StackPrice Pricing quickscan Pricing QuickScan · USD 79
Fieldnote: three plans, one broken value metric
A fast read of the current pricing page, the plan mix behind it, and the two changes that unlock expansion revenue.
You asked whether your prices are too low. They are not, and that is the least interesting thing wrong with your pricing. The problem is that you charge per seat for a product whose value has almost nothing to do with seats, which is why 71 percent of your accounts sit on the middle plan and none of them ever grow out of it.
Per seat pricing caps you at the size of the customer's team, while the value you deliver scales with the number of sites they inspect. Until the metric changes, every price rise is a one-off and every account is a flat line.
Diagnosis
Current state, read from the outside
Three plans at USD 29, USD 79 and USD 199 per user per month, with an enterprise tier that says contact us and has never been sold.
Four symptoms, one cause. Each of these is usually treated as its own problem, and each of them is downstream of a value metric that does not track value.
| Symptom | The usual explanation | What is actually happening | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 71 percent of accounts on the middle plan | The middle plan is well designed | There is nothing in the top plan a 6 person team needs. The gates are team features, and your customers are not teams | Critical |
| Zero net expansion last quarter | Customers are happy where they are | Accounts cannot grow without hiring. A customer doubling their inspection volume pays you exactly the same | Critical |
| Discounting on 4 of the last 9 deals | Competitive pressure | Seat counts over 10 produce a number the buyer cannot justify, so your own pricing forces the discount | High |
| Enterprise tier never sold | No enterprise pipeline | Contact us with nothing behind it. There is no enterprise offer, only an enterprise label | Medium |
| Trial to paid at 4.1 percent | Top of funnel quality | The free plan caps at 3 sites, which is below the point where the product proves anything | High |
The metric
What your customers actually buy
A value metric is the unit a customer accepts as fair to pay more of when they get more. It has to move with the value they receive, be easy to predict before they buy, and be hard to game. Seats fail the first test badly.
| Candidate metric | Tracks value? | Predictable? | Gameable? | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | No. A 4 person team can run 500 inspections | Yes | Yes, by sharing logins | Current, wrong |
| Inspections completed | Yes, directly | Yes, customers already forecast this | No | Recommended |
| Sites under management | Mostly. Lags actual activity | Very | No | Strong second |
| Storage used | No. A proxy for photos, not for value | No | Yes | Reject |
| Reports exported | Partly. Punishes the behaviour you want | No | Yes | Reject |
Inspections completed is the metric your customers already count in their own operations meetings. That is usually the strongest signal available, and it means you never have to explain the unit.
Context
How the comparable set packages
Five products a buyer is likely to see alongside you. This is a packaging map, not a feature comparison, and the point of it is the right hand column.
| Product | Value metric | Entry price | Where they beat you |
|---|---|---|---|
| SiteLedger | Sites under management | USD 149 / mo | A buyer can size the cost before a call |
| Inspecta | Inspections, banded | USD 99 / mo | Expansion happens without a conversation |
| Formwork | Seats | USD 39 / user | Nothing. Same trap, larger company |
| Auditly | Flat, unlimited | USD 390 / mo | Simplicity. Wins procurement, loses small teams |
| Clipboard Pro | Free, paid export | USD 0 | Top of funnel, and they convert into you |
Two of the five have already moved off seats. Neither of them is bigger than you were eighteen months ago, which means the move is not a scale privilege.
Design
Recommended architecture
Three plans, priced on inspections per month, with seats unlimited on every plan. Feature gates follow a single rule: anything that reduces the customer's own risk is gated, anything that increases their usage is not.
Field · USD 89 / mo
Up to 60 inspections. Unlimited users. Core capture, photo evidence, PDF report. The plan a two person operation can buy on a card without asking anyone.
Operations · USD 249 / mo
Up to 250 inspections. Adds templates, scheduling, offline sync and the audit trail. This is where 60 percent of your current base lands, at roughly 1.9x what they pay now.
Programme · USD 690 / mo
Up to 900 inspections. Adds SSO, retention policy, API and a named reviewer. Priced so that procurement recognises it, and so that the twelve accounts already over 250 have somewhere to go.
Custom
Over 900 inspections, annual only, with a stated starting point of USD 18,000 a year. Contact us with a number behind it is a plan. Contact us on its own is not.
Risk
Migration is where this goes wrong
Metric changes fail in migration far more often than in design. The failure mode is always the same: a loud minority whose bill rises sharply, and a founder who reverses the change three weeks in.
| Group | Accounts | Bill change | Handling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low volume, many seats | 74 | Down 20 to 45 percent | Say nothing beyond the announcement. They will notice. |
| Matched | 421 | Within 15 percent either way | Standard migration notice, 60 days |
| High volume, few seats | 133 | Up 60 to 210 percent | Individual outreach before any public announcement. Offer 12 months at a capped rate. |
| Current discounted deals | 12 | Up to list | Renewal only |
The 133 accounts in row three are the ones getting the most value from you and paying the least for it. They are also the ones most likely to post about the change. Handle them first, privately, with a number in hand.
Sequence
What to test, in what order
- Weeks 1 to 2
Confirm the metric with five customers
The budget question from section 02. Five calls, no slides. If three or more answer in inspections or sites, proceed. If they answer in people, stop and send this back.
- Weeks 3 to 4
Price test on new traffic only
New signups see the three new plans. Existing accounts see nothing. Measure signup to paid and the plan mix, not revenue, over at least 300 visitors.
- Week 6
Raise the free plan cap to 10 inspections
Your current cap of 3 sits below the point where the product demonstrates anything. This is the cheapest change in the report and the only one with no downside risk.
- Weeks 7 to 9
Private outreach to the 133
Before any announcement. Capped rate for twelve months, named contact, a written number. This is the step that decides whether the migration is a non-event.
- Week 10
Announce, with 60 days notice
One email, one changelog entry, one pricing page. Do not soften the date and do not run a second grandfathering round when the first complaints arrive.
- Plan mix on new signups, weekly
- Trial to paid conversion after the free cap change
- Net revenue retention, monthly, for the first time
- Accounts crossing a band boundary without a sales conversation
- Discount rate on new deals
- Churn in the 133 account cohort specifically