Pricing and workload
This section covers Bubble's pricing plans and how workload usage is calculated
In this article, we will explore how Bubble's pricing works and help you understand the concept of .
Bubble’s vision from day one is to make software development available to everyone, regardless of their ability to code. You’re starting the businesses of tomorrow on Bubble today, and it’s our responsibility to ensure we're able to grow alongside you and give you a framework that offers the features that you need and a platform that remains stable, secure, and high-performing.
The development and launch of a new product is an important milestone for any company, and that’s why we offer a generous Free plan that lets you build and test your product. When it’s time to launch, our Starter plan is designed to be affordable so you can grow your user base and gain traction.
This is why our pricing is designed around plans based on stage and maturity of your business and what features you need as you grow. Plans also come with workload bundled in, so you don’t have to worry about purchasing additional workload until your app is scaling. Essentially, workload is a measurement of how much work Bubble does to run your app, which means we can ensure that you only pay for what you need. As your app grows in users, workflows, payments, page loads and other areas, you can scale the resources needed to match your app's evolving requirements.
In this article series, we’ll explore how the workload metric works and how our reporting tools provide insights into your app’s current and historical usage, so you can make informed decisions about development and scaling.
Plans
Bubble pricing structure is separated into different plans, ranging from the free plan to a customized enterprise plan. Each plan is designed to be relevant to different stages of your app’s life cycle and offers increasingly powerful tools to aid in collaboration, data processing, log retention and backups.
Each plan is connected to one application, meaning that you can easily work on multiple projects that are in different stages of development. You can choose to pay monthly or annually, and switch between the two at any time, as well as upgrade, downgrade, or cancel your app plan at any time.
You can see our new pricing plans in our recent announcement and you can calculate the most cost-effective way to add more workload units using our Subscription planner.
Workload units
Each plan includes a number of monthly workload units. In essence, workload is a measure of the work that Bubble does in order to power your application. Each time your app is tasked with processing an action – such as loading a page and – it contributes to your monthly workload consumption.
For example, as a user interacts with your app - opening it, navigating through it, and performing various tasks - a number of different things could take place:
The app may need to retrieve data from a database to display on the screen
It may need to run some to complete the user's request and create
Additional web requests might be made to to fetch or send data
The server may need to or authenticate user login credentials
Images, videos, and other media may need to be uploaded
There are 12 different activity types that together make up the amount of work performed by Bubble to keep your app running. We track the total workload your app consumes over the course of one month, and then reset the count for each new month. Because every app is unique, workload is a use-case agnostic metric that enables you to scale your app based on actual consumption.
What is workload?
Workload is a measurement of 12 different activity types that together make up the total amount of work performed by Bubble to keep your app running. To learn more about each of these activity types and how you can track them, check out our dedicated article below. Article: What contributes to workload?
Workload tiers
Most apps can operate just fine on the workload units included in their plan, but if your app requires more workload than what is included in the Starter, Growth, or Team plan, you can purchase a workload tier to add additional units.
Workload tiers are usually not necessary until your app is launched to the public. For instance, a workload tier may become necessary when you begin to grow your user base, work on larger volumes of data running and/or frequently communicating with external APIs.
This way:
Workload tiers are offered with volume discount, meaning you can lock in a number of units at low cost.
There’s no need to upgrade your plan – for example, you could stay on the Starter plan if you don’t need any of the advanced features on the Growth or Team plans, and at the same time, you could add a workload tier to scale your app.
Overages
In addition to pre-purchasing workload, we allow apps to accrue flexible overages so that your app stays available if it exceeds its monthly workload allotment. Flexible overages are charged at a unit price applied to each additional 1000 workload units needed to cover the extra work required.
This way:
You only pay for the actual consumption
Your app can handle overages with no delays or outages
There’s no need to upgrade your plan for spikes in workload. You can make an informed decision about upgrading when the time is right.
Flexible overages can be enabled and disabled at any time. To disable flexible overages, go to Settings - App plan and uncheck Enable overages.
Overage notifications
You will receive an email notification when your app has reached 75% of its available workload units, to give you ample time to evaluate your options, including upgrading your plan, buying a workload tier, or enabling or disabling flexible overages.
You will also receive an email notification when your app has reached 100% and overages will kick in.
Add-ons
Regardless of its plan, you can also add add-ons that add functionality or extra resources to your app.
Plugins
Plugins extend the functionality of your app by providing features and elements that go beyond Bubble’s core capabilities. Plugins can add new elements, actions, data sources and API connections and are made both by Bubble and by independent developers. Here's a breakdown of how plugins are priced:
Free: Many plugins are offered for free
Monthly subscription: some plugins require a monthly subscription
One-time payment: some plugins require a one-time payment
Numerous paid plugins offer the option to pay a monthly subscription or a one-time payment. Note that certain plugins may rely on external API services that may incur additional costs beyond Bubble's pricing structure.
You can check out Bubble's plugin store in the link below:
File storage
All plans include an amount of file storage space. However, if your app requires more than what is included in the plan, you can purchase additional storage.
Storage costs are $3 per month for 100 GB.
Measuring workload
To help you understand and analyze workload, we provide analytics tools that give you insights into the various processes and activities that contribute.
Bubble's workload charts provide reports that offer a view of your app's total monthly workload, as well as the ability to drill into individual processes, down to specific searches, workflows, API requests and expressions.
While Bubble has you covered with flexible overages when heavy processing is needed, the best user experience and most cost-efficient operation will always come from building with performance in mind. We encourage you to use our workload reporting tools actively while designing and maintaining your app to identify areas for improvement.
How to use the App Metrics dashboard: To learn more about how to use the App Metrics to drill down into your app’s workload activities, check out the article below: Article: Using App Metrics
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