Most startup founders overcomplicate their pricing pages, trying to make them do too much. Your pricing page isn’t the place to innovate. People need to understand it in a few seconds and know what to do next. This is harder with open core because you have more variables—an open source version, a multi-tiered SaaS offering, and enterprise deployments. But the answer isn't to show all the variables.
Every choice you present creates friction. When you try to show everything, you’re asking visitors to make multiple decisions simultaneously:
- Which product?
- What plan?
- Which deployment model?
Three decisions mean 12+ possible combinations to evaluate. Instead of picking one, visitors defer the decision entirely. They close the tab and move to a competitor with clearer pricing. Your pricing page is likely the most visited page on your site after your homepage, and where buying intent is the highest. Adding friction at this exact moment kills conversions that were otherwise ready to happen.
Use the standard format
People expect to see a standard format: three pricing tiers, pick one. When you add sliders, switchers, and multiple dimensions, you've violated their expectations. They have to relearn how your page works instead of just reading it. Just show three tiers with clear monthly pricing:
- Free: Your open source version plus basic SaaS features. People sign up, you get their email, and they start using your product. This should be genuinely useful, not a trial. Make SaaS the features proprietary instead of just a hosted version of your open source project.
- Pro/Team: Everything in Free, plus features small teams need. Advanced functionality, better support, and integration options. This is still self-serve. Price it between $20-100 per user/month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: Everything in Pro plus features that large companies need. SSO, RBAC, audit logs, SLAs, and self-hosting options. This is contact sales, starting at a real minimum—$500/month or $5K/year at least. Don't waste time on $100/month enterprise deals.
Under each pricing tier, list what's included. Don't create a massive comparison table with checkmarks. It's visual clutter. The "Everything plus" format is cleaner and easier to scan. For open core, this is where you clarify deployment options. Under Enterprise, you might list: "Everything in Pro, plus SSO, priority support, SLA guarantees, self-hosted deployment option." Start with OCV's pricing page template.
The free tier
Founders commonly get tangled up trying to communicate the open source project from the free SaaS tier. There’s only one free tier, and it’s the free option that people sign up for, so you know who they are. This gives you control over your distribution. You want everyone to use your proprietary binary, which you can instrument, update, and convert to paid tiers. The open source version remains the foundation, but your free SaaS tier is where you want users.
The open source version can be referenced, but it shouldn't be a separate pricing tier. Put it in your documentation or on your homepage. If you want to show both, give them a clear visual separation. One column for the free tier with a signup button. A separate, smaller section explaining that the source code is available under an open source license for self-hosters. Don't give them equal weight. Open source is your free tier only if there’s not a SaaS option.
Price monthly, bill annually
Show monthly prices with "billed annually" underneath. Remove monthly billing from your pricing page entirely. Every founder resists this. "But customers want flexibility!"
Here's what happens with monthly billing: You spend weeks onboarding a customer. They use your product for two months, decide they don't have the budget and churn. You never recoup acquisition costs. Meanwhile, you've given them 10% off your margin with the monthly discount.
Annual billing finances your company. You get 12 months of cash upfront, which reduces your fundraising needs and dilution. Your CAC payback becomes immediate instead of spread over quarters.
If someone can't commit to a year, they're not a real customer. They're experimenting with your product using your time and resources. Don't subsidize that. For open core companies, this is even more important. You likely have annual infrastructure costs—certificates, compliance, and third-party licenses. Monthly customers create monthly churn before you've covered those costs.
When you’re too early
If you just launched and don't have enterprise customers yet, don't pretend you do. Show two tiers: Free and Pro. Add a line at the bottom: "Need enterprise features? Contact us."
Don't create fake enterprise pricing. Don't put "Contact Sales" under a tier you haven't figured out yet. Wait until you have real enterprise conversations before formalizing that tier.
Open core businesses have an advantage here. You can learn from your open source community. Who's asking for features? What companies are using it? Build your enterprise tier based on real demand, not imagined needs.