I gated “saved regex library” behind Pro. Then nobody used the free local version either
Hey IH —
Forge Regex Pro is $9/mo. The upgrade story has been: unlimited gens + cloud history + share links. Testing/replace/export stay free.
I also shipped a free Recent list in localStorage — prompt, pattern, flags, test text — so closing the tab isn’t a dead end.
The awkward part
Cloud history table: 0 rows. Share links: 1. So the thing I thought people would pay for has not even been tried in the free local form.
Possible reads:
- Nobody is returning, so history never matters
- People don’t trust a regex tool to keep state in the browser
- The control is too quiet and they miss it
I’m not ripping Pro’s cloud sync. I am treating “history converts” as an untested hypothesis, not a strategy.
Ask
Did local-first history ever create return visits for you before you built accounts, or does history only matter after someone already lives in the tool?
Read your own line again: "if nobody returns, cloud sync never gets a chance to matter". That's the finding. The paywall was a test and it came back negative on the free version too. So whatever you gated wasn't the thing bringing people back. Right now nothing is.
That makes the next question smaller. When someone needed a regex, were they in the middle of a recurring job or a one-off? If it's one-off, a saved library is genuinely low value and no gate fixes that. The tool is a thing people visit twice a year, and the pricing has to match that.
"Cloud history table: 0 rows" is cleaner than another upgrade story.
I can count first use. 13 of 36 people have used the product at least once. I cannot name someone who came back because history existed. A local list that nobody opens is the same empty table.
Do not rip Pro. Do not treat history as the reason they will pay. Write down one action a person already does twice, and put the save next to that. If they never do it twice, the list will stay at 0.
What is the action they already repeat, before you ask them to trust a browser with a regex?
History feels downstream here. If nobody returns, cloud sync never gets a chance to matter. Do you know how many people start a second regex session within seven days?