We’re updating Freemius pricing with lower starting rates and a new fixed fee per transaction.
Our progressive pricing model still rewards growth, but the percentage now starts at 3.8% instead of 4.7%, plus 50¢ per transaction and payment gateway fees.
For more than a decade, our promise has been to take the pain of selling software off your shoulders, from payments and licensing to taxes. This pricing update gives you more flexibility as your business grows.
The new pricing model: What’s changed
Our previous pricing worked, but we’ve updated it to give makers a lower starting rate while keeping the progressive model that rewards growth.
Here’s what the new pricing looks like:
- For SaaS and app makers: Starts at 3.8% + 50¢ (plus gateway fees).
- For WordPress makers: Starts at 3.8% + 50¢, with an additional 2.3% for the full dedicated WordPress solution (total 6.1% + 50¢).
- As you grow: The percentage-based fees shrink all the way down to 0.5% for revenue over $100k/month.
It’s the clearest, fairest model we’ve ever offered — and it scales with you, not against you.
Our pricing has come a long way. We initially charged 27% on the first $1k, 17% up to $5k, and then 7%. As our systems and support matured, we were able to bring the starting rate down to 4.7% with progressive pricing.
Now, we’re taking that a step further with a 3.8% starting rate + $0.50 per transaction, while keeping the progressive model that rewards growth.
Freemius founder and CEO Vova Feldman explains: “Early on, we quickly realized onboarding support is extremely resource-intensive: code-level integration questions, strategic launch and positioning calls — all before charging anything or knowing if a maker would make a single sale. As a bootstrapped business, we had to ensure that kind of founder-level support delivered a return on investment.
“Ten years on, our systems, docs, and SDKs matured, and the cost of supporting each new maker went down. Instead of pocketing those gains, we’re passing them back to the community in the form of lower fees and a progressive pricing model that scales fairly with growth.”
With the new pricing, that starting percentage is now even lower, while the model continues to scale with your business.
Why we’re doing this (and why now)
We didn’t lower fees to follow a trend. If anything, the industry is moving in the opposite direction as more platforms hike their rates.
We did this because it reflects who we are and what we’ve always believed: a partner should be aligned with the people building on it.
If you grow, we grow.
A bootstrapped mindset backed by deep technology
For more than 10 years, Freemius has been VC-free and profitable.
This independence gives us the freedom to make long-term decisions that serve makers first, not investors.
Lowering our starting rate is one of those decisions.
This is more than philosophy. It’s how we choose to build Freemius. Our focus is indie makers and small software businesses, with a model built for the long haul.
Freemius combines payments, licensing, subscriptions, taxes, compliance, and more in one platform. For subscription businesses selling globally, that can also make Freemius more affordable than stitching together a payment processor with the additional tools you need to manage the rest of the customer lifecycle.
Where others stop at billing, invoices, and taxes, Freemius goes deeper into the entire customer lifecycle, maximizing conversions and ASP and fighting churn at every critical touchpoint: from pre-purchase exit-intent coupons and cart abandonment recovery, to failed renewal win-backs, pre-cancellation retention flows, and cancellation surveys with targeted discounting.
We want to offer the lowest sustainable price we can while keeping Freemius healthy to support makers for the long run.
When you put your revenue in our hands, you can be confident we’re treating it with the same care we would if it were our own.
The hidden costs of “cheap” options
On paper, a flat 3% payment processing rate might look cheaper than Freemius’ 3.8% + 50¢. But those are payment processors, not full merchant-of-record platforms.
Once you’re running a real global subscription business, it’s never just the payment processing fee.
Cross-border fees, invoicing costs, subscription management, compliance and tax obligations can all add up to the real cost of running your business. And depending on your setup, you may need several different tools to handle them.
That’s where Freemius is different. Our pricing already includes VAT and sales tax handling, compliance, fraud protection, subscriptions, reporting, and more. All built in from the start.
So while the headline percentage may look higher than a payment processor’s rate, you’re getting much more than payment processing. You’re getting the infrastructure to sell and manage software globally without piecing together the stack yourself.
Migration pain and growth pricing
Early on, a flat 5% might feel manageable. But as revenue grows into the tens or hundreds of thousands per month, that same percentage becomes increasingly expensive.
To put it in perspective: 5% on $1k is $50; at $100k it’s $5,000; at $1M, $50,000. A rate that feels light early on can quietly become a heavy growth tax.
Founders consistently share the same frustration: renegotiating fees or migrating to a new platform once they’ve scaled is exhausting.
Vova recalls: “Negotiating fees is never fun. It’s time-consuming, distracting, and rarely transparent. I’ve been through that myself with Stripe and PayPal. By the time you realize you’re paying too much, you’re already locked in.”
That’s why Freemius uses transparent, growth-based pricing. Instead of locking you into a flat rate that becomes more expensive as your business grows, our percentage-based fee decreases as your revenue climbs.
You don’t need to negotiate a better rate every time your business hits a new milestone. The pricing is designed to scale with you from the start.
This gives you the clarity to plan long term, knowing your pricing partner won’t become a ceiling on growth.
A sustainable path forward
Freemius has always been more than a way to process payments. It’s the infrastructure to run your business with confidence, backed by a team that works for your success.
When you’re just starting out, every percent matters. A few dollars here and there can be the difference between paying for design help, covering support, or giving yourself an extra month to keep going.
And as your business grows, our progressive pricing model grows with you, so success doesn’t come with a penalty.
A sustainable pricing model doesn’t just benefit individual makers. It helps us build a healthier ecosystem where more software businesses can grow, and where Freemius can continue investing in the tools and support makers need.
To our community: Thanks for building with us. Here’s to keeping more, worrying less, and creating freely.
To those just discovering us: Welcome! We hope this shows what we stand for — a partner who puts makers first, from your first sale to wherever your journey takes you.
