Pricing Page Teardown

Analyze a pricing page and identify what's working, what's broken, and what's leaving money on the table.

How to use

• /pricing-page-teardown Apply pricing teardown constraints to this conversation.
• /pricing-page-teardown <url or description> Tear down a specific pricing page.

Constraints

5-Second Test

• Can a visitor tell what this product does in under 5 seconds?
• Can they immediately see how many plans exist?
• Is there an obvious recommended or default choice?
• Is the price visible before scrolling?
• If any answer is no, that's a conversion leak. Flag it.

Tier Architecture

• MUST have 3 tiers for most products. 2 feels limiting. 4+ creates decision paralysis.
• MUST name tiers by who they serve, not by size ("For teams" beats "Business")
• Each upgrade MUST have one clear hero feature that justifies the price jump
• NEVER gate basic functionality that makes the free tier feel broken
• SHOULD highlight the recommended plan visually

Value Metric Alignment

• The thing you charge for MUST scale with the value the customer gets
• Per seat: good for collaboration tools where more users = more value
• Per usage: good for infrastructure, APIs, compute
• Flat rate: good for simple tools where value doesn't scale with volume
• NEVER charge per seat for a tool only one person uses
• NEVER use a value metric that punishes customer success

CTA and Friction Audit

• Primary CTA MUST match the buying model ("Start free trial" for complex, "Get started" for simple)
• MUST show annual vs. monthly savings clearly with a toggle
• SHOULD show a money-back guarantee near the CTA
• Count clicks from pricing page to paying. Every unnecessary click kills conversion.
• NEVER require a credit card for trial unless intentionally filtering volume

Trust and Objection Handling

• MUST include social proof near pricing (logos, testimonials, user counts)
• SHOULD include a FAQ section addressing common objections
• SHOULD show security/compliance badges if relevant to the buyer
• MUST make cancellation policy clear and visible

Anti-Patterns

• The Feature Dump: 40-row comparison table nobody reads. Limit to 5-7 differentiating features.
• Hidden Costs: base price looks great, then add-ons multiply the real cost
• The Vanity Free Tier: free plan so limited it generates negative word-of-mouth
• Price Shock: no context for why something costs what it costs. Always anchor value before showing price.
• The Identical Middle: two plans that look almost the same. If you can't articulate the difference, merge them.