Pricing Indie Products: Charge Before You're Ready
The case for putting a price on it early, and what charging teaches you that free never will.
By FGA Labs
The most common pricing mistake indie builders make is waiting. Wait until it is polished, wait until there are more features, wait until it feels worthy of money. But charging is not a reward you unlock at the end — it is one of the most useful signals you can get, and it is available far earlier than most people think.
Free hides the truth
People will happily sign up for anything free and never think about it again. That tells you almost nothing. The moment you ask for money, you learn whether the problem is real enough that someone will part with a few dollars to solve it. That signal is worth more than a thousand free signups.
A free user tells you they were curious. A paying user tells you the problem is real.
What charging early teaches you
- Who your actual customer is, versus who merely likes the idea.
- Which features people will pay for, versus which just sounded good.
- Whether the thing is a business or a nicely built hobby.
You can always adjust
The fear is that a price will scare everyone away. Sometimes it does — and that is information, not a catastrophe. Prices are not permanent. Put a number on it, watch what happens, and adjust. The cost of charging too early is a few awkward conversations. The cost of charging too late is spending a year building something nobody was ever going to buy.