An update to vision and pricing
It's been quiet around Lighthouse for the past couple of months. On the one hand I focused on behind-the-scenes (technical and performance) improvements. But more importantly, I spent that time narrowing down the value Lighthouse should bring to you.
It took some time, but now it's clear. And I'm quite excited to share it with you.
TLDR
- Lighthouse's mission is shifting to one clear goal: surfacing content that is uniquely valuable to you.
- We're putting a “beta” label on the product while we finish the features that fully deliver on that promise. During beta, all plans are 50 % off.
- Huge upgrade for everyone: the free plan now lets you follow up to 1,000 feeds/newsletters.
- Going forward, the paid tiers will be differentiated by extra features, not by feed limits.
- The changes take effect in one week. If you start or keep a Standard or Premium subscription before then, you lock in today's lower price for as long as your subscription stays active.
The value of Lighthouse is to help you find content that's uniquely valuable to you. Not content that's generally high-quality (though that's part of it), but content that's helpful specifically for you. Content that's valuable to you even if it's not valuable to anyone around you. Content you can take action on.
The difference is that while high-quality content is well written, it doesn't guarantee that it'll be useful to you. Even if it's the best text mankind has ever seen, if you already know everything it says, there's no value for you.
I wrote about it in more detail here.
To achieve this vision, a couple of changes must happen.
Beta
The foundation is built, and everything is set up for Lighthouse to get there. But I must admit, currently it doesn't make good on this promise as much as I'd like.
To indicate this state, Lighthouse will get a beta label. And it will stay in beta until it has enough functionality to comfortably deliver on its promise.
While in beta, all prices are 50% off.
Pricing
Pricing should also align with the vision. Therefore, the plans have to change.
Previously, the main limitation of the Basic (free) plan was the number of feeds and newsletters you could subscribe to. But that doesn't make sense if the main use-case is finding high-value content from a large list of sources.
To better align the free plan with the value of Lighthouse, free users can subscribe to 1000 feeds and newsletters, same as paid users.
The differentiator will be other features. The higher the plan you choose, the more features you have available to find and filter for high-value content.
To compare the old and new pricing, here's the old pricing:
And here's the new one:
When will it happen?
The switch will happen 1 week from now.
At the moment the Standard and Premium plans are cheaper than they will be after the change (even with the 50% beta discount). I want to give everyone who already has an account the opportunity to lock in those prices.
As long as your subscription stays active, the price will stay the same.
Thank you for using Lighthouse. I'm excited for its future, and these changes are an important step toward realizing the vision.