Free Trial vs Freemium — A Field Guide is the work that turns a product into a business. The code is one thing; the business is the company that ships the code, sells it, supports it, and grows it. This guide is the field-tested pattern for this SaaS business practice.
The SaaS metrics that matter
The metrics that every SaaS founder, CEO, and CFO should know:
| Metric | What it measures | Healthy range |
|---|---|---|
| MRR | Monthly Recurring Revenue | Growing 10%+ MoM early, 5%+ MoM mature |
| ARR | Annual Recurring Revenue | MRR × 12 |
| Churn | % of customers lost per month | <5% MoM for SMB, <2% for enterprise |
| NRR | Net Revenue Retention | >100% (expansion exceeds churn) |
| GRR | Gross Revenue Retention | 90%+ for SMB, 95%+ for enterprise |
| CAC | Customer Acquisition Cost | Payback <18 months |
| LTV | Lifetime Value | LTV/CAC >3 |
A SaaS company that grows 20% MoM but churns 10% MoM is dying. A SaaS company that grows 5% MoM with 1% churn is a goldmine. The growth rate is the headline; the churn rate is the story.
Pricing strategies
The four pricing models, in increasing order of complexity:
- Per-seat. Easy to understand, easy to sell. Penalises growth (more users = more cost).
- Per-usage. Aligns price with value. Harder to predict revenue.
- Tiered. Bundles of features at price points. The standard SaaS model.
- Outcome-based. Price based on business outcome (e.g. % of revenue). High trust, high complexity.
// Tiered pricing example
const PRICING = {
starter: {
monthly: 49,
features: ["up-to-3-users", "basic-features"],
limits: { api_calls: 10000 }
},
pro: {
monthly: 199,
features: ["up-to-25-users", "all-features"],
limits: { api_calls: 100000 }
},
enterprise: {
monthly: null, // custom
features: ["unlimited-users", "all-features", "sso", "audit"],
limits: { api_calls: null }
}
};Product-led growth
PLG is the motion of letting the product sell itself. The signals:
- Self-serve signup. The user can sign up without talking to a human.
- Time to value. The user gets to "aha" in <5 minutes.
- Viral loops. The product invites other users (Slack-style).
- Usage-based pricing. The user pays for what they use.
- Product-qualified leads. The user, not the company, signals intent.
For the broader GTM patterns, see the CI/CD pipeline design guide and the monitoring guide.
Customer success
The customer success motion: ensure the customer gets value. The patterns:
- Onboarding. First 30 days. Get to first value.
- Adoption. First 90 days. Use the advanced features.
- Renewal. First year. The renewal conversation starts 90 days before.
- Expansion. Year 2+. The customer is ready for more.
A renewal that is a surprise is a churn risk. The customer success team should be talking to the customer about renewal 90 days before the date, not the week before. The conversation is about value delivered and value to come, not about price.
Wrapping up
The metrics, the pricing, the GTM, the customer success. Get all four right and the SaaS is a business. The discipline is the same as any business — know your numbers, know your customer, and know what success looks like.
Wrapping up
That is the working approach I use on Acumatica projects. The same patterns show up whether you are in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Kigali, Lusaka or Harare — and they are the things that keep work moving when an upgrade lands at 6 PM on a Friday. If you are stuck on something specific, reach out or keep reading through the rest of the Acumatica blog.
Independent software engineer in Nairobi specialising in Acumatica customisations, Laravel backends, and tax fiscalisation integrations across East and Southern Africa.