Maybe I'd be more attracted if there was a free limited version that just shared an editor window. But we have collabedit for that.
These prices aren't going to work for a lean startup, obviously, because they generally don't have lots of money to throw around, but bigger companies do. Oracle, Salesforce, and lots of other B2B businesses count on it, as they charge more than you would think.
I think another good example is highcharts -- with so many free, decent D3 based highcharts alternatives, why would a company buy a highcharts license instead of using one of the free options? Because they can afford to. Companies that can't will try and use a free option, reduce their scope, or put some engineer on it part time.
Estimating an engineering employee costs 100 $/hr, then 2.5 $/interview is way less than you're spending on the person conducting the interview. And 600 $/year is a steal unless you think it'll only take 6 hours to implement your own version + yearly maintenance.
If you are looking for a free tool similar to collabedit and coderpad, this might be helpful: https://codepad.remoteinterview.io/
This includes the use of temp workers, recruitment fees and management time.
If lost productivity is included the figure can be $50K or more.
The reason you think the price of the service is expensive is because
a) You likely haven't had exposure to enterprise organisations spending habits. No shame (see anecdote below).
b) The makers of the service have not put the cost in the proper context for you.
What they should have done is re-stated the cost of a bad hire and given a value statement on the splash page.
"The average cost of hiring the wrong employee is $23,000. Get it right first time with CodeBlimp for $50."
Or
"1 in 3 hired employees never pass their probation period. Use CodeBlimp and make it 1 in always."
Etc
>> Here comes the anecdote: I was a coach at Lean Startup London and some guys had a great product offering. They were current/former Cucumber devs. Amazing engineers and super smart but no idea really how to sell.
They had a cool new service that was ready to go to market that weekend and a salesman joined them during the weekend and Skyped some potential customers.
When a charity senior exec asked them "We love it, how much does your new service retail for?"
They shrugged and said "Ummm $250 a year..?"
The exec looked baffled and said "I literally don't know how to give you such a little amount of money. Do you want my personal credit card?"
The moral is don't underestimate how much businesses will pay.
Tell them the cost and if they don't blink...
...say per user...
If they don't blink again then add...
...per month.