Calculating cost per user

Questions
1

Hi everyone! :raising_hands:

I’m currently exploring the real operational cost of maintaining a Bubble.io web app. If we remove marketing and focus only on infrastructure (Bubble plan, database, plugins, APIs), is it realistic to sustain the app for €8/month per active user?

The app would include:

  • User registration/login
  • User dashboards
  • Internal messaging/chat (with file uploads)
  • Team creation and management
  • Contract generation and display (PDF/visual)
  • Email notifications and in-app alerts
  • Resource libraries and interactive guides
  • Moderate use of APIs
  • Geolocation: some users will register multiple locations (e.g., land plots)

:backhand_index_pointing_right: Any hidden costs, performance limits, or plugin/API surprises I should know about?
:backhand_index_pointing_right: Has anyone calculated the monthly cost per active user for a similar use case?

Thanks a lot in advance — I’d really appreciate your input!

2

There are applications that charge per user less than that, however it depends on how many users do you expect to pay for your application ? also did you consider the time & effort & cost of maintaining your app, solving bugs, performance enhancement, adding new features or modifying existing ones based on your users’ feedback ?
I don’t think there is a definitive answer for your question.

3

Like @ahmed.elkaffas said, it’s difficult to give an exact answer to the question.

  • The most likely plan you’ll be using, at least in the beginning, is the Growth plan, at $119 /m (paid annually).
  • You may need to pay for some additional use of plugins for some of the features you’re mentioning, which is worth checking – many offer a one-time cost instead of subscription.
  • An internal chat solution is perfectly possible to build in Bubble, but a third-party solution may be a better option to cut development time, get around some Bubble quirks and save on workload costs (as rapid messaging can require a lot of db reading/writing).
  • With efficient building, you should be able to stay within the allotted WU of the Growth plan for quite some time
  • You’ll need to consider additional cost for third-party systems like email providers, and potentially resource libraries and interactive guides (which, again, can be built in Bubble, but it may be easier to go with an existing solution.

I can’t really comment on the $8 per users suggestion, as it depends on a lot more factors outside of the Bubble sphere too, but I hope this gives some helpful context. Generally, I’d recommend going with the apprach of charging whatever your clients are willing to pay – e.g. do some research on similar products, talk to potential clients, etc.

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