Pricing Strategy — Accessible PDF Converter
Pricing Principles
- Value-based, not cost-based. Manual remediation costs $25–$75 per document (specialist time). Our automated conversion should be priced as a fraction of that, making ROI obvious.
- Land with a free tier, expand with volume. Universities move slowly. A free tier lets accessibility coordinators try the tool without procurement. Once they prove value, the upgrade conversation happens naturally.
- Monthly subscriptions, not per-document. Universities have budgets allocated monthly/annually. Per-document pricing creates friction and makes budgeting unpredictable. Subscription pricing with document volume tiers aligns with how they buy.
- Annual discounts to reduce churn. Offer 2 months free on annual plans. University budgets are annual — lock in the commitment.
Tier Structure
Free — $0/month
- 10 conversions per month
- Max 10MB per file
- WCAG 2.1 AA validation and auto-fix
- MathML equation conversion
- HTML download only (no ZIP bundles, no PDF export)
- “Made accessible with [Product Name]” footer on output
- No AI image descriptions
- Purpose: Lead generation. Let individuals prove value before requesting budget.
Starter — $149/month ($1,490/year, save $298)
- 100 conversions per month
- Max 25MB per file
- Everything in Free, plus:
- AI-powered image descriptions (Claude Vision)
- ZIP bundle download
- PDF export
- No branded footer on output
- Email support
- Target: Small departments, individual accessibility coordinators, community colleges.
- ROI pitch: 100 documents × $30 average manual cost = $3,000/month in labor. You pay $149.
Professional — $499/month ($4,990/year, save $998)
- 500 conversions per month
- Max 50MB per file
- Everything in Starter, plus:
- Priority processing (faster queue)
- WCAG compliance report export (PDF audit trail for each document)
- Batch upload API access
- Usage analytics dashboard
- Priority email + chat support
- Target: Medium-to-large university disability services offices, accessibility teams.
- ROI pitch: 500 documents × $30 = $15,000/month in labor savings.
Enterprise — Custom pricing (starting ~$1,500/month)
- Unlimited conversions
- Unlimited file size
- Everything in Professional, plus:
- LMS integration support (Canvas, Blackboard)
- SSO/SAML authentication
- Custom branding (white-label output)
- Dedicated account manager
- SLA with uptime guarantees
- On-premises deployment option (future)
- Compliance documentation for procurement
- Target: Large public universities, university systems (e.g., UC system, SUNY, state university systems).
Cost Analysis (Per Conversion)
| Cost Component | Estimated Cost Per Document |
|---|---|
| Mathpix OCR | ~$0.10–$0.50 (depends on pages) |
| Claude Vision (per image, ~3 images avg) | ~$0.03–$0.15 |
| Cloudflare Workers compute | ~$0.001 |
| Cloudflare R2 storage (30-day retention) | ~$0.001 |
| Total estimated COGS per conversion | ~$0.15–$0.70 |
Margin Analysis
| Tier | Price/Conversion | COGS/Conversion | Gross Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter ($149 / 100 docs) | $1.49 | ~$0.40 | ~73% |
| Professional ($499 / 500 docs) | $1.00 | ~$0.40 | ~60% |
| Enterprise ($1,500 / unlimited) | Varies | ~$0.40 | 50–70% |
Margins are healthy. The main risk is Enterprise customers with extremely high volume (thousands/month), where Mathpix costs scale linearly. Mitigate by negotiating volume pricing with Mathpix as usage grows.
Launch Pricing (First 60 Days)
To hit the March 15 sales target and $5K April revenue, use launch pricing to reduce friction:
- “Founding Customer” pricing: 50% off the first 3 months for the first 20 paying customers.
- Starter: $75/month for 3 months → then $149/month
- Professional: $249/month for 3 months → then $499/month
- Why this works: Universities are price-sensitive during initial adoption. Discounting the first 3 months gets them committed, and by month 4 the tool is embedded in their workflow.
- Annual lock-in offer: Pay for a full year upfront at the discounted rate (e.g., $75 × 12 = $900 for Starter annual). Even better margin, even stickier.
Revenue Path to $5K in April
| Scenario | Customers Needed |
|---|---|
| 10 Starter at launch pricing ($75) | $750/month — not enough |
| 5 Professional at launch pricing ($249) | $1,245/month — not enough |
| 3 Professional ($249) + 5 Starter ($75) | $1,122/month — not enough |
| 5 Professional ($499, full price) + 5 Starter ($149) | $3,240/month — getting close |
| 3 Professional ($499) + 2 Starter ($149) + 1 Enterprise ($2,000) | $3,795/month — close |
| Realistic best case: Mix of launch + full price | Need ~$5K MRR or one-time annual payments |
Most realistic path to $5K in April:
- Close 2 annual Professional plans at launch pricing ($2,490 each = $4,980) in March
- Plus a few Starter monthlies
- Or: Close 1 Enterprise annual deal ($15,000+) — one large university system
- Focus sales effort on Professional annual and Enterprise prospects.
Payment Implementation
- Stripe for payment processing (subscription billing, invoicing)
- Support credit card and ACH (universities often prefer ACH/invoice)
- Stripe Billing for subscription management, proration, upgrades/downgrades
- Generate invoices automatically — universities need these for procurement
- Net-30 invoicing option for Enterprise (universities often require this)
Competitor Pricing Context
| Competitor | Pricing Model | Approximate Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Equidox | Per-seat license | ~$2,000–$5,000/year per seat |
| CommonLook | Per-seat license | ~$1,500–$3,000/year per seat |
| Allyant (manual service) | Per-document | $25–$75 per document |
| SensusAccess | Institutional license | ~$3,000–$10,000/year |
| Adobe Acrobat Pro | Per-seat subscription | ~$240/year per seat |
Our pricing is competitive at the Starter/Professional level and significantly cheaper than manual services at any volume. The key sell: we’re not just cheaper, we’re faster and require no specialist training.