Subscription, one-time, or credits — how should an indie SaaS charge?
What is the 3-step decision flow?
Step one, compute per-run cost (compute, APIs, human time); step two, decide whether usage is ongoing or one-shot; step three, match: near-zero cost + ongoing → subscription, high cost + per-run → credits, one-shot delivery → one-time.
How do you draw the free tier?
Principle: the free tier gives enough to validate value once, not to keep using indefinitely. "Once a month" diagnosis quotas are the common draw — users can judge worth, heavy users convert naturally.
What are the classic pricing mistakes?
Three classics: unlimited lifetime (costs spiral), cloning competitor prices (different cost structure), over-generous free tier (no reason to pay). Case study in the linked pricing failure page.
Run the free growth diagnosis to get your current stage and biggest bottleneck: input product reality, get a stage verdict, a 30-day list, and an explicit do-not-do list.
Free growth diagnosis