Pricing that makes sense, from your first user to millions

Pricing FAQ

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What are usage credits?

A usage credit is a pricing unit modeled after a marketplace activity’s load on Sharetribe’s infrastructure. All actions users take on your marketplace as well as operator actions have a usage credit cost depending on how heavy the operation is. Here are some examples:

API endpoint type	Example action	Credits
Simple read	Fetch a listing's data	1 credit
Standard read	Fetch a user's reviews	2 credits
Heavy read	Search and filter listings	5 credits
Standard write	Create a listing	10 credits
Standard asset write	Add a listing field in Console	15 credits
Image upload	Upload an image to a listing	30 credits

Usage credits are priced per 1000 credits, since a single credit's price is extremely small. We charge for the exact number of credits used, rounding to the closest cent.

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How is usage calculated?

The credit consumption of any action is calculated based on the type of API call it takes and its load on our infrastructure. There are 16 different API endpoint types with different credit prices. You can learn more about how usage works in the Help Center and API call types and credit costs in our documentation.

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How many usage credits do I need to power my marketplace?

No two marketplaces are the same, so it’s difficult to give an exact number. For example, if your transaction process is simple and you don’t have frequent background operations to update your data, you can likely serve a large customer base with lower usage fees. Your usage costs depend heavily on your users' actions and the choices made when customizing your marketplace with code.

Real-world examples can also give an idea of what to expect. Here are some examples of the usage costs of anonymized Sharetribe customers at various scales.

Type of marketplace	New users /month	New listings /month	Transactions /month	GMV/month	Usage fee /month
Experiences	10	30	190	$2,500	$0
Service bookings	15	10	100	$5,000	$0
Rentals	110	4	310	$5,000	$23
Used product sales	130	70	60	$2,500	$131
Experiences	630	90	2100	$80,000	$227
B2B services	420	140	450	$30,000	$249*
Service bookings	350	20	2400	$90,000	$250*
Used product sales	1100	1500	2200	$30,000	$499*
Custom product sales	1700	530	1000	$100,000	$499*
Rentals	6900	270	10900	$600,000	$999*
Rentals	5500	280	11100	$500,000	$1,545*

*Price includes the optimal credit commitment.

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Are volume discounts available for usage?

Yes! Volume discounts are applied automatically as you usage grows. The usage tiers run from 7¢/1000 credits to just 0.5¢/1000 credits. And you can lock in a lower usage price with a 12-month credit commitment.

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What are credit commitments?

A credit commitment is way to lock in a lower usage fee for a year at a time. You commit to purchasing at a minimum amount of credits every month for 12 months. Though the commitment period is one year, the commitment is charged monthly. Volume discounts are applied normally to any usage on top of the committed credits.

We offer three levels of commitments. The larger the commitment, the lower the price per credit:

• 10M credits/month: $249/month
• 50M credits/month: $499/month
• 200M credits/month: $999/month

After 12 months, your commitment ends and standard, volume-based pricing applies unless you renew the commitment.

You can upgrade to a larger commitment during your commitment period. If you do this, the 12-month commitment period restarts.

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Why is Sharetribe cheaper than custom-built infrastructure?

Sharetribe powers 1,500+ marketplaces. Our scale lets us benefit from economies of scale. These benefits from cloud and other service providers are not available to smaller businesses. Our self-serve model keeps overhead low.

Here are some practical numbers:

• Running a marketplace on custom-built infrastructure costs $250–$480/month in cloud fees alone, before a single user shows up. When you factor in the cost of keeping someone on call, reliable, 24/7 DevOps coverage typically runs you four to five figures a month, plus infrastructure usage costs.
• Sharetribe's Live plan is priced at $259/month (monthly pricing) or $199/month (annual pricing) and includes full infrastructure maintenance and 24/7 incident response, so you don't need to worry about DevOps coverage. Usage after 1 million credits is billed separately.

We're also a steward-owned company on a mission to democratize platform ownership, which means we'll always charge only what we need to continue pursuing our mission, not to maximize profits. We exist to help you succeed, and when you succeed, we’ve reached our goal.

You can find a detailed comparison between Sharetribe and custom-built infrastructure costs in Marketplace Academy.

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Do I need to pay for hosting?

No. You don't need to install or host anything. Sharetribe's hosted cloud infrastructure takes care of that for you. If you want to use your own domain, you need to purchase the domain and connect it to your Sharetribe-hosted marketplace. Otherwise, your marketplace will hosted at [your-marketplace].mysharetribe.com.

If you add custom features to your marketplace, you need to host the custom code you've written yourself. This is still easy and affordable, as you only need to host the frontend code. The heavy lifting related to databases and business logic happens on Sharetribe's servers. Your custom code connects to Sharetribe's servers via APIs.

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Do I need to know how to code to build my marketplace?

No. You can build a fully functional marketplace without touching a single line of code.

If you need unique features that are not available in Sharetribe out of the box, you can use AI to build them, which will require a paid subscription to an AI-coding tool. If you're looking to build something complex or feel more comfortable if an expert customizes your platform, you can hire a vetted Sharetribe Expert or another developer to help you. If you hire a developer, they will charge you based on their individual rates.

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Are there any additional costs on top of the ones listed above?

All of Sharetribe's fees are outlined on this page. However, to enable certain functionality in your marketplace, you may need to connect third-party services that have their own pricing.

• Payments: Sharetribe’s default payment system is powered by Stripe. If your marketplace has online payments, Stripe charges you a fee for each transaction according to their standard pricing. Typically, this is around 1.5-3% of the transaction size. Learn more about Stripe’s fees.
• Maps: If you use map features, you can choose between Google Maps and Mapbox as your map provider. Both offer limited access for free, but if you have lots of traffic, they charge you for it.
• Analytics: Google Analytics is a free analytics option in Sharetribe. For cookie-free analytics, Sharetribe has an integration with Plausible, whose plans start at $9/month.
• Third-party tools: If you connect third-party services through Zapier or add other pre-built or custom integrations, you pay the fees these companies charge.
• Custom development: If you hire a developer to build custom features for your marketplace, they'll charge you according to their rate for development and future software updates. If you use AI to customize or update your marketplace code, you'll likely need a subscription to an AI-coding tool.
• Custom code hosting: If you add custom features to your marketplace, you need to install and host the custom code yourself. We recommend Render for hosting. Their $19/month plan takes you pretty far. Learn more about costs for hosting custom code.

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Do you offer a discount for non-profits?

Absolutely. We offer a special 25% discount to registered non-profits and steward-owned companies on both plans. Contact us for more information at hello@sharetribe.com.

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What if I need to pause my marketplace business for a while?

That's no problem. You can pause your marketplace by downgrading to the Hold plan at $49/month. When your marketplace is on hold, your users can’t log in or take actions in your marketplace, but your data will be kept intact and you can building it behind the scenes. You can reactivate your marketplace any time by subscribing to the Live plan.

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Can I get a refund of my subscription payment?

Sharetribe does not provide refunds by default. You can cancel your subscription at any time before your next renewal date. If you cancel after the renewal date, your subscription will remain active until the next renewal. However, we understand that life happens, and some extraordinary circumstances may warrant a refund. If you feel your case deserves re-assessment, please contact us. We're happy to review and discuss your case.

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Can I cancel or downgrade a credit commitment?

You can’t downgrade or cancel a credit commitment to a lower one during the 12-month commitment period, as the low pricing is motivated by the committed usage for a year. At the end of the period, the commitment ends, and you can subscribe to a different commitment or continue with standard volume discount pricing.

However, if you choose to discontinue your marketplace while you have an active credit commitment, you can pay 50% of your remaining commitment payments in one go to be relieved from the rest of your commitment.

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What is Sharetribe's approach to pricing and pricing changes?

Sharetribe's full pricing history—and the reasons behind every change—is publicly available.

Our mission is to democratize platform ownership by making marketplace technology accessible for everyone. This makes it our goal to charge our customers as little as possible. At the same time, we need to generate enough profit to run a sustainable business and honor our commitments to our early employees and crowdfunding investors. One way to ensure we maintain this balance is to be transparent about our pricing decisions.