2 posts were split to a new topic: Long lead times for Particle hardware
I do not have a sandbox account. Therefore, I do not feel "in control" of my costs with a system that relies on data I do not presently have access to (without contacting support), determining how much I pay.
When I did contact support for that information, I was shocked to see how close I am already to the 100k limit with only 2 Boron and 4 Photon connected. Further, I was only given a bulk number with no information on individual usage. Still not feeling in control.
Hi @picsil, thanks for raising the issue of cellular data limits as there seems to be some confusion in the thread. The limits by plan are as follows:
Free plan - 45MB per month at no cost
Growth (Cellular) - 540MB per month
Growth (Asset Tracking) - 1.5GB per month
Details can be found here in the FAQ (Pricing FAQ – Particle Support)
On the Growth plan for cellular, there is more cellular data included per device than our previous model offered (5.4MB per device at 100 devices vs 3MB per device in the old model). The Tracker plan includes 15MB per device at 100 devices, which is less that was included before as we found the a decrease in cost per device ($5.99 at 100 devices in the new plan vs $6.99 under the old structure) to be a better fit.
I missed this and believed the "100 devices FREE" statement.
With the original 3MB per cellular device, you could just about build something and keep it running. With 0.45MB per device, you need about 7 devices worth of MB to keep those devices running.
So "first 100 devices FREE" in reality will likely be more like 15-20 devices before many people will need to buy a block. An important improvement is the data are now pooled.
FREE is then suddenly 299USD for 21 devices or about 15USD per device instead of 2.99USD.
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I also believed the “100 devices FREE” statement (nowhere in the announcement email or blog post does it mention 45mb) and immediately emailed a prospective customer and told them cellular was now an option. I hope they don’t take me up on it.
A post was split to a new topic: Question about growth blocks
Hey folks,
Thanks to those who have taken the time to voice thoughtful feedback on our recent pricing changes. I want to address some of the ongoing concerns that are central themes of discussion here and ensure that concerned individuals know how best to engage with Particle to find a path that works for their business.
Engaging with Particle on pricing questions / concerns
Most importantly, all existing customers should know that we have created customized plans for you, based on your existing consumption, that ensures that the price you pay Particle for your existing fleet won't go up.
I see a handful of comments in this thread referencing the "new cost" of existing Particle applications on the updated pricing model, but want to be clear that no customers whose usage made them ineligible for the Free Plan are being asked to pay off-the-shelf rates for their current usage. We have already worked successfully with many of the individuals on this thread to review and resolve the questions and concerns they had about migrating to the new plan.
If you have similar questions or concerns, I highly recommend you reach out to Support, here. All of the conversations we've taken into DMs from this thread have been routed to this channel, so you won't be missing out on any special benefits by submitting a ticket directly.
Why is the new pricing model designed this way?
When we designed the new pricing model, our team analyzed usage across multiple different types of platform users, spoke with dozens of customers about the challenges they were having with our previous model, and designed our new pricing model around the needs and usage of the vast majority of our customers.
Our Free Plan is designed to enable rapid prototyping, exploration, technical evaluation, and running small pilots. The average Particle cellular developer has 1-2 devices and pays $3-6 per month, and our Free Plan was designed to give this person significantly more space to build and explore the platform while removing recurring fees as a barrier. We're really proud of this plan – we're not aware of any other company providing more value to customers at no charge. In fact, at 100K Data Ops our Free Plan provides ~10x the allotment of the next closest competitor that we're aware of.
Our Growth Plan is designed for companies who are looking to establish product market fit and to gain market access with their product. The vast majority of paid cellular devices on the platform do not use their full 3MB data allotment per device, which means that each month customers pay for value they do not use. The shift to Data Operations better aligns our pricing model with value created by the platform. Customers pay more when more messages are sent, and pay less when fewer messages are sent.
We see a number of other integrated IoT platforms moving towards these types of models where data usage is included with billing plans and plans are based on "events" or "messages" as a better representation of value delivered.
Data operations vs. devices vs. cellular data
Data Operations
For the vast majority of our users (80%+) Data Operations (not devices or MBs) will be the primary reason that they move from one tier to another on the platform. This also means that customers can decide to reduce their Data Operations usage to adjust consumption and stay within an existing pricing tier, which was not previously possible with a model designed around devices.
Devices
We say that our Free Plan supports "up to 100 devices" because we know there are some customers deploying sleepy or low-message-volume applications that will hit this cap before running out of monthly Data Ops. For the median cellular application, the Free Plan includes enough Data Ops for 40-50 free devices, which we still think is a really compelling offering.
Data
In the new pricing model, we have implemented data caps as a way of protecting our exposure against runaway cellular devices since we're not asking customers to pay separately for MBs. As Zach mentioned, the caps have been designed such that they are basically impossible to trip before hitting 100K Data Operations.
That being said, one of the concerns raised in this thread has been the implications of a 45MB cap for users with more devices, so we've decided to increase this cap from 45MB/mo to 100MB/mo for the Free Plan to provide everyone with extra headroom.
Next steps
We are genuinely empathetic with the concerns raised in this thread and are excited to work with every individual on this thread to meaningfully resolve them. Currently, the majority of new comments are now focused on individual migration concerns more so than generally-applicable questions about the new pricing model and how it works. Because these conversations are best had directly with support, we're going to close this thread to additional comments, and encourage any customers who are concerned about migrating to the new model to contact our Support team.
While we believe this new model will better serve the needs of the majority of our customers, we're committed to supporting all our existing customers in continuing forward with Particle.
If you do have questions about the plans themselves, I encourage you to create a new thread and we'll be happy to answer it there! I've already split a few of the questions posted here in new threads to make them easier for additional customers to find:
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