Subscription between paid and free

[damian5191]

Hello
Maybe it would be nice and helpful to create a version, what will be paid for one time, and unlock up to 4 apps on it. Like now, I have to create multiple instances to do it. Like unlimited is too much for my purposes, and free is not enough. Something like 10USD, I believe many people will pay for that, because it is great, but too expensive for non-commercial use.
What do you think?

[nebulon]

We are not actually trying to resell apps or so, this is not our business but depends on the business model of the apps. We just focus on a platform to make self-hosting easier. So the price is unrelated to the app count as such from our perspective. The 2 apps free tier should merely be seen as a trial to get to experience Cloudron.

[damian5191]

Yes, but for enthusiasts, there is a limitation. Rather, few will opt for an annual subscription just for home use, and these people may already be offering financial support to further develop the project. Licensing restrictions could also be imposed to limit commercial use of hobbyist subscriptions. Alternatively, change Free to Trial for clarity

[humptydumpty]

@nebulon said in Subscription between paid and free:

So the price is unrelated to the app count as such from our perspective

You're missing out on potential revenue. Having two or more pricing tiers is a win win. Here's my situation as an example. I have one paid license that I use with my VPS, and it hosts mostly my work apps + some personal use apps. I also have a homeserver where I have my Nextcloud & Vaultwarden for privacy/security reasons. Ideally, I'd like to have a few more apps running on my homeserver and not on my work VPS, but I can't justify paying another $15/mo for that when I can just make use of the current Cloudron licensing/pricing structure.

Currently, I'm paying:

• $15/mo for paid license (signed up during some holiday promo)
• $0/mo for my home server
  Total: $15/mo for Cloudron licenses

With a paid homeserver license, I could (and willing to) pay:

• $15/mo for paid license (signed up during some holiday promo)
• $x/mo for paid homeserver license ($1 per app w/ limit of 5, flat rate limit, etc.)
  Total: >$15/mo for Cloudron licenses

A great company that I like that ticks the fair-use, pay-as-you-go, while remaining profitable is Bunny dot net. Perhaps Cloudron can find its own pricing version that's a win for everyone.

@damian5191 With that said, we have to look at the whole picture. Cloudron is a team of two people. Girish and Johannes managed to build the best self-hosting platform ever made, and they do it by managing their time wisely. Any change to their business/workflow can cause an unbalance, like growing too much and having to handle an influx of support tickets, payment issues, etc. It's not easy to find talented dedicated staff that will work on the same level as the CR founders. Growth isn't always a good thing. I believe Cloudron's biggest strengths are its stability and reliability. As much as I'd like to have a fairly priced homeserver license, I do NOT want to put any strain on the Cloudron team.

[girish]

@humptydumpty for the sake of transparency, we are now a team of 4 (including @nebulon and myself) full-time. We also have a couple helping us part-time with support. But other than that you are spot on We don't have any interest in growth for growth’s sake.