New PlayFab Pricing Plan with No Monthly Minimums
Today we’re introducing a new Pay-as-you-Go plan for PlayFab which requires no minimum monthly commitment.
This plan is ideal for new titles where projecting future usage is hard to forecast. As your title grows, you can easily upgrade your plan at any time to the PlayFab Standard or PlayFab Premium plans, both of which offer significant cost savings in return for certain monthly minimums. For more information about all our plans, including help determining what’s best for you, visit the Pricing page at https://playfab.com/pricing.
Offering this new pay-as-you-go plan is another step, following our recent 90% drop in price for PlayFab Party, to help studios of all sizes get access to the services they need to grow their games. PlayFab is the most robust platform provider of managed game services to build, launch and grow cloud-connected games, and now it’s even easier for developers to find the PlayFab solutions that are right for them.
New Pricing Transition Tools
Earlier this year we introduced a new pricing model for Azure PlayFab which moved from MAU-based pricing to usage-based pricing. For the past six months, we’ve been transitioning customers to the new usage-based model. On November 1st that transition period will end, and the older MAU-based model will be discontinued.
To help improve the transition process, we've built a Plan Recommendation calculator so you can gauge which plan is best for you. The calculator helps you estimate your approximate monthly bill based on previous usage patterns and compare plans. You can access the Plan Recommendation calculator from within the PlayFab Game Manager by clicking the Update Account/Update Pricing buttons on the "My Studios and Titles” homepage or by clicking on Change Plan on the Studio Settings page. We’ve also updated the Plan Selection page to allow you to switch to any plan on the new pricing model.
What will happen to my account on November 1st, 2020?
Customers who have already switched to a new usage-based pricing plans (Standard Plan, Premium Plan) are all set. You should experience business-as-usual.
Essentials customers will be transitioned to the new Pay-as-you-Go Plan, with your titles in Development Mode. While in Development Mode, you can continue using PlayFab for free. You can have up to 10 titles in Development Mode at a time, and Development Mode allows up to 100,000 players per title. If your title exceeds 100,000 players, then you will be charged for services following the Pay-as-you-Go pricing.
Indie and Pro customers will be automatically transitioned to the Standard plan, which has a monthly minimum of $99, and includes monthly meters valued at more than $400 USD, along with Gold Level Support, which is the same support level as you received in the Indie and Pro Tiers, allowing you to submit support tickets as needed.
Customers who need Platinum Support with emergency escalations, or who estimate heavier usage can upgrade to the Premium Plan which includes monthly meters worth more than $8,000 USD for $1,999 USD per month.
Customers that estimate low title usage or who do not need ticketed support, can select the Pay-as-you-Go plan with no monthly minimum. You will still have access to the Public Forums and can upgrade your plan as you grow.
How do I change plans?
If you are on the MAU-based pricing plan, here are the steps to finding and updating your plan through the Plan Recommendation page:
Start by locating the Update Pricing buttons on the My Studios page or on any title in the studio.
If you are already on Usage-based pricing, you can access the Plan Recommendation page from the Upgrade account buttons located on the My Studios page or on any title in the studio.
Additionally,
you can see your current plan and change it by clicking the Change Plan button
on the Studio Settings page.
You can use the Plan Recommendation calculator to see your rolling-thirty-day usage. Based upon your historic usage, we will calculate your estimate bill for your current plan and recommend the most cost-savings plan.
From there, you can Proceed with plan to navigate to the Plan Selection page to pick a plan. This allows you to make the switch to the modern usage-based pricing before the automated pricing conversion on November 1, 2020.
Visit our Transition page to learn what will happen to your account if you take no action before November 1, 2020.
Helpful Resources
You can learn more about the pricing transition on the “Updating an Account” documentation page. Here, you will also find Frequently Asked Questions about the transition. As a reminder, you can also visit the PlayFab Pricing Overview to better understand our pricing meters, how to view your estimated bill and how to manage your account and title launches within Game Manager.
Finally, don’t forget about our Best Practices Guide that provides tips for using and optimizing each meter and will help guide you through managing your costs.
We’re here to help, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding the pricing model update.