Pachube service goes free

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Pachube service goes free! via Shigeru.

We’re making the Pachube service free for all users. As of today there will only be one type of account. Every user will have unlimited datastreams, datapoint uploads and history as well as the option to create private feeds. We are setting a limit on the API request rate at 100 requests/minute. Current PRO users will see their rate limit go up from 40/minute to 100/minute. Current PREMIUM users will keep their current rate limit of 250 requests/minute.

…So, why go free? No, we haven’t decided to become a non-profit. No, we’re not just super-nice. What we are is ambitious. And having worked with and talked with many people in the Pachube community, we know that they’re ambitious too.

The “Internet of Things” is a big idea (though secretly many of us don’t actually like that term), and we want our community to lead the effort to define it. As devices continue to find their way onto the Internet, we want them to be able to take advantage of everything the Web has to offer. We want Pachube users to control their own data, build applications that we would never envision, and share with others as they see fit. This idea, as obviously correct as it sounds to us, is not inevitable. There are significant business and technical barriers to this vision.

By making the Pachube service free, we’re removing a small barrier today, and we’re committed to removing more barriers in the coming months. The Pachube service is not as easy to use as we want it to be. It still doesn’t do everything we want it to do. This is, of course, okay. That’s why our engineers come to work every day, sit at too-small IKEA desks and code their asses off. Pachube will continue to get simpler, better and more capable. Our intention is that many of these new capabilities will be free. Some of them won’t. We hope that you’ll want to pay for the stuff we decide to charge for.

Previously:
Pachube Acquired: $15m / Costs $1 million per quarter in ongoing operating costs.


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4 Comments

  1. This is definitely very good news.

  2. “Costs $1 million per quarter in ongoing operating costs.”

    Had forgotten that. Slashdot trolls ate well that day 🙂

    Ripe for open source remake.

  3. I like the concept of this service. But I seriously doubt the long-term viability. The burn rate of this venture is quite high and the ownership by LogMeIn is troublesome to me as well. There are a lot of privacy issues that come to mind. But then again, maybe they’ll be able to monetize through Government subsidies/loans/Green-Mandates (even more troubling IMO).

  4. This is great news. Making Pachube free for experimenters and hackers probably doesn’t cost them much more in operating costs, but will raise awareness for the commercial contracts they’ll be chasing.

    Most companies don’t want to build themselves a complete vertical solution for internet-of-things/sensor monitoring, they just want something that works.

    If the running costs are as high as claimed, it wouldn’t surprise me if Pachube start selling server appliances next.

    If you want an open source rewrite, there’s always ThingSpeak – though I doubt it scales very well…

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