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Running Costs of a SaaS app

cushionapp.com

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Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#41

Post by cdelb »

destroytoday wrote: post #12
altern8tif wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any particular reason you moved away from Mailchimp? Do you do any form of email marketing now?

We switched to Intercom for sending our monthly email simply because its email editor is so good. I wish a proper email marketing service would come close to their simplicity, but I haven't seen anything yet. We might be moving back to Mailchimp soon because the per-user cost for Intercom has really skyrocketed since we've used them for email marketing. Granted, Intercom actually don't want people to use them for sen…

Have you considered Drift as an alternative to Intercom? I have a small SaaS app as well, and my Intercom bill is about $130 a month compared to $50 with Drift.

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#42

Post by destroytoday »

AsyncAwait wrote: post #22
destroytoday wrote: post #2

:waves: Hi, I'm the founder of Cushion. I'd be happy to answer any questions about our running costs or transparency. (Thanks for posting, @Sujan!)

So I am wondering about heroku: you say that it's quite expensive, but $25/mo doesn't seem that much. How many users can one $25/mo server actually power?

I think I wrote that when they had their older pricing, or I didn’t realize their real value. Also, I’m pretty sure we could run Cushion on a single dyno, but I like having two around to balance.

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#43

Post by destroytoday »

cdelb wrote: post #41
destroytoday wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We switched to Intercom for sending our monthly email simply because its email editor is so good. I wish a proper email marketing service would come close to their simplicity, but I haven't seen anything yet. We might be moving back to Mailchimp soon because the per-user cost for Intercom has really skyrocketed since we've used them for email marketing. Granted, Intercom actually don't want people to use them for sen…

Have you considered Drift as an alternative to Intercom? I have a small SaaS app as well, and my Intercom bill is about $130 a month compared to $50 with Drift.

I noticed them a while back, but I'm happy with Intercom. They're good people.

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#44

Post by marban »

csomar wrote: post #39
destroytoday wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! I should actually add that expense, too... Thanks for the reminder. :)

I was actually asking because I got an ethically-questionable, evil idea: If you are owning the Cushion word, can you sue for the domain name cushion.com?

No. The trademark must be registered and exist at the time the domain was registered and that the domain owner knowingly and intentionally registered the trademarked domain name.

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#47

Post by AsyncAwait »

destroytoday wrote: post #42
AsyncAwait wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I am wondering about heroku: you say that it's quite expensive, but $25/mo doesn't seem that much. How many users can one $25/mo server actually power?

I think I wrote that when they had their older pricing, or I didn’t realize their real value. Also, I’m pretty sure we could run Cushion on a single dyno, but I like having two around to balance.

Aha, makes sense. Thanks!

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#48

Post by biot »

Tip: if you're reading this on your phone, switch to landscape orientation to reveal a bunch of detail that's otherwise hidden. Then switch to a tablet/desktop to see even more detail. It's a shame the responsive design removes columns on smaller screens rather than finding another way to present all the information.

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#49

Post by jaxn »

destroytoday wrote: post #30
machbio wrote: post #21

Is it really important to distinguish your web application with another font - looks like he spent $500 on Web fonts, which is a lot for a startup ?

It’s less about distinguishing the app with another font and more about designing the app with what I had in mind—the system fonts and more affordable fonts didn’t feel right to me. Even though I consider myself more of a developer, I went to school for design and it’s a big part of my work, so the look and feel is just as important to me as whether the app works or not. Sure, we could’ve saved $500, but I wouldn’t e…

I am just using fonts from Google Web Fonts, but when we made the change we had several users reach out with how much they love the new fonts.

Since then, I am very intentional about using fonts consistently and intentionally. I could definitely see us "upgrading" our fonts when we do a design refresh.

Re: Running Costs of a SaaS app

#50

Post by maxmcd »

destroytoday wrote: post #46
yokisan wrote: post #28

For Stripe analytics, Profitwell is free. And awesome. https://www.profitwell.com

Looks nice, but I'd never not pay for a service because you're paying somehow, or the service won't be around for long.

Well, they have a paid tier. I feel like there's room for a little optimism when superusers are funding the existence of free plans.
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