So I received an e-mail from glide today that shocked me.
It says:
“Free password apps will soon allow only one user at a time. We are making this change to encourage you to upgrade apps where private use for more than one user is an important feature. Pro apps can have unlimited password users.”
I so have apps within my organization that should be accessed by our team but mit anyone else and since I dont reach the limits of a free App I feel now betrayed by Glide.
Is there any others way without beeing pushed to pay for Apps that needs protection and are used by a Team?
You could do email sign-in and provide all users with a password to access the app. Have the tabs hidden until the password field is entered. Have the password field a user-specific column in the user profile sheet.
Just curious… If password-protected app is being used and a 2nd person tries to access it, what happens? Who has priority — the current user or the new one? What does the 2nd person “see” when they try (and can’t) access the app?
We introduced password-protected apps before we had Drafts (all apps used to be published immediately), so you could work on an app without it becoming public. Since then, thousands of businesses have made free private apps to use at work using our password feature, which works against our model—these are the kind of people we need to upgrade, so we introduced this one-at-a-time limit so that passwords still work for personal use.
@nico I do understand your frustration - something that was previously free is now a paid feature.
I made a longer longer post here about the main issue (from my perspective) - that is transparency and predictability: What is going to be a paid feature - and the problem of not being able to predict that before the change occurs. I hope you have a bit of time to adjust to the change.
Please also look at Davids response.
so free apps are for personal use or for trying Glide. Keep that in mind at all times when you are going to consider (trying to predict) whether a feature will be a paid feature in the future.
I would expect to see more of such changes for free tier plan in the future - but it is difficult to plan when you don’t know what is going to hit you - and it could potentially hit you with short notice.
We’ve emailed every person with a free app using passwords letting them know this is coming, and included a coupon for 6 months of Pro for free for each of their apps, and we haven’t made the change yet. We will make the change in a week.
As someone who primarily uses glide apps for charity use with roughly 150 users(the rest personal with one or 2 users) this is really bad news. It’s a shame that it couldn’t have continued being free for those that already have it and a premium feature for new users.
@david I suppose the change underlines what you have stated earlier that free apps are for personal use or for trying Glide meaning that any feature in an app can be made payable and occur at any time. Seems you have given 1 weeks notice this time.
I will be away on holiday for three weeks so when I get home I might see all my free tier apps not running. I have no idea what is up to be the next paid feature, when it will occur and which notice that is given. That is the main problem with the free tier plan apps.
Glide is young and changes are to be expected but the way to introduce & communicate such changes is important.
Many people have been attracted to Glide for two main reasons (1) the power of Glide of cranking a useful App put into practice in no time and without any coding experience and (2) basic version is free.
The argument “If it’s used for business, then you should pay Glide” might not be acceptable by all as many have entered the house of Glide because the door was open and found a way to benefit form it, it will for sure fire back if the doors are closing down abruptly and might cause some to abandon it. We don’t want that.
Over past few weeks, we are observing changes in Glide’s commercial model such as:
Changes in subscription packages
Buy boots.
Sheet Edits.
Referral.
Limit of Password use.
Etc.
This is totally understood that Glide is trying to raise revenues from every corner possible within current model sustain the business but do note that too many changes might drive people away as they don’t know what’s next.
The key is how for Glide to make money yet attract audience per
My recommendations:
Keep using the word “free” as this is a magnet keyword that will continue to bring more users base.
Once a certain subscription package is offered for free, Glide needs to either disclaim “for limited time only” or “limit it down to minimum number of feature, but keep it free”.
Announce a “Roadmap” so people know what’s coming ahead of time.
Revisit the strategy of revenues-generation and consider various models such as:
X% from community (little money from large volume= large revenues), Glide here is a platform only
Y% from “the big-guys” (Large money from small volume = again large revenues) è direct marketing required for this to get Glide here is a “Service Provider”.
Glide is an excellent platform, probably the best there is right now for what it provides. I can’t see any reason why we wouldn’t expect to pay something to use this platform for our apps. In my scenario we use Glide internally, where it provides a business benefit, and we provide apps to our customers, from which we derive revenue. In both scenarios I believe we should pay. Value / benefit generally costs something.
In terms of the price, even that seems reasonably well-pitched, with the single exception that I’ve mentioned previously. In my experience we have found it 100% preferable (due to workability and security) to provide our customers with a “client app” coupled with an “admin app”. The former is the app they use in anger and the latter is used to configure it e.g. adding content and user details. In this scenario we struggle a little as it requires 2x Pro licences.
This seems a little unfair to me, as both apps form part of the same solution and utilise the same data source. I think the Glide Team should consider this as a very real world scenario to see if they can help, perhaps allowing 2 apps per data source under the same licence or something similar. As an example, Adalo (nice but not as good as Glide at the moment) have a fixed cost per month for unlimited apps, which is probably too far the other way, but you get the idea.
Lately I’m afraid to create something with Glide and find out days after the resource I used became Pro. Glide in Brazil is very expensive in times of pandemic, you can’t invest that much.
My two cents as well. I don’t understand why people expect anything for free, or expect that if they get use/benefits for free while a company is early stage, that the company will grandfather them for free forever. In my opinion, Glide has been overly generous and they should not be punished or criticized for that. I think Glide is extremely reasonable in price and I personally want to support their business model and act/think like a partner so they are successful and we can continue to leverage their powerful technology to build our businesses. Feedback about notice periods is very valid for the Glide team to consider - and based on how much they seem to value and listen to this community, I’m sure they are reading and considering.
I don’t mean to offend anyone, such as charities, or those with challenging budget, or people who generally don’t agree, but I definitely wanted to jump in here and share my point of view.
I am currently using the app just for me and my partner. I would honestly pay for it to get more features. But $29 monthly is pricey for what i am using the app for. Only 2 of us will be using it. that being said. there should be more options with pricing period and not force us to pay the 228 yearly price.
The only thing i really would like to use (not needed as i don’t mind using the 1 at a time login for now) is have the Limit app login by email as i do have sensitive data.
The rest like the Background sheet refresh, and the 25,000 rows. Maybe in the long run.
Also i would like to request, when using the details view, to be able to get a value by row as well. and not just by col. I find myself struggling with that. and needing to do some workarounds. And it doesn’t even look nice.
It sounds like you would be better off moving the app into an Organization. If it’s only two people using the app the monthly would be only $16 ($8 X 2). The plus is that you can then create another app and if there are the same users using the app then the cost would remain at $16.
