Practitioner pattern · David Barnard (Works at RevenueCat, which publishes the report)
Include credits in the subscription and let heavy users buy more
Spreading, e.g. 13% of photo/video apps; too few included credits drew angry reviews
Mixedpricingupsell-expansion
What they did
For AI apps where a few users drive outsized backend costs, the subscription includes a set number of credits and users who run out can buy more as consumables, instead of trying to price the subscription for the heaviest users. Keep the included amount fair: one app charging a fairly expensive subscription that included only ~3 image generations was slammed in reviews as a rug-pull. At $20/month users must feel they got $20 of value before paying for consumables.
What happened
Increasingly common (13% of photo & video apps sell subscriptions plus consumables); one app with too few included credits got negative reviews.
“What I have been seeing in in some of these AI apps is that you pay a subscription and you get a certain number of credits, and if you run out of credits, you can buy more credits.”
“it was getting slammed in the reviews because the subscription was actually fairly expensive, but it included so few credits that people felt kind of rug-pulled.”
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