We're transitioning to a credit based usage system! We've been meaning to do this for a while. Credits are the best way to let people flexibly use Gumloop.
Why the old pricing had to go
In our previous pricing structure, we tracked different actions by general category. We tracked flow runs, AI calls and premium node runs. Technically this is a 'credit' system but the way it's set up is riddled with issues.
Not all flows are created equal
One user's flow might contain 5 nodes, another might contain 500 yet they're both considered a flow run. This is frustrating for people who are building simple flows since they're being disproportionately charged.
Penalizing subflows
Using subflows is the best way to keep your automations modular, understandable and reusable. However, using subflows technically counts as a flow run which means we're penalizing people for building the way we recommend. Bad ❌
Node costs
Certain nodes cost much much more than others. We need a more fine grained way to associate the cost to the usage of the node. Tracking 'premium node runs' didn't make sense given some premium nodes might cost pennies to while others could cost dollars.
Room for Growth
When someone hit their usage limit on a certain plan, there was nowhere for them to go other than to upgrade to the next tier they might not need. They should be able to grow with their tiers and expand their usage.
Gumloop Credits
Credits are the universal currency that's used across the platform. Most nodes cost 0 credits, but the nodes that were disproportionately more expensive now have a reflective higher credit cost.
More complex flows are now accurately mapped to a credit cost and the simple flows aren't being overcharged.
Read more about exactly how credits work in our documentation here.
How We Calculated Credit Costs
Each node has had a credit cost associated with it for several months now under the hood.
We analyzed the average credit cost of all user runs and mapped that to the current usage expectation for each pricing tier. This way we were able to ensure that the value of credits is what you originally paid for or more if you were a subscriber before this transition!
Reducing Credit Costs
The nodes that cost the most credits generally have much more expensive APIs being used under the hood. You can use these APIs solely through Gumloop if that's simpler for you but there's a way to dramatically reduce credit costs!
If you provide your own API key in the credentials page for that node, the cost of the node drops dramatically since it's using your API.