Price Per Read

Question

Is anyone willing to share what price they are paying per read.&nbsp; We used to be on a user based plan and paid around $30k annually.&nbsp; We were then forced to move to a usage based plan where our cost skyrocketed to $250k annually.&nbsp; I was mostly ok with this because our usage and apps had grown significantly.&nbsp; The next year we had another increase in price of $100k making our total $350k annually.
Well we are now up for renewal again and I was told that our account is being flagged and that we now have an additional $200k increase, which makes our total $550k annually.&nbsp; Keep in mind that our usage and apps has not changed in 2 years now.&nbsp; I was told that the driving factor was that we were receiving a price per read of 17 cents and the current MSRP is 24 cents per read.&nbsp; I have been reading on reddit and here that people are getting a price per read of 11 cents.&nbsp;&nbsp;
So we went from $30k/year to $550k/year in just 3 years.&nbsp; How can they do this?&nbsp; What action can we take to keep from having to pay these outrageous prices?------------------------------Amber Goodman------------------------------

miketamoush · Answer

I believe our price per read is lower than yours, but we, like you, switched to the read model and signed a 3 year contract and I FOUGHT and FOUGHT because they did the same thing to us - signed us on at a low rate then price gouged us.
This is a common complaint, and I too wonder what we can do to fight back. They will double, triple, and 10x your cost once you are in for a few years. In my opinion it is a very dirty business practice. I do love Quickbase, but I have stopped recommending it to companies for this very reason.
I don't know that there is much we can do besides stop recommending Quickbase until they stop their price inflation. However, they will continue to just offer really low prices for people to try it, then gouge them after 2 years also. You don't realize the gouge until you are committed.&nbsp;
If it helps (misery loves company) you are certainly not the only one. The amount of people that have said this in the community, it does appear that this is Quickbases business model.------------------------------Mike Tamoush------------------------------

patrickdimarco · Answer

The same thing is happening to us. We are a small company. They forced us to switch to the "reads" model once we already built our platform off of the old model. This model does not make sense if they want people to build on their platform. Why would I want to grow on their platform when I know they are going to charge a ridiculous amount? As of now I have stopped recommending them.&nbsp; We are currently looking to get off the platform because of the substantial price increase. This new pricing model would increase our price total price by 275%. I am very shocked and dissatisfied.
------------------------------Patrick DiMarco------------------------------

quickbaseadmi10 · Answer

First off, I am so sorry. I appreciate you being vulnerable and bringing this up in the discussions. We are currently on a user-based plan and are due to renew this year. I will be confirming with my account executive about whether or not QuickBase forces a plan change from user-based to reads-based. If it's true, we likely need to move to another platform prior to our renewal. I would be greatly disappointed with QuickBase if they didn't allow one to be grandfathered into their old plan and keep it how it was. Even shady phone carriers allow users to keep their old plans that are no longer available to the public.&nbsp;
------------------------------QuickBase Administrator2------------------------------

miketamoush · Answer

QuickBase Admin2: I am not sure if they are making it mandatory to switch (Amber may be able to answer that), but typically what they have been doing when it is time to renew they will tell you, to stay on the per user model you need to pay retail price. I am not sure the current price, but last time I checked a year or so ago it was $50/user/month. This increase usually encourages people to move to the read model.
Everyone gets put on the platform at a cheap rate so they can get you in, usually between $25-35/user/month, then as soon as you have to renew they tell you that you need to pay full price. It's a shock to your system because suddenly your price doubles or maybe even 10x. This can be crippling for small businesses, so it's an unfortunate (and in my opinion, borderline evil) business practice.
I think when people are on subscription services, they expect price increases to be a few percent, maybe even 10 percent max. QB does usually 200% to 1000% increases each renewal, so you should be ready for that. It's pretty awful, and I know I personally have stopped recommending QB to new businesses (and I really love QB, it pains me not to recommend it). They tried the increase for me, and the only reason I was able to get something reasonable is that we were at a point where our QB had grown so much, we already were looking for a bigger plan knowing we would double our price. Since we were volunteering to go to a much bigger plan, and because I was kicking and screaming, we were only slightly gouged (though, they quoted me one price, and we waited a few months to do it and the quote expired and the new quote was 25% more than the original.....I was furious).
Additionally, I know behind the scenes some developers are making ways to help people transfer out of Quickbase. I think that will actually become a business - the idea of how to get out of QB and to another platform, as I don't think that many businesses will be able to keep up with their enormous price raises.------------------------------Mike Tamoush------------------------------

ambergoodman · Answer

They didn't "force" us to go to a usage based plan, but the pricing they gave us was $1.2M if we were to stay on the user based plan. So we could pay $1.2M or go with the usage based plan and pay $232k, which was a 232% increase from prior year.

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Amber Goodman
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Price Per Read