The End of the Free Tiers

The Cloudcast

2024 is the year of business accountability across all aspects of the software industry. This means that all variations of the free tier are going away in one way or another.

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SHOW NOTES:

• Linkerd changes publishing model of images
• PlanetScale discontinues Free Tier (“Hobby”) of service

WHY DID THE FREE TIER(S) EXIST IN THE FIRST PLACE?

• Why do free tiers exist? Marketing awareness, experimentation,
• Why is talking about making money, or profitability considered taboo?
• Why do we reconcile the love of employees and the hatred of paying for software?

WHAT ARE THE TRADE-OFFS WHEN THE FREE TIER GOES AWAY?

• Are free tiers and free open source software the same thing?
• Are “wants” and “value” the same thing?
• What should be free in the software world?
• Should end-users want the backers of a project or company to be successful?
• Will VCs continue to back companies that have free tiers, or companies that spend on marketing, or is the game needing new (undefined) rules?

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