

Ask YC: Do you mention that your service is free? - babyshake

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.<p>When you're in this kind of disruptive position, how much attention do you draw to the "free" part of your service?<p>Is it cheap to mention that you're free? Is it informative? Would it be confusing if price is never mentioned at all?
======
gscott
I 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.

------
cperciva
_Is 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
Gmail 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
Gmail 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.

