Should we create a trial tier? #28
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Reference: co-op/support#28
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What's the idea?
Enable a trial tier so people can try the service before becoming a member.
Why does it matter?
People are used to this sort of thing.
Many people may find it hard to believe that they can get decent AI tools from a co-op!
Who is it for?
Prospective members.
How might it work?
should we create a trial tier?to Should we create a trial tier?$1 seems a lot for just trying at our size, but I like the general idea.
I think it's a great idea
I like the idea but I'd say let's get the infrastructure and functionality hardened before we start doing things like that. The whole thing is really cool, but I don't think it's yet at the point where getting free access to it would make someone say "wow, now that I have free access I definitely have to join" lol
@solo.ist Ha, I love that:) to me the point at this stage would just be to say "yes, we actually have sort-of feature parity with ChatGPT, we'll prove it" not necessarily to blow them away with UX. But I take your point.
I think a trial tier makes sense. I don't think most people approach LLMs as something they pay for, same with web search. Over 95% of people who use ChatGPT use the free version.
I like the idea of a $1 trial account with a $1 limit, which can go really far on the flash models. I'd bet that a lot of people don't need more than $1/mo. And then they're in the opencollective and can upgrade at the end. Payment processing fees make that unsustainable long-term because the coop would only get 57 of those 100 cents, so maybe just allow it for 1 month? I think doing any kind of free trial or subsidy/discount opens it up to abuse and gaming.
But another idea: could we have a way to gift a partial web chat subscription out of your quota? This could get very complicated, but I'm imagining some application in the dashboard that generates an API token with a spend limit and expiration you configure, then embeds that into a LibreChat link. So you would be able to send someone a link to e.g. https://chat.inference.coop/gift?token=hunter2 and it'd draw down from your balance. @inference-bot can you explore if anyone has done anything similar to this with LibreChat and how feasible or complex that would be?
Thanks for this @staeiou! One issue is that Open Collective has a $5 minimum, so $1 isn't possible. But we could do a free trial on our own system.
I agree that most people aren't used to paying for AI. In some respects I think we benefit from limiting our focus to people willing to pay.
I LOVE the idea of a gift sub! That to me fits the idea of growing at the speed of trust.
I imagine that having more transparency about member projects, and who is involved and generally documenting the experience through video publicly would be sufficient in explaining how the coop is different from something like chatgpt and why its worth paying for. I think most people who are curious about using the coop are familiar with the general LLM experience, but might be unsure how this feels different, and paying a minimal trial fee probably wouldn't make a difference.
Maybe there's another way to offer a trial experience through a mock up or extreme token limit that gives a prospective user a sense of what they might be in for without the logistics of setting up a trial payment, which seems like friction on both ends.
I guess my question is what are prospective members looking for in a trial that they'd need to test the experience to learn?
I'm not sure if I'm on the same page here; I think it would be simpler if the API was opened up to non-members (who pay higher prices than members, with no voting rights). It's (1) less commitment, (2) allows people to know we exist via more channels (e.g. Open Router), (3) is a funnel towards becoming a member (voting rights! Lower API fees!), and (4) doesn't have the worry of trial abuse, since they're actually paying more per token!
@limdingwen I like the idea there of structurally avoiding abuse. But if we did that it wouldn't serve the goal of inviting people in who are not initially ready to pay for AI or unsure it is worthwhile. And if the trial were just API it would leave out the vast majority of users who don't know what an API is. But maybe thats not what you mean?
I've just created a Guest account system. It allows members to invite one guest per month, providing $2 of service for up to 60 days (a little more generous than what @staeiou suggested). We can always tweak those numbers. You can find an invite form at the bottom of your dashboard. Please try it out with someone you know and trust, and who will tell us if there are any glitches:)
I think we could switch the guest accounts to being more of @staeiou's gift model if we started feeling a trust issue—where the guest $ comes out of their host. But for now, I think the co-op can afford to underwrite some guest accounts.