How to price something you made up.

How do I price a product with no competitors?

Anchor to the cost of the problem. Your customer is already paying for this problem, in hours, in a cobbled-together spreadsheet, in a service they hire. Add up what a month of the problem costs them, then charge 10–20% of that number.

Example: if your booking tool saves a photographer four hours a week and their time is worth $50/hour, the problem costs them $800/month. A $29–79/month price is easy to say yes to.

Should I charge monthly or one-time?

Charge monthly if you keep delivering value monthly, hosting, updates, support, new features. Charge one-time only for things people genuinely use once.

Subscription pricing feels harder to sell but builds a business you can predict. One sale of $290 is worth less than ten months of $29 that keeps renewing.

What if nobody pays?

1. 1Ask the five people who said no what they're doing instead. The answer usually reveals a positioning problem, not a price problem.
2. 2Cut scope before cutting price. A smaller product at the same price beats the same product at half price.
3. 3If you must lower the price, do it as a named plan ("Starter"), never as a discount on the plan you believe in.

When should I raise the price?

When more than about 70% of the people you quote say yes, you're underpriced. Raise it for new customers first, grandfather existing ones, and tell everyone the date in advance. See our guide on raising prices without losing the room.