Will Bubble ever get a really basic and cheap plan?

rijk-db · September 22, 2021, 1:02pm

I don’t even need database space, I’m just talking a custom domain, no watermark and a few other small stuff. Nothing special, just something I can afford

draked123 · September 22, 2021, 2:01pm

A few months ago, Bubble was doing some A/B pricing tests on new accounts, not sure if they got any good information from it. Nothing came after the testing was (seemingly) completed. Not sure if they just didn’t get the information they needed (since us Bubbler’s were quick to notice the pricing ambiguity and brought it up on the forums), or what ended up happening with it.

At one point, here was a pricing model:

An official response to Bubble pricing discrepancy

Hey, jumping in here about this. I know there has been a few threads about this so it’s a good time to explain a what is happening behind the scenes. We are indeed running a few experiments. As I explained in the free plan announcement, we’re still looking at ways to grow the company in a way that ensures we can become a standard for the web, and figuring out which pricing works best is very valuable. In the past, we used to do this without testing, and it’s definitely not a great way to do it… That’s why we decided to start running these tests. Most companies do this, but being as community-driven as we are, it can be noticed more frequently.

Effectively, we do show different plans/prices to some new users (when the price is different, the plans also are, even though they have the same name). Sometimes we also add a new plan; for instance, people have mentioned lately the idea of a cheap plan that would give access to some paid features, we’re testing this as well. The system is set up in a way that only new users, who have not visited our site before, may be seeing different things. That said, when people refer their clients, it can happen that the difference is noticed, and in such cases, please reach out to our team and we’ll move people out of the experiment.

Thank you for your support and understanding as we do this. I know this can be stressful but 1) we don’t run these with existing users 2) getting real data from our users is the best way to grow Bubble and make it successful

eLPDev · September 23, 2021, 2:47am

Thanks for summarizing, @draked123. Right there with you, @rijk-db, in terms of hoping for a “lite” plan that makes it easy to ease into Bubble financially.

In my mind, a lower price plan would be great for those wanting to use Bubble as a single-person startup or as a blog platform. That’s what drew me to a custom Wordpress solution - able to get a site online for a low price and scale as needed.

Anyone else have use cases in mind that an affordable plan would help meet?

nocodeventure · September 23, 2021, 6:24am

Bubble is cheap emo, they can easily ask $60/ month for the services provided.

Just to give you an idea, the database with a restful api bubble offers is worth more than $100/month somewhere else, and you won’t be having more than 50,000 workflows available.

Bubble doesn’t limit the workflows, which is priceless.

See: Pricing and Plans

eLPDev · September 24, 2021, 12:48pm

@nocodeventure, I totally agree with you in terms of the more technical requirements for web apps using API calls and other such functionality. Bubble is an incredibly strong contender price-wise and gives a LOT of power for a great price.

Unfortunately, for those needing a no-code approach to a self-marketing/public profile site or blog site that needs SEO, custom branding/domains, and also low-level custom web app functionality, the $300/year plan is a bit “much” compared to cheaper options, especially because content marketing takes time to drum up business. That’s sad for those of us who really want to use (and support) the Bubble platform but aren’t established enough to afford it.

Someone wanting to start a “get to me know me” site that can then scale into a fully-fledged solution offering has to gamble a bit on the Personal plan, which is easier said than done if you are on a tight budget.

nocodeventure · September 24, 2021, 12:54pm

Reach out to support, if you’re a student they should be able to offer a discount? For a get to know me website, I’d recommend going for Wordpress, with typeform.

See: Student Discount - #2 by Christophe_HK

johnny · September 24, 2021, 2:05pm

Yep! They offer 30% off for students and nonprofits I believe.

mewans86 · September 24, 2021, 3:22pm

I’ve been looking into alternatives and so far I think Bubble is a top price/quality correlation. Though if they offer lower cost I think they just become more popular