What Honest Pricing Actually Looks Like in SaaS
SaaS pricing has become a dark art. What looks like "$5/month" on a landing page turns into $50/month once you add seats, features, and the inevitable "you've exceeded your plan limits" email.
Common Pricing Tricks
The Per-Seat Model
"$10/user/month" sounds reasonable until your team of 20 is paying $200/month for a to-do app. Per-seat pricing exists because it scales revenue with company size, not because it reflects actual costs. Serving 20 users on a task app costs nearly the same as serving 2.
The Feature Gate
Free plans with just enough missing to be frustrating. "Need to export your data? That's on the Pro plan." The free tier isn't a product — it's a demo designed to create lock-in.
The Enterprise Trap
"Contact sales for pricing" is code for "we'll charge as much as we think you'll pay." If you have to negotiate pricing, the pricing isn't honest.
Usage-Based Gotchas
"Pay only for what you use" sounds fair until you get an unexpected bill because a script ran overnight or you had a traffic spike. Unpredictable pricing is stressful pricing.
How We Price Things
Our approach is straightforward:
WhatDate.Works — Free. Completely free. No limits, no upsells, no premium tier. We believe basic group scheduling is a utility, not a premium product.
Skedio — $2.99/month after a 30-day free trial. One price. Every feature included. Cancel anytime in one click.
Stacked Cards — Pricing will be announced at launch, but it'll follow the same philosophy: one price, no surprises.
Why This Works
Simple pricing builds trust. When users know exactly what they'll pay, they make better decisions. They don't feel tricked. They don't worry about surprise charges. They use the product instead of managing their plan.
It also simplifies everything on our end. No sales team. No pricing negotiations. No complex billing logic. We build the product, set a fair price, and let it speak for itself.
The Real Cost of Software
Building and running SaaS costs money — servers, infrastructure, development time, support. We're not pretending otherwise. But we think most SaaS is dramatically overpriced relative to the value delivered.
A simple task management app doesn't need to cost $13/user/month. A scheduling tool doesn't need to charge per booking. A credit card benefits tracker doesn't need a $29/month subscription.
We price based on what's fair, not what the market will bear. And we think that's a better way to build a business.