
Ask HN: Switching free product to paid mode? - wellthisisgreat
We have a fairly popular cloud-based product, that we were giving away for free. We realized that it&#x27;s becoming actually a financial burden with all the server costs.<p>What is the best way to tell people who were using the cloud service for free that it is going to be paid now?
======
CrazyStat
I've never been on your side of this, but from the customer's side this is
what I would like to see:

1\. Give ample warning. The time frame depends on what your product is and how
difficult to replace it is, but I'd consider anything less than 1 month for a
consumer product or 3 months for a business product to be unacceptable unless
you're on the verge of bankruptcy or something.

2\. Consider grandfathering in existing users. This doesn't need to be free
forever, but X months free goes a long way towards keeping people happy. This
can be combined with the previous point; for example, you could announce that
new users will be paid only either immediately or starting soon, while
existing users have X months free after which they will need to pay.

3\. If applicable, give your users a way to export their data from your
service before it goes paid. Even if most of them won't use it, it helps avoid
feelings of lock-in or bait-and-switch.

4\. General considerations for paid services: consider a free tier or free
trial. Free tiers can be very effective when most users don't use many
resources. It may or may not be appropriate for your case.

~~~
a-saleh
W.r.t. grand-fathering, I have seen approach, where the free users can keep
their account free forever, but they don't get any of the new features, but
with a path to upgrade if they choose.

------
JohnFen
In my observation, that rarely goes well. People tend to view it as a bait-
and-switch.

What I have seen companies do with good results is to put the free product
into maintenance mode, then develop a new (and improved) product (even if it
could be considered a "version 2" of the free product) and put a price tag on
it from day 1.

But this is speaking from my observations, not from experience. I've never
tried taking one of my free products and converting them to paid, personally.

------
DrNuke
1- Make the best decision for _you_ in terms of pricing and conversion target
(just go even or aiming to make some money?); 2- Send all your users a very
clear message (no explanations, just the new terms and conditions) and allow a
30 days period to convert or recede; 3- On day 31, just switch.

------
seanwilson
Can you give more details? The question is too general as it's highly
dependent on the product.

