A long time ago in 2017, we designed the flespi commercial model with a single tariff based on the “pay as you use” approach suitable for the standard type of flespi client. When we designed associated restrictions we envisioned a typical platform with approximately 20,000—50,000 devices connected. We took the maximum consumption we expected from such a type of client and used it in flespi restrictions such as the maximum number of connections per channel, maximum platform traffic, API calls allowed per minute, and so on.
In the middle of 2019 GPS-Trace platform with a load of 140,000 devices started to migrate to flespi. In order to maintain its successful operation with flespi we were forced to extend some restrictions, especially the maximum number of API calls and platform traffic per minute.
Now 2022 is coming and GPS-Trace is still successfully growing with flespi, but our limitations force its engineers to be very careful with how they are using our platform. We now see that more and more flespi clients are actively growing in the number of devices connected as well as in the number of features they use on the flespi platform. And of course, as they grow and rely more on flespi they also need more attention from our side.
Historically we offered the SLA Advanced package for this additional attention along with the extra efforts in protocols, streams, and even platform development towards their needs. But we still see the demand to extend some flespi restrictions for high volume usage for some projects.
That’s why we decided to split the current single commercial plan into three new plans targeted at different types of flespi clients:
- Start €100/month — for PoC, start-ups, and any small-size projects. SLA Priority is included. Recommended for up to 5,000 devices.
- Enterprise €1000/month — for enterprise-level platforms and device manufacturers. SLA Advanced is included. Recommended for up to 50,000 devices.
- Ultimate €3000/month — for high-load systems. SLA Premium is included. Recommended for 50,000+ devices.
Pricing and contractual conditions for these new plans are absolutely equal to the pricing and conditions of the previous single commercial plan. The only difference is in the services included in the package. For example, the Enterprise plan includes SLA Advanced and the base price for the Enterprise plan is equal to the price of the Start plan plus SLA Advanced. The same is with the Ultimate plan which includes SLA Premium.
An additional difference between them is in softer and higher volume-oriented restrictions we are offering now for users of the more advanced plans. Previous commercial restrictions except four positions were fully copied into restrictions for the Start plan. For the Enterprise plan we extended some positions and for the Ultimate plan we extended these positions even more. You can check the whole list of restrictions for easy comparison here.
An extra feature for the Enterprise and Ultimate plans that is not available in the Start plan is the possibility to use private protocols and included flespi engineers’ monthly hours for protocols and features development upon client request.
For the Start plan it is still possible to enable the SLA Advanced package for one or several months to request the integration of new protocols or to carry out other extra work from the flespi team. But SLA Premium is now only available as a part of the Ultimate plan.
The table below shows the differences between all flespi plans:
Free €0 | Start €100/mo | Enterprise €1000/mo | Ultimate €3000/mo |
For testing & development. | For PoC, start-ups, and any small-size projects. Recommended for up to 5,000 devices. | For enterprise-level platforms and device manufacturers. Recommended for up to 50,000 devices. | For high-load systems. Recommended for 50,000+ devices. |
2 channels | 3 channels | ||
10 devices | 1,000 devices | ||
1 stream | 3 streams | ||
Priority support. | Priority support and feature request inquiries. | Priority support and feature request inquiries. | |
Channel and stream protocols integration on-demand. | Channel and stream protocols integration on-demand. | ||
Allow private channel and stream protocols. | Allow private channel and stream protocols. | ||
Special softer restrictions for high-volume flespi usage. | |||
SLA Best Effort | SLA Priority | SLA Advanced | SLA Premium |
We will seamlessly migrate our commercial users to the appropriate plans based on the SLA Advanced (Premium) package included in their subscription. Those who activated these packages on a permanent basis will be upgraded to the Enterprise (Ultimate) plan, all others — to the Start plan.
From now we can concentrate on some specific flespi features available only for certain types of users. This is important for us because what is good for enterprises is not always good for start-ups and vice-versa. And of course, we are now ready to soften restrictions and introduce special high-volume-oriented features for the Ultimate plan when needed by our largest clients. This gives us a lot of flexibility in configuring flespi for all types of clients.