Pricing for public non-users and other external users

🤝 Discussion
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I know that there have been a lot of discussions about pricing. I'm currently evaluating Retool and was excited to get a start-up grant. However, depending on the use-cases, such as marketplaces where there are a large number of "users" to revenue-generating activity, Retool might not be a viable option.

I think a usage-based pricing model for external users similar to AWS might be the best solution to make Retool attractive across a larger number of use cases. This could be tiered ie 50 a month extra for x users 100 for 2x etc. T

Given the current pricing model I had a couple of clarifying questions.

Non-users:

Is possible to have a public-facing application that does not require login which would be available to users without triggering per-user pricing? For example, a user wants to share an external dashboard publicly with 30 stakeholders by sharing a URL with a unique set of parameters. Technically anyone who uses this link will see the data.

A more basic question, is it possible to build a landing page using Retool?

Non-active external users:

If someone signs up but doesn't use the app for 1-2 months, are we paying for these users who are still registered as users but not active? What triggers the definition of an active user? Ie can someone log-in for 30 seconds and then trigger external usage pricing?

Single task - Low usage users:

This is somewhat related to the above, although this is where a usage based pricing model makes the most sense. We are building a construction app that typically involves many external stakeholders submitting bids. This involves filling out a form which is then submitted. The form is private so it would require login in, but usage might be limited to submitting a bid.

We would also like to track activity for workers. This would involve a large number of people logging in to track their activity across time, ie a subcontractor logins one day this month, one day two months from now etc.

Paying 8 dollars per bid or per data point, ie tracking productivity, is not cost-effective. The analogy I would make here would be similar to paying per email for your email service or per document for google docs. Instead of paying 10 a month you could pay 800 dollars a month when sharing your doc or emailing a large team.

Other Problematic pricing use cases:

-2 sided marketplaces
-e-commerce registered "user" does not mean sales and you want to encourage browsing
-landing pages
-surveys, customer satisfaction, bid forms etc.
-community forums,
-wiki pages, internal informational pages
-Manufacturing Execution Systems & Construction Management: Both require a large number of external users log in to get instructions / info post results and a smaller number of project managers that are heavy users. Pricing for these types of systems is typically not per user.

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Hey @benjaminfortunato,

A lot of the things you've said resonate with me. I have developed a SaaS platform and often get the same questions about external users (e.g. what if I want to give access to my accountant, but he/she will only log in once per month/quarter, etc.).

Here's my two cents from my experience:

Non-users:

It is possible to create a public app with url parameters defining the data that it is shown. Just bear in mind a couple of things:

  • You won't be able to use resources that need autentication. So you're limited mostly to databases
  • Not knowing who the user us, you can't also make reference to the current_user property to filter data
  • Because the data depends on the url parameters, you will have to apply a logic so that broken links show a proper error to the user

Non-active external users:

  • Active is anyone who accepted the invitation. For the user to stop being active you need to disable it.

Landing-Page
I've thought about this too. I think it is possible, but not sure if it's efficient when you can really spin off a landing page with any other platform much more quickly (and prettier) than you would do it with retool. Agreed, a public page set up as a landing page would easily allow you to pass info to your database if a form is submitted, but I don't think this is what retool is made for and I find many limitations if your landing page has some layers of complexity within it.

Interesting to hear what other users of the forum think of this!