Why we’re changing the price of Whereby

Øyvind Reed, the CEO of Whereby, explains why we’re shaking up our pricing thanks to customer feedback.

4 mins read | Tue 10 November 2020

A lot can happen in twelve months. This time last year, the Whereby team was adapting to a completely new company name and brand, and planning for an ambitious 2020. Our company has always been at the forefront of the flexible working movement, and we were convinced that this would be a big year for businesses embracing the benefits of giving their employees the freedom to work remotely. But we weren't expecting anything like what came next.

A year of change

This has been an extraordinary year. No one could have predicted the series of events that got us here but, without a doubt, the way we connect and collaborate has changed forever. It’s been a rough year for a number of industries, but many businesses have also been able to thrive in this new dynamic.

I’m thankful that Whereby has been one of those companies. Within a matter of months, we went from being a bright-eyed startup, largely based in Norway, to a truly global business with millions of users around the world. Our customer-base increased ten-fold, revenue quadrupled, and the number of people working at Whereby has more than doubled in less than six months.

But the makeup of our customer-base transformed, and our Product team became aware of a new set of challenges and frustrations that needed to be tackled. So we started meeting with our users (over video, of course) to find out how we could improve the product for them.

Learning from 2020

We quickly discovered something huge. Sure, our users wanted extra features and improvements to meeting quality (which our team has been working on like crazy this year) but the resounding piece of feedback from our customers was that our pricing wasn’t right.

Our Business plan was designed for small-to-medium sized companies to be able to work and collaborate from wherever their employees thrive. But the feedback we received from customers on the plan was that while our product was giving them freedom and flexibility they needed to grow their businesses, our pricing wasn't.

It was obvious we needed to introduce a lower starting price and create a plan that mirrors a company’s needs as it grows. What we came up with is very different to how any of our competitors are priced.

We want to be the most inclusive, most flexible and most fair video meeting solution for small-to-medium business in the world.

Pricing philosophy

We decided that we want to be the most inclusive, most flexible and most fair video meeting solution for small-to-medium businesses in the world. Whereby is a growing global remote team and we want to help like-minded companies grow and succeed in the new world of flexible working. That’s why our new Business price follows the below principles.

Our principles

1. Inclusivity: Create user accounts for every single employee at no extra cost.

2. Flexibility: Adapt your plan based on the meeting needs of your company.

3. Fairness: The best value-for-money plan for small businesses.

So, what’s the price?

Starting this week, our Business plan will now cost just $14.99 a month. For this, you’ll get one XL 50-person meeting room, plus a personal 4-person room for every person in your company. There is no limit to the number of user accounts a company can set up and you can easily add extra XL rooms at a cost of $9.99 a room.

A plan for growing teams

Most video meeting platforms charge per user or licence, but we don’t believe this is fair or reflective of what small and medium businesses need from a video meeting software. That’s why we now charge per meeting room, and not per user.

With the Whereby Business plan, you can set up everyone in your company with an account and fix remote communications within a few minutes, with all video meetings taking place on the same platform.

For just $14.99, your whole company gets instant access to a video meeting tool, with every employee getting their own room. This is a huge opportunity for small and medium size companies. A 12-person startup can now set up an account with one XL team room for $14.99 and only pay more when they grow and need more places for large groups to meet.