Clarification on Pricing Model in 2023
I’d like to offer a detailed response regarding the clarification of widget limits in 2023, as this topic continues to come up.
We understand that pricing is a very pressing and critical issue for our users. We have always aimed and continue to aim to provide the most affordable prices for our widgets. In the 8 years our service has been in operation, we have never once raised the price of our plans, including Pack plans, even though the number of available applications has doubled or tripled. The only thing we have done during this time is to specify the number of widgets available on each plan.
Why do I say “specify”?
Because, previously, the number of available widgets was not discussed in our terms, neither in Pricing nor in the Terms of Use. There simply was no mention of widget availability at all. Yes, users could create widgets, and initially, the limit was not visually displayed in the interface. However, it existed and was quite high - very few users encountered it.
Why did we need to specify the limits?
Over 8 years, much has changed, particularly the process of obtaining information from third-party services (social networks, review platforms) has become much more complicated. Some information became impossible to obtain on our own, necessitating the use of third-party services. This led to our infrastructure costs increasing tenfold. At the same time, we wanted to continue to:
- Provide the affordable prices without increasing them.
- Continue to offer a user-friendly service, allowing users to create a widget without additional authorizations - quickly find their profile and retrieve information from it.
- Maintain relatively high data retrieval limits.
This contributed to our decision to specify limits. Unfortunately, we can no longer support 1,000 widgets for $5 per month. Regrettably, as agencies, you can no longer sell widgets to your clients at prices below our cost price.
However, I want to highlight that we have not increased the cost for already created widgets, have not removed them, and allow everyone to continue using them - we fulfill all our commitments.
What else?
Besides the above, please also remember the following points:
- We’ve made substantial investments in our widget infrastructure, resulting in faster loading times and more stable performance.
- We’ve completely reimagined and rebuilt a modern configuration UI for each widget, ensuring you have the best customization experience possible.
- Launching the new Dashboard was one of our most ambitious objectives to date, focused on delivering an enhanced user experience and allowing us to expand our features for agencies with virtually no limitations.
- In recent years, the number of widgets in our catalog has doubled, yet the price for our Pack plans, which include the full value of all those widgets, has remained unchanged.
- Existing widgets receive regular updates, and we try to fulfill the most popular user requests from the Wishlist.
- Inflation has not stopped for a second - everything is rising - the salaries of the team (which now includes more than 60 people), infrastructure costs, and all other business expenses have increased manifold over 8 years.
…
Writing this letter makes it seem like it should be followed by a price increase announcement. However, we currently have no plans to do so - we do not want to change the base prices. We want to develop the necessary functionality and monetize it. We want to provide agencies with a convenient interface and opportunities for working with clients, but we also want to increase the average check and receive a small fee per client - so that both you and we can grow.
I hope I have clarified the introduction of widget limits. Thank you very much for your understanding!