Later this year, Cryptowatch will replace its SaaS-style pricing tiers with a new, more flexible à la carte pricing model we call Credits. In the Credits system, each account has a running balance of credits which are spent in a ‘pay as you go’ way on any combination of Cryptowatch services. Core services of our terminal – portfolio, trading, charting, and chat – will remain completely free.
Instead of having to choose a predetermined monthly pricing tier with a fixed set of features, clients will be able to use whichever services they’re interested in and pay only for those. This also means there is no minimum monthly spend – if you only receive the occasional SMS alert, you can be spending less than $1 per month on Cryptowatch.
I’m writing about this now to let you know in advance and explain why we’re doing this.
It’s also worth noting that there is no longer a paywall in front of simple features like trading and themes. We have opened these up for free – the new expectation is that core functionality is available to everyone.
Why Credits?
“I love Cryptowatch, but can’t justify paying $15/month just for feature X/Y/Z”
Cryptowatch is a multi-faceted platform with many services and use cases, and many more to come. Forcing clients into one of several progressively more expensive pricing tiers, a model that has been established by single-purpose SaaS products, is incompatible with our vision for the platform. We know that everyone’s needs are slightly different, and this warrants a more flexible pricing model.
Frankly, slow markets also directly affect a trader’s need for services. A more flexible pricing model gives you the choice to continue using whichever Cryptowatch services you need without paying a fixed monthly rate. This new system is designed to scale back when you need a break or the market slows.
Which services will cost credits?
Services that fit an on-demand, pay-per-use model will have a cost per use in credits. Other features that are not transactional will be opt-in via a monthly subscription cost in credits.
Instead of having to choose one package containing a fixed list of extra services, you’ll be able to finely tune the subscriptions and services you want access to.
In short, our pricing structure will soon look like the below – these packages and prices are hypothetical, but illustrate the structure.
| Service | Basis | Price |
| SMS and Email alerts | On Demand | 1 credit / trigger |
| REST API higher limits | On Demand | 1 credit / CPU second |
| WebSocket API | On Demand | 120 credits / GB bandwidth |
| Google sheets plugin | Feature Subscription | 800 credits / month |
| Charting expansion pack | Feature Subscription | 1000 credits / month |
| … | … | … |
For example, if all you need is a few market alerts you might be spending 10 credits per month. If you are a heavy alerts user or opt in to some larger feature subscriptions your monthly spend will go up – but only as you opt in to services that you specifically want.
How do I get credits?
You can buy them with Bitcoin or a credit card. The conversion rate is $1 = 100 credits, with bonuses for larger purchases. $5 buys you 500 credits, but $15 buys you 1545 – a 3% bonus. The bonuses get considerably high as you go up: $100 buys 12000 credits – a 20% bonus.
You can also earn credits. For example, your onboarding steps – setting your first alert, connecting an exchange, and making your first trade – will offer rewards. We’re also building Shill Links™ – a referral system where you earn credits every time an account you refer to Cryptowatch purchases credits of their own.
Each new account gets 250 credits to start out with, which is essentially a free trial.
It’s important to point out that once you have credits, they never expire or disappear. You can sit on your credits balance for as long as you like.
What happens to my existing Cryptowatch subscription?
If you paid for a Cryptowatch subscription that has remaining days on it after we switch to our credits system, your time left will be converted into an equivalent value of credits – with an extra bonus on top as a thank you for your business.
More to come
This change is part of a broader strategy to align Cryptowatch more with our over-arching goal: to build the ultimate crypto trading terminal, accessible to everyone. These pricing changes should dramatically lower the barrier of entry into our platform.
Also coming down the pipe are more updates to our trading system, our alerts system, our charting interface, and some brand new software as well. Follow our Twitter account to stay up to date!
