The Thursday Thread: What’s your favorite real-world pricing case study?

The Thursday Thread

One question from us, once a week.

Share your take :point_down:

We want to hear…

What’s your favorite real-world pricing case study?

Not theory. Not frameworks.

The pricing move that actually worked - and stuck with you.

Maybe it unlocked a new revenue stream.

Maybe it flopped but taught you something priceless.

Whether it’s from your company or one you admire, drop it below :backhand_index_pointing_down:

Let’s build a library of real pricing wins (and lessons).

I’ll kick this off. I have two favorites in the world of SaaS:

  1. Zoom’s Freemium Strategy: When Zoom entered the market, the other players offered a Freemium plan, but limited it to 2-3 users. Zoom flipped this on its head, offering the free plan for 50 users, but limiting meeting duration to 40 minutes. Have always thought this was a master class in how to thoughtfully limit a free plan to draw users into a product, but also ensure the plan doesn’t cannibalize paid plans.

  2. HubSpot’s 3-Part Tariff: In the early days of HubSpot, they charged a flat fee for each plan, and due to higher churn from SMBS, were struggling with net dollar retention. Inspireed by the team at Sequoia, they changed to 2-axis pricing, where they offered a base fee, and a variable fee based on contact volume. The results speak for themselves!

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Hi everyone, just jumping in here :slight_smile:

I’ve always admired Google’s pricing and product strategy with Google One. At first, it felt like they were simply pushing an upgrade for extra storage,something users could get, but didn’t perceive a lot of value in. Then they rebranded it as Google One in May 2018, bundled in real benefits like 24/7 access to live support, mobile-device backup, enhanced security tools, VPN, and even Google Play credits

By packaging all of that together, they didn’t just sell more storage, they created a service people felt was worth paying for. Now it’s not just extra gigabytes, it’s a full-featured subscription with tangible value. Definitely a smart, strategic move!

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Great callout @Emiliano_Loiacono! This is one of the few services I actually pay for every month.

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