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by ilSignorCarlo 3448 days ago
What motivated the decision to give again the option to use Nylas for free? I remember reading that your target were kinds of "email power users", for whom you would offer the ability to create advanced workflow. Did this change?
2 comments
sachinag 3448 days ago
Free trial versus freemium. If you have a larger base (free tier), even if a small percentage upgrade to paid, then you may make more money. It's what Dropbox and Slack do.

(I work at Nylas.)

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ilSignorCarlo 3448 days ago
But Dropbox has always offered the free option. Nylas used to have a free plan, but at some point took it away entirely -which actually meant cutting away a part of their base. I feel like they might change their mind again and remove the free plan.
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grinich 3448 days ago
I previously wrote about why we switched to a paid model last year. https://nylas.com/blog/nylas-pro

> We already sync several hundred terabytes of data for our users and are adding tens of thousands of new users each month. It’s costing us real dollars.

This is now changed with the new architecture in Nylas Mail.

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0x6c6f6c 3448 days ago
Honestly this move is something that might bring me back into it. It opens up an already existing codebase for basic functionality to users who wouldn't be paying otherwise- and perhaps with dependence on this service or interest in more that it offers, they may turn into a subscription user.

The same happens for me with ProtonMail. I used the basic service but found that the convenience of a paid plan was enough for me to pay.

I was sort of put off by the look of Nylas though, in regards to the lack of a "native" feel. It was convenient, but I was forced into a paywall before I could really get acquainted as someone who isn't a power email user.

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ilSignorCarlo 3448 days ago
That's true, but I'm worried that at some point they might decide again to remove the free plan
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grinich 3448 days ago
Nope, no plan to do that. Previously having a free app wasn't affordable for us. Now it is.

This took a huge amount of work behind the scenes. Stay tuned for the engineering blog post very soon!

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0x6c6f6c 3448 days ago
The terminology they use is:

"The Basic edition of Nylas Mail will remain free forever."

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