable business model to survive. Signal is an incredibly lightweight de

> If Signal gets too popular then server costs will become significant. Signal needs a viable business model to survive. Signal is an incredibly lightweight design. If all users donated $0.60/year, or 5¢/month, that would sustain operations and overhead. Compared to most other services, that's an insanely low cost per user. EDIT: It's actually way less than even what I remembered - they only need about $0.60/user/year in order to break even, not $3/user/month.

jacksnipe 2y ago
Sure, but how would they go about capturing that money?
- nine_k 2y ago
  As usual, by having 1% of the users pay 100x the rate, because $60/y aka $5/mo is nothing to them. That is, identify well-moneyed users and offer them something substantially-looking but trivial to support. Twitter/X's blue marks are a perfect example.
  - AlecSchueler 2y ago
    Is this the one percent fallacy? Would 0.01% of users be willing to pay 10000x that amount?
    - chimeracoder 2y ago
      > Would 0.01% of users be willing to pay 10000x that amount? Apparently so, since Signal broke even last year.
      - AlecSchueler 2y ago
        But we were talking about a future situation where it became popular enough that the costs became much more considerable.
rurp 2y ago
That $3/month figure actually makes me more concerned. Sure it's low for a business with revenue but donation funded services rarely get donations from more than a few percent of their users. So Signal probably needs something like $30-40/month from people who actually donate, which seems unlikely.
- chimeracoder 2y ago
  > That $3/month figure actually makes me more concerned. Sure it's low for a business with revenue but donation funded services rarely get donations from more than a few percent of their users That's way, way lower than most other services, including most messaging services. And donations aren't Signal's only source of revenue. Over a third comes from other sources. > So Signal probably needs something like $30-40/month from people who actually donate, which seems unlikely. Well, they broke even last year, so apparently it does work out.
LeifCarrotson 2y ago
$3/month is a lot of money, when their current revenue per user is approximately $0/month.
crtasm 2y ago
The minimum I can choose in-app is £5 ~$6.50/month (unless I do a one-time £3). I notice on their website they accept crypto, stock and "DAF" https://signal.org/donate/ https://signal.org/donate/
- chimeracoder 2y ago
  > The minimum I can choose in-app is £5 ~$6.50/month (unless I do £3 one-off). Price points are location-dependent, which is why it's a nice round figure for you in GBP even though Signal is not based in the UK. Also, as you noted, they accept donations outside the app.
  - crtasm 2y ago
    My point is that it's a rather high minimum (as is $5 if you select USD), not the roundness of the suggested amount.
- Vinnl 2y ago
  Just to be explicit, since your comment doesn't mention it: via your link they also accept Credit Card, PayPal, and bank transfers, and you can specify custom amounts there.
PostOnce 2y ago
If every user of free software donated for all the free software they use, people's monthly donation bill for their "free" software would be hundreds of dollars or more.
- lantry 2y ago
  so what? that's not a reason to not donate at all. It's not an "all or nothing" proposition. donating a little is still better than donating nothing. (and what's more, I disagree with your premise. I think I'd everyone donated, the cost would be very spread out and it would be shockingly affordable, especially relative to the benefits we get)
theshrike79 2y ago
Before getting Zuckered, WhatsApp was run by a 10 person team or something. Running chat apps doesn't have to be super expensive if you know what you're doing.

jacksnipe 2y ago

Sure, but how would they go about capturing that money?

nine_k 2y ago
As usual, by having 1% of the users pay 100x the rate, because $60/y aka $5/mo is nothing to them. That is, identify well-moneyed users and offer them something substantially-looking but trivial to support. Twitter/X's blue marks are a perfect example.
- AlecSchueler 2y ago
  Is this the one percent fallacy? Would 0.01% of users be willing to pay 10000x that amount?
  - chimeracoder 2y ago
    > Would 0.01% of users be willing to pay 10000x that amount? Apparently so, since Signal broke even last year.
    - AlecSchueler 2y ago
      But we were talking about a future situation where it became popular enough that the costs became much more considerable.

rurp 2y ago

That $3/month figure actually makes me more concerned. Sure it's low for a business with revenue but donation funded services rarely get donations from more than a few percent of their users. So Signal probably needs something like $30-40/month from people who actually donate, which seems unlikely.

chimeracoder 2y ago
> That $3/month figure actually makes me more concerned. Sure it's low for a business with revenue but donation funded services rarely get donations from more than a few percent of their users That's way, way lower than most other services, including most messaging services. And donations aren't Signal's only source of revenue. Over a third comes from other sources. > So Signal probably needs something like $30-40/month from people who actually donate, which seems unlikely. Well, they broke even last year, so apparently it does work out.

LeifCarrotson 2y ago

$3/month is a lot of money, when their current revenue per user is approximately $0/month.

crtasm 2y ago

The minimum I can choose in-app is £5 ~$6.50/month (unless I do a one-time £3). I notice on their website they accept crypto, stock and "DAF" https://signal.org/donate/ https://signal.org/donate/

chimeracoder 2y ago
> The minimum I can choose in-app is £5 ~$6.50/month (unless I do £3 one-off). Price points are location-dependent, which is why it's a nice round figure for you in GBP even though Signal is not based in the UK. Also, as you noted, they accept donations outside the app.
- crtasm 2y ago
  My point is that it's a rather high minimum (as is $5 if you select USD), not the roundness of the suggested amount.
Vinnl 2y ago
Just to be explicit, since your comment doesn't mention it: via your link they also accept Credit Card, PayPal, and bank transfers, and you can specify custom amounts there.

PostOnce 2y ago

If every user of free software donated for all the free software they use, people's monthly donation bill for their "free" software would be hundreds of dollars or more.

lantry 2y ago
so what? that's not a reason to not donate at all. It's not an "all or nothing" proposition. donating a little is still better than donating nothing. (and what's more, I disagree with your premise. I think I'd everyone donated, the cost would be very spread out and it would be shockingly affordable, especially relative to the benefits we get)

theshrike79 2y ago

Before getting Zuckered, WhatsApp was run by a 10 person team or something. Running chat apps doesn't have to be super expensive if you know what you're doing.