Details on the New Pricing Plans

Info & Announcements
117

I am a big Adalo fan. Kind of new at this, but my project is moving along quite nicely. Yes, there are things I wish you could do better, but overall, I’m pretty happy with the current service.

I’m curious about a few things, that might help me (and others) understand your pricing strategy.

Pricing for a service is usually based on a couple of things. Of course, your business has to earn profit. All good. No problem there.

Second, you have to factor in the cost of providing the service to me, the customer. So, what elements of my usage cost you money? For example, do the number of records I have translate to a cost for you? How about actions? If my app uses more actions, does that cost Adalo more to provide the service to me? And does my use of the Collections API have a cost? If my app uses more API calls, does that increase your cost to support me?

Those are a few of the things I can think of, as a non-technical no-code developer. I’m sure there are others that I am not aware of.

Bottom line for me is, I want Adalo to make profit. That’s what any successful business wants. And I wan’t you to charge me a fair price for the service you provide to me. I guess I’m really just asking how my usage figures in to your operating costs? If you charge me more when I use more actions (for example) is that because it costs you more to provide that particular service to me?

Just trying to understand your business model.

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119

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120

Ah see, now we’re getting somewhere with this suggestion. THIS idea is starting to look more feasible. However, I’m a little iffy on the inability to tie in external collections unless I bump up to a higher tier. Now, if Adalo’s internal collections were solid without issues, this might be okay… but they’re not.

I guess we need clarification on whether we can use API to ping external workflows on any of these plans (your suggestion AND Adalo’s initial proposition), that would provide some insight for a lot of folks, I think.

But aside from that, I’m on board with what you’ve got here. Digging the “no limits” on actions across the board. Limiting actions at any level would be disastrous, I think. And as raised by someone else, do my taps and screen views raise costs for Adalo, or were they suggesting restrictions on such because either (a) to make more money or (b) to reduce the impact of resource hogs…

Either way, I believe there are better ways of reducing resource-hungry apps, including putting those limitations on free accounts, not on paying customers.

121

Hey everyone & the Adalo Team

Spent a bit of time working through the posts here to understand everyone’s individual challenges and issues with the pricing changes etc.

Firstly, I’d just like to say that increasing prices is absolutely essential for a business to survive and grow. At some point using Adalo is going to get more expensive and if you value their offering you will have to accept the increase in price.

That being said, I do agree with the sentiments discussed above regarding the limits & costs of actions as well as using the Collections API. My app is very much dependent on using the Collections API and although my actions/month is low at present, I know that with continued engagement and growth it will quickly use up the limits stipulated above.

I think potentially merging the Pro and Team plans at a price point that’s a bit more reasonable (e.g. $100-160/month) with a tiered approach (like Zapier’s) to the actions used per month (e.g. $100 up to 50k/month, $130 up to 75k/month, $160 up to 100k/month) as well as the extra $8+ for overshooting your limits would mean that Pro users could still access the Collections API but not necessarily have to spend $160/month just to access it.

I also agree with the above sentiments regarding the number of editors. If you’ve got 50 editors vs 5 editors there’s a major difference in how big your organisation is and likely what you can afford to pay for the service.

Personally, I would need to have the Collections API for my app to work and business to succeed, but $160/200 per month is quite a lot to spend for only one SaaS tool (an important one no doubt about it, but one that has quite a number of quirks). I would pay this for sure, but I would definitely start looking at other options (e.g. other tools, custom dev etc) if it were the case because I don’t think this pricing structure would be sustainable over long periods of time or at scale.

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122

The external collection should be enabled in the starter plan I think.

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123

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I would suggest it at least.

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For my part, I had several projects almost finished, I put everything on hold while waiting for the Adalo team to finally decide to give us definitive answers, and not simple projections subject to discussion. I think it’s time to put the balls on the table and give real answers, otherwise you will lose a lot of customers. remember a simple rule in marketing: a satisfied customer speaks to 1, a dissatisfied customer speaks to 10…

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126

Adalo was my home and my first money income in the past 2 years. This has literally killed my business and my job. I cannot pay 600$ a month.

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127

To me too, it seems to me that I will only offer my clients eco-commerce stores and websites that I will make in wordpress… I get unlimited hosting and that’s it… I have no problems with how many pages and actions I can do, and I have many plugins to use… I have MANY apps with ADALO and now I don’t know what the future of those apps will be like and those that customers have already paid me… instead of a raise they killed us! better 10,000 people out of 50 than 100 out of 100… What ADALO did was very bad, he played with our businesses and our future… having a business created by a platform that decides the future of your life, is not good! ADALO we are very upset with you!

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128

I don’t see the pricing changing. It sounds like this is done. I’ve heard some pretty alarming things outside of the forums about what is going on at Adalo which I won’t repeat. And there has been no official follow up by adalo - at best, they’re trying to get the town hall thing recorded, edited, and uploaded quickly to answer questions. But that’s best case scenario.

Like any good business person, my time is now being spent having an alternative built out.
I’m taking this as an opportunity to be proud of my business (that I built outside of Adalo, Adalo did not do anything for my business. It was a 2-webview app with plans to build out something amazing but I’m still struggling to get it to go live and not crash.

If Adalo somehow saves themselves from this pricing fiasco before I have time to recreate my app in another service, then I’ll consider staying if the pricing is reasonable.

Do I think adalo will change direction on pricing? I have zero expectation that anything said in this forum will change Adalo’s trajectory. I feel terrible for the community leaders, I think it’s tragic for those that built their businesses based on being experts and component developers for Adalo.

I think this will end up being an excellent case study in why no-code platforms leaning too hard on their platform lock-in design will ultimately be the end of no-code platforms that are ‘walled gardens’.

Already, there are competitors giving people the option to take your code. The (correct) business thinking is that people will be relieved their business can’t be extorted - and will continue to pay so that they can maintain their systems and grow with a company that hears their concerns and makes good faith changes.

The reality here is that most customers that want to own the code /files are actually wanting assurances they are not going to be extorted.

Because of this kind of behavior right here.
Like this.
literally this.

I’m not interested in hearing about Adalo’s hurt feelings while they’re trying to rob me.

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129

Hi everyone!

As others have kindly pointed out, the Adalo team is reading and reviewing the comments that are made in this post. Several makers have reached out directly to David, our CEO, and have voiced their concerns. It is not possible for us to respond to every comment individually.

This morning, David is filming a townhall that will respond to most of this feedback with decisions or clarifications around the newly proposed pricing plan.

All of this being said, we have community guidelines that have been outlined in the linked post. We have tried to refrain from flagging, removing posts, or shutting down access to users that flagrantly violate our guidelines because we do want to receive that feedback.

However, some posts have gone too far & to promote a friendly & educational forum where others are not belittled, intimidated, or nursing conspiracy theories, we will be flagging or removing those posts.

Please, per our community guidelines, stay on topic with this post, stay respectful with your feedback, and considerate of those with opposing viewpoints.

We want this forum to be a place to learn & engage with the Adalo product while helping our fellow makers. We have also opened this forum up to be a place to engage in constructive conversation that allows for the team to hear feedback. Feedback can be given without inflammatory remarks.

Thank you for doing your part in making this community a place for dialogue!

Katelyn

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131

Speaking of dialogue, can we hear more from Adalo? Seeing that Adalo badge pop up in this feed is like seeing a polar bear in the desert.

We need to know what your plans are. If your pricing structure is set in stone in a way that doesn’t work for me, so be it. I’ll move on, and won’t take hard feelings with me.

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134

I’m always down for tacos!
But I don’t have time for a movie night, unfortunately.

I’m pulling long hours to fix this business crisis.
Can’t even get my Adalo app up and running to see if arguing about price is even worth five minutes.

Forum just happens to be open and I get pings now and then.

135

It’s called bait & switch and it’s illegal in every jurisdiction on earth. Adalo is setting themselves up for a class-action lawsuit.

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136

The truth is that’s wrong… I haven’t been working for days and Adalo will pay me for the days lost? but I’m sure he’s going to charge me monthly… what they just did is crazy! If they change everything, I will demand that they return the money for every month that I pay because I contracted a plan and changed everything, that is, the apps will stop working, I will be left empty-handed since Adalo keeps everything … I contracted a monthly plan in dls with unlimited apps with the possibility of paying for more storage and I will not allow the new changes!

This uncertainty is crazy, they send the price, they destabilize their clients and they don’t give answers… They should NEVER modify the plans, on the contrary add benefits to the plans.

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137

Wow, some of you are bordering on hysterical. I don’t know how old any of you are, but given some of the comments here I’m guessing a lot of you don’t have much real world experience yet and need to let all your emotions control your immature public comments. I’m actually surprised some of you are able to run any type of business at all!

Adalotaco you just keep whining and complaining non stop. You keep saying you’re not going to hang around in these forums more and yet here you are trolling every day. You keep saying you’re going to leave but you never seem to be able to actually leave. Just stop posting. Please.

Endieumunna felt the need to bring up covid vaccines and conspiracy theories! JohnT is going off on a racist angle. On a post about pricing. FFS.

I wouldn’t give any of you my business, half the comments on this thread are so immature, it’s unbelievable.

Everyone agrees the pricing is out of line, but make your case without the hysterics and theatricals. It’s these types of comments that make ME want to leave. These forums should be to help each other learn, provide feedback to Adalo staff and support each other while using Adalo. But some of you are just not mature enough yet to know how to express yourselves professionally in a public space and it’s really unfortunate for those that really want to get something out of this platform. So if you’ve said you’re going to leave, please do and let those that want to actually build do so without all your stupid crap.

138

Reasonable changes and price increases are to be expected but these are way beyond reason. My big concern is, if [more like ‘when’] I leave, will my existing apps continue to be hosted at Adalo? I specifically asked that question before signing up and and was told that they would be. That, now remains to be seen. This breach of contract is definitely lawsuit worthy. Bait & switch are a matter for criminal courts.

139

I get where you’re headed, but I’m not sure that bait and switch will apply here, as they are allowing all current paying customers the next 12 months at our current rate/plan, though that hasn’t been entirely defined, so we’ll have to see; if it’s as it “sounds,” I’ll have 12 more months of unlimited actions and unlimited apps, but I suspect there’s a catch in the fine print somewhere.

Either way, except for any customer who has purchased a current plan far in advance (not sure how many years you can buy up front), I’m not sure month-to-month customers can hold a valid argument in court that they were mislead as to the product they were purchasing, as a “lack of commitment,” that is, paying monthly, may show a court that you didn’t really lose anything because you could halt your service and there would be no breach of contract. But there again, if someone has paid, let’s say, five years out, but their current plan only applies for the next 12 months, then they’ll be forced to switch over, I could see that being a contractual issue.

Aside from that, the only other legal standing that I could see is the effect of Adalo’s change having detrimental impact on a customer’s mental/emotional health as it relates to loss of business/income, but even that would likely be settled out of court and probably not amount to much.

The question is, does Adalo have it in their TOS somewhere that they reserve the right to completely change their entire pricing structure and marketing intent with or without notice to the customer, and how far reaching does that extend into monthly subscribers. This, I do not know.

But alas, I’m going to give Adalo an opportunity (hopefully soon) to see what they come up with. If they don’t alter course at all, that would be insulting to each and every one of their customers more than anything. But that would also shed some light that they don’t need “us” as customers because they clearly have something else going on that’s going to makeup for the loss in revenue.

However, I would be very surprised if they haven’t made some alterations to their projected pricing plan. Will it be satisfactory to all of us? Probably not. Quite frankly, unless they back off of throttling actions and limiting access to API, I suspect most customers who are engaged here will be packing up shop. But I want to believe (perhaps misguided) that Adalo’s team wouldn’t be so brazen to middle finger us out the door; who knows though, their lack of communication to that effect is troublesome, to say the least.

Time will tell.

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140

If this was something that could easily be converted to a competitor, sure.

But a month to month customer is not the same if you can’t easily shift to a competitor because of designed limitations in the software to prevent customers from being able to leave.

Whatever your pricing, it’s anti-competitive behavior (walled garden / apple) combined with extortion (can’t leave / adobe) even adobe had to make it so you could convert to other file types.

I wouldn’t dismiss the idea of an attorney general bringing a lawsuit against this kind of stuff.

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142

And while it might not be ultimately successful, an attorney general would drag out the details. If it was literal extortion - Adalo not being in any peril but simply looking for a money grab, there would absolutely be discovery and other charges possible.

You don’t sign up for free and waive legal protections.
You signed terms of services - but so did Adalo.
And Adalo is expected to follow the letter of the law when doing business.
It’s not the wild wild west.

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