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Is usage-based pricing becoming the norm for AI tools?
Hey everyone,
I've built my product around traditional SaaS pricing (monthly tiers), but I m starting to wonder if that model is getting outdated, especially with more AI-powered and compute-heavy tools entering the market.
That shift requires real architectural changes, instrumentation, metering, billing logic, and UI changes, not just pricing tweaks. It s something I m starting to seriously think about for my own product.
In particular, AI usage has real COGs (every prompt costs money), and I m seeing more platforms experimenting with usage-based models, or hybrids like SaaS base + usage + overage.
For those of you building AI or compute-intensive tools:
Round Two on Product Hunt: What to Do (and Not Do) for a Successful Launch
We re getting ready for our second Product Hunt launch on Jan 31, and a post by @busmark_w_nika got me thinking.
What to do (that we didn't do the first time):
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Plan your launch. What does it mean?
Write down everything you need to do before you launch.
Cleaning your copy
Your product images
Your product video (demo under 60 seconds if you can)
For our first launch, we didn't do anything. Even though we got 2nd Product of the Day, I would not recommend others to leave it to their luck. Plan and maximize your chances of success.
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Keep it simple, stupid.
Don't overcomplicate your page with lots of marketing language.
Simplicity, clean product screenshots, and clear language.
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I think this is the single most important thing to take into account when launching, and why we probably did so well on our first launch.
Ask yourself: Does the tagline make sense? Will others understand what the product does and what it is in under 10 seconds?
For us at @Pretty Prompt: Grammarly for prompting. (Grammarly = it is an extension.) Improve prompts in one click. (super clear what it does).
You can straight away visualise how you might use the product and what it will do for you.
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Focus on your strengths.
Don't give everything you got in one go.
Earn the right for people to read and scroll down. Read and scroll down.
Save some stuff for your pinned post.
People have a short attention span.
Hook people on your most important feature, showcase it front and centre, don't give me everything together cos I'll forget, and also I'll get lost.
For us at @Pretty Prompt: Improve your prompts in one click. Works inside ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Lovable, and more.
Even though you have about 10 other features on Pretty Prompt, we don't talk about them right in the beginning; we just feature that one "killer feature" and let users dive deeper afterwards.
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Product assets = show, don't tell.
Your images and video should be about your product.
Don't make it marketing-heavy. Make it product-heavy.
Show me what the product does, don't tell me about it.
For us: 60-second demo video actually using the tool. Screenshots of the top features (Improve - Refine - Save - History). Not fancy Figma designs, I mean screenshots of the actual product.
If you get big like Notion, Cursor, Claude, etc. you may also be able to add a more human video of you talking about the product, or new functionality, your story, etc. But for the majority, just show your product, and let the product win.
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Learn from others.
Though no two products or launches are the same, you can learn from others and pick the best things that fit your own product.
Checkout this post by @fmerian on "The Cursor Way to Launch". Great tips.
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Warm up the Audience.
Don't just rely on your followers.
Use as many channels as possible to maximise the reach and get people excited about your launch, even before you launch.
If you do this step well, the launch is just 50% of the job, and you're already a step ahead of most.
For us: I did a community post, Substack one, LinkedIn one, Slack one. We'll be recording a founder video too. I want it to be as human as possible; people buy into people.
Who are the most active people on Product Hunt?
Many people were looking for an answer in one category, namely, Forums Streaks.
This metric by itself only tells you that people log in to the app.
Can a large Product Hunt community help you with a product launch?
This is something I ll find out in just a short while, one week from now (Jan 28), as I m about to re-launch a digital detox app. If you want, follow, maybe you will be on watch of my steps and activities
However, that s not the main point of this post.
Our Reflection Engine is ready!
Hi community!
We have released our custom Reflection Engine! This engine is designed to output reflection scores and detailed insights to help improve your critical thinking skills.
2026 and your goals. Let's try to set them for Q1.
Since I haven't been able to meet my work goals very well in the last few quarters, I now plan to approach them more systematically and not push myself too hard on work goals, as that ultimately led to problems that made my plan less sustainable.
So here is my structure and list:
What’s Your Vibe Coding Stack in 2025?
AI dev tools are evolving crazy fast , every few weeks there s a new must-try for vibe coders.
Some people are building full products with @ChatGPT by OpenAI and @Replit , others swear by @Cursor and @Claude by Anthropic , and a few are mixing @Lovable + @v0 by Vercel + @bolt.new to ship apps in record time.
I ve been refining my own vibe stack lately, trying to find that sweet spot between speed, control, and creativity.
It made me wonder ,what does your setup look like right now?
YC deadline in <2 weeks; Who's applying?
If you're applying, reply below with what you're building so we can cheer you on!
If you're doing a startup and not applying, why aren't you applying?
YC deadline in <2 weeks; Who's applying?
If you're applying, reply below with what you're building so we can cheer you on!
If you're doing a startup and not applying, why aren't you applying?
I decide what's featured on the leaderboard - AMA w/ Gabe from Product Hunt
Hi everyone, Gabe here! I lead curating Product Hunt's leaderboard.
First thing I will say is that if I could feature every single product that works, I would. I love supporting makers and demoing products. I actually try to test every single thing that gets hunted every day... which is A TON. But I view our job as to surface the most interesting, novel, useful, and innovative products - daily. Now we may not always get it right, the process isn't perfect, but we're trying to do right by the community.
I decide what's featured on the leaderboard - AMA w/ Gabe from Product Hunt
Hi everyone, Gabe here! I lead curating Product Hunt's leaderboard.
First thing I will say is that if I could feature every single product that works, I would. I love supporting makers and demoing products. I actually try to test every single thing that gets hunted every day... which is A TON. But I view our job as to surface the most interesting, novel, useful, and innovative products - daily. Now we may not always get it right, the process isn't perfect, but we're trying to do right by the community.






