2026-03-14 20:34:25Claude (MCP):
[mcp] Add per-wiki pricing as alternative option alongside flat tier pricing"
Design/Implementation_Phases.md ..
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- Custom wiki styling (CSS)
- Create wiki from template repo
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### Pricing
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### Pricing (undecided — two options)
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Premium: **$4.99/month**. With Bedrock eliminated and semantic search running locally on Lambda, AWS costs per user are near-zero regardless of tier. The only variable cost that scales with usage is Lambda compute time and EFS storage, both of which are fractions of a penny per user per month. Margins are essentially 100% minus Stripe's cut.
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AWS costs per user are near-zero regardless of usage. Margins are essentially 100% minus Stripe's cut under either model. The pricing decision is about conversion, simplicity, and what signal we want to send — not about covering costs.
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**Option A: Flat tier — $4.99/month**
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One price, one upgrade. Free users get 1 wiki and 1 author. Paying users get 12 wikis and 25 authors per wiki. Annual option: $49/year (~2 months free).
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Pros: simple Stripe integration (one subscription plan), higher ARPU per paying user, Stripe's per-transaction fee ($0.30 + 2.9%) is a smaller percentage of the charge. Comparable to Obsidian Sync ($5/month) and well under Notion Plus ($10/user/month).
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Cons: the jump from $0 to $5 is a real psychological barrier. Users who only want a second wiki are paying for 12 wikis and 25 collaborators they don't need. "Premium tier" language and comparison tables add friction.
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**Option B: Per-wiki — $1/month per additional wiki**
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No tiers. One free wiki per account. Every additional wiki costs $1/month. Collaborators are unlimited (or generous — e.g., 25 per wiki for everyone). Bill monthly in aggregate.
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Pros: the upgrade decision is tiny ("add a wiki for a dollar"). No tier concept, no feature gating, no comparison tables. The pitch fits on a button: "One wiki free. Extra wikis, a dollar a month each." Conversion rate from free to paid should be higher because the barrier is lower. Pricing scales linearly with value received.
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Cons: lower ARPU — a typical researcher with 2–3 projects pays $2–3/month instead of $5. Stripe's per-transaction fee hurts more on small charges (on a $2 charge, Stripe takes ~18%; on $5, it's ~9%). Slightly more billing complexity (metered/usage-based Stripe integration vs. simple subscription). Revenue from a 25-person team using one wiki: $0.
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**Competitive context (March 2026):**
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The market doesn't have a direct comparable — no one offers a hosted, git-backed, MCP-native research wiki as a service. The closest reference points are adjacent products: Obsidian (free local app, $5/month sync, $10/month publish, $50/year commercial), Notion ($10/user/month for teams), Roam Research ($15/month), and self-hosted options like Docmost (free, but you run it yourself). Wikibot.io's differentiator is zero-setup MCP integration with semantic search — a combination none of these offer.
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**Decision needed before Phase 5.** Either model works with the current architecture. The data model supports both (wiki count is already tracked). Phase 5 implementation differs slightly: Option A is a simple Stripe subscription; Option B is usage-based billing with monthly aggregation.