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Has anyone tried just annual plans for a SAAS product?

I currently offer both monthly and annual plans for StaticForms, but I'm considering dropping the monthly plans and only offering annual plans.

The product is in a commodity space, so achievable monthly prices are pretty low. I'm thinking of swapping to annual-only prices of $79 and $199, which are still pretty reasonable and would be comparable to products in adjacent spaces, such as GravityForms, which provide a similar capability in the WordPress space.

Has anyone tried annual plans only? Do you see any downsides?

  1. 2

    I'll do you one better, with Authress, we only offer pay by usage on our APIs. We've found monthly and annual plans to suck for most startups that want something small and what a partner who will scale with them. Sure we put in reasonable limits, but for our B2B, being in a no-commitment grow-with-me is really important.

    Personally, I hate "you can have a trial". What I need is a level that makes sense for my usage.

    You can't just jump to say "monthly" or "annual" is right for you, you need to look at a unit of value for users. What do your customers consider a unit of value, is it "one per year"? if so then moving to an annual plan can make sense. But if the unit of value is "one per day", You are killing your product.

    1. 1

      Consumption-based pricing is an interesting option. Personally I don't like not knowing what I'll be paying, but it definitely aligns price with usage and I can see how lots of people would like to only pay for what they use.

      I should have mentioned, but I currently have an "always free" plan which allows a level of usage, so anyone exceeding that is probably getting a reasonable amount of value from the product.

  2. 1

    The issue I have seen founders run into when looking at annual plans is the hurdle for the client. If a product is tested and well known then the customer purchasing an annual plan can be easy since you know the product is "validated by the market."

    If you're a new company I am all about volume. Get free clients, use those to get paid, get a base of clients and learn the value you're bringing. Adjust your pricing to reflect the value and grandfather in the original customers. Expand and grow!

    Always. Moving. Forward. haha

    Hope it helps!

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