Authentication on Maker Plan

[DBBD]

Hi guys,

I have been building an app for a brewery to help with batch tracking that was initially meant to be a temporary solution until a more dedicated application could be implemented (I wasn’t looking to re-invent the wheel). There are many ‘off the shelf’ solutions to choose from.

The brewery I work for is very cost conscious and as a result has always managed things manually with the odd spreadsheet for good measure. When I priced up an existing brewery management system, it was coming in at €75 per user per month. The brewery would like to hide certain aspects of the system from their general users so in the end we would need a minimum of 3 licences at €75=€225 per month to achieve this.

The brewery wasn’t too keen on the cost so instead of being deterred, I continued building out my ‘temporary’ solution with Glide. I have since added enough functionality to it to be it’s own system that has the added benefit of being bespoke to the brewery I work for… but alas now is where my problem starts coming in.

This is my first time developing using the new pricing structure and I was keen to try out some of the new functionality. I started having an issue when I tried implementing user Roles. I have users set up in my Users table. I gave one of the guys access to the app so I could get some feedback but he was not able to log in and instead got the message ‘The email address doesn’t have access to this app. Please try another.’. I couldn’t work out what the problem was. My user exists in the table but Glide was saying they didn’t have access.

Eventually I realised it may have something to do with the new pricing structure so we opted for the maker plan as at some point we would hit our storage limit anyway. I convinced the brewery to sign up thinking my problems will be sorted only to find, I’m not better off, in fact I look to be worse now.

I suppose the fault is on me but when I signed up to the Maker plan, I thought that this should more than cover our needs. We don’t need any of the ‘Maker’ specific functionality, just the ability for 3 different people to log into the app. I have since learned the hard way that the ‘Maker’ plan is useless for this task if the person logging in wants to use their work email address. If I want that functionality, we will need to upgrade to the ‘Teams’ package at $125 a month. Literally so we can use work emails instead of personal emails. We don’t require any other tiered functionality.

Sure. this option is still cheaper than a dedicated off the shelf option but that’s all… Any functionality we require, I need to build and maintain myself. An off the shelf option has more functionality and better implemented than I could ever hope to do with Glide so what is the incentive for me to continue the process?

$125 is a big jump from something that used to cost $25 a month. I appreciate the work that has gone into Glide and I love the platform but in this particular scenario how can I push to continue developing on Glide when really, I’m the one doing all the work.

I sincerely hope I missed something somewhere, and someone kind enough here to point out my mistake.

Alternatively, it would be nice if Glide offered a smaller business plan tailored to users that don’t require as much functionality or users.

Hopefully someone can help with a solution as right now, I have had to leave the app ‘open’ so that the staff can use it but this is not a good solution…

Thanks very much!

[Jeff_Hager]

If you are only dealing with 3 users, is there any particular reason why they can’t use personal email addresses to sign in?

[nathanaelb]

The general philosophy in Glide’s pricing is

1. B2B professional plans start at $99 per month (unlimited apps, limited number of users)
2. Schools, communities, founders, hobbyists can build a B2C application for $49 per month per app (unlimited users, one app)
3. The free plan is generous enough to get started.

That’s the gist.

That doesn’t change the fact that the pricing page talks about “personal users” for the Free and Maker plans, a term which is not an industry standard and is not emphasized either. So naturally many overlook the important distinction. That part on the pricing page could be highlighted and the term “professional emails” instead of “personal users” could probably be used.

[DBBD]

Hi Jeff, thanks for getting back to me.

No, technically I could ask the boss if it would be ok if we asked the employees to use their personal emails. And if they don’t, I could go off and create 3 new email addresses to circumvent the process but it seems a bit much.

@nathanaelb
Thanks for the note on pricing. I should have read more about it before taking on the project. In my defence, I thought the hard part would be building the app. It’s a $125 a month if paid monthly so I feel like I need to plead the case for my creation before they would commit to an annual rate. This whole thing started because a fully fledged system was too expensive for now, and I remembered how useful Glide had been in the past.

I really appreciate the help! I will chat to the guys about it tomorrow

[nathanaelb]

In my view, for business applications, it rarely makes financial sense to use Glide to rebuild a solution that already exists and one only.

It makes sense to build custom, bespoke, tailored made solutions. It makes even more sense as the business builds more of these custom applications.

Surely there are exceptions, but that’s how I approach it.

Also, this is subjective, but without being expensive Glide isn’t cheap either. So I would avoid clients that are price sensitive. Again, my view only and surely there are exceptions.

[david]

Who would make the decision to purchase this at the brewery? I’d love to talk to them to understand how they judge the value of Glide in this case.

[DBBD]

I guess with the new pricing model what you say makes sense. Unfortunately, our instance does seem to fall into the small exception category.

I wasn’t trying to replace an existing product, just create nifty solution to an immediate problem. And for the sheer fact that I want to be able to filter what a few users will see, and use their work emails, the price more than doubles.

Maybe we fall into the small minority and that’s too bad. Glide has obviously changed a lot since I last used it.

[DBBD]

Hi David,

The director would make the decision but for some context, I’m new to the team there. It’s a family run business that has large paper trail of documentation because everything is documented by hand. I am trying to lead the charge by introducing a better way of doing things. I need to demonstrate the value in what I am presenting before they would be willing to commit long term. He paid the $60 a month with me thinking being on the free plan was the limiting factor.

It’s my own fault that did not realise that to use a few business email addresses, the price would more than double. We’re not adding additional functionality or even integrations. I simply wanted to filter some data by the user and the price goes from $60 - $125. So in this instance I feel like it’s less about arguing the value in Glide. He was happy to pay the $60 a month while test things out.

I would argue my use case is the perfect example for Glide where I was able to rapidly develop a quick and bespoke solution. We should be enjoying the benefits of the work I have put into it, but now instead, I either get creative with some email addresses or ask the boss to pay up…again. So instead of delivering a polished solution, to a somewhat simple problem, I find myself haggling over price.

As someone who likes to tinker I was excited to see the new features you have added. I think you guys are doing great work and I really mean that, but I think you’re missing a beat with the small (or maybe not so small) community of builders who would like to try out and learn how to use the platform before delving into a purposeful app. A $60 per month paywall to learn how to use integrations without an app in mind is pretty steep.

[david]

We have a 30-day trial with all features available, so I’m not sure how we’re missing a beat in letting people try and learn.

It sounds like you are worried about the price on your boss’s behalf?

The Maker plan is not designed for internal business use. The price is not jumping because you want to filter data—the price is different because you want to use the app internally at a company, with users using their business emails. This is the main difference between Maker and the other plans.

[DBBD]

Thanks David. I managed to establish the difference in the Maker plan from the previous comments.

Am I worried about price on my bosses behalf? Yes is the answer to that. And I’m surprised that’s a question. In my role in operations, part of my duty is to help manage costs. For a small craft brewery, all costs are important. The margins aren’t as healthy as you may think… And besides, I have already pleaded the case for Glide. I can’t recommend it enough, I’m just disappointed that for the simple reason using the same app in a business setting is more than double the price.

I appreciate the 30-day trial but working full time and only really having late evenings to to tinker and learn, you can see how easily that time can be used up. And at the rate you guys seem to be updating the service (and that’s a good thing), how could one ever hope to cover it all in 30-days. It would be nice to use the features unrestricted and charge per published app as an example. Albeit there may be a cost associated to you to allow that, that I may not be aware of. For sure, when I have a new project idea, I can pick it up then instead.

Thanks for the help.

[raajkumars]

Firstly, I would like to commend Glide on creating such an outstanding framework for building data-driven applications quickly. Glide stands out brilliantly among similar solutions, and its efficiency has truly impressed me. My switch to Glide was prompted by encountering bottlenecks with another product, and Glide has exceeded my expectations in every way.

As a developer, I appreciate the thoughtful pricing structure Glide has in place. The $99/monthly (paid yearly) for the Team plan seems quite reasonable given the extensive work required to maintain this product and the infrastructure costs involved. However, I also understand and sympathize with the concerns raised by @DBBD. This cost can be quite steep for many small businesses and startups. Asking a new client to commit $1200 upfront for a software solution can be challenging, especially in an era where many cloud-based services and mobile apps offer usage-based micro-billing without long-term commitments. While enterprises might benefit from steep discounts for yearly payments, many small business owners would prefer the flexibility of monthly payments with the option to cancel anytime. The 25% increase in monthly pricing makes this option a harder sell.

Considering that the Maker plan at $49/month (paid yearly) supports unlimited personal logins, it suggests that the number of users isn’t the primary driver of Glide’s hosting and maintenance costs. Therefore, it might be worth considering removing the user limit from the pricing structure altogether. Instead, focus on factors such as the total volume of data, number of transactions, number of concurrent logins, and availability of extra features. This approach would align better with how many modern SaaS platforms structure their pricing, providing more clarity and flexibility to clients.

Thank you for considering this feedback. Glide is an exceptional product, and I am confident that with a few adjustments, it can become even more accessible and appealing to a wider range of users.