Hacker News Reader

Comment by shosko | Hacker News Reader

$5/month is such a steep barrier. How many subscription services can we take in our lives? Why can't it be $2/month? it certainly would attract more users.

View on HN

Those that would legitimately pay $2/m but not $5/m are few and far between. In reality, most people I've seen that want lower prices actually want the product for free; if the price were lowered to $2/month, you'd still see the same complaints and excuses.

When you think of it in terms of per year, it’s $24 vs $60. That’s not insignificant.

I’ve personally subscribed to the pro membership of a few apps for $2/m to remove ads and support the devs. $5 would’ve been a harder sell.

Sure some people do see a difference like I mentioned, but in my experience of running my own paid sites, the people who agonize over a few bucks a month difference have been my worst customers. My point of view may therefore be different from yours as a business owner vs customer.

My point is that it's the biggest barrier to signup and if you're going to have a successful paid social network you might want to consider the value exchange right now as a new user. None of my friends are on Glass yet, so a big part of the value of a social network is not even present yet.

$36 over the course of a year is insignificant.

> $5 would’ve been a harder sell

Maybe, but it's far harder to go from free -> $ than $ -> $$.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com