Pricing Tiers
Choose the tier that matches your content. Every tier includes all features from lower tiers.
Founder pricing: half off, locked for life
We are running a founder window. Every creator who joins right now pays half the prices below, for the entire life of the account, on any tier. No renewal-rate surprise, no expiring promo. The founder rate is yours as long as you keep an active creator membership when the window closes.
| Tier | Founder monthly | Founder annual (10% off) | Eventual sticker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $8/mo | $86/yr | $16/mo |
| Small Files | $12/mo | $130/yr | $24/mo |
| Big Files | $18/mo | $194/yr | $36/mo |
| Everything | $30/mo | $324/yr | $60/mo |
The window closes when we reach 1,000 creators or when we exit beta, whichever comes first. After that, new signups pay the sticker price.
Why we’re doing this: Makenot.work is a one-person operation today, profitable from day one and operating without venture capital. We would rather set a sustainable post-founder price from real signup data than guess at a number we can’t easily change later. The sticker prices above are our current upper-bound targets; the founder cohort gets a permanent discount in exchange for taking the chance with us before we have those numbers. If the post-founder price ends up lower, our founders stay below it.
All tiers
Every tier is a complete creator presence, not a payment widget. All tiers include: your /u/username profile page, project and item pages, the Multithreaded forum for your project, listing on the Discover page, 0% platform fee on fan payments, memberships, pay-what-you-want, promo codes, RSS feeds, contact sharing, analytics, full data export, and 2FA/passkeys.
One identity across all of it. Your /u/username is the same name on your profile, your items, your project pages, your forum posts, and your fans’ receipts, not seven handles on seven services your fans have to reconcile.
The tier you pick changes the envelope (how large each file can be and how much you can store), not which features you get.
Downloads are unlimited. There are no bandwidth caps or throttling on fan downloads or streaming. Fans can download purchased content as many times as they want.
The one caveat: “unlimited” assumes ordinary fan-use patterns. We don’t meter and we don’t intend to. If a project ever drives extraordinary egress (orders of magnitude beyond the tier price as it stands today), we’ll reach out and figure it out with you rather than throttling silently. We’ve never had to, and we don’t expect to. This note exists so we can keep the unlimited promise honestly instead of writing terms-of-service language that walks it back.
Broadcasts: one per day, currently up to 10,000 recipients per send. This is a floor, not a ceiling. If your follower list is bigger than that, email info@makenot.work and we’ll lift the cap for your account. The cap exists so a compromised account can’t bankrupt the platform on transactional email; it’s not a limit on what we want a real creator to do.
Need a larger file? Big Files and Everything creators can request a per-file size increase beyond 20GB from the Storage tab of their account settings.
Fan+ features come with your tier. Creators do not need a separate Fan+ subscription to access Fan+ benefits; they ship with every creator tier by default. The two carve-outs are the + mark (creators have a c mark instead) and the monthly credit allowance, which is fan-only. See Creators and Fan+ for the full policy.
Basic, $16/month
The smallest envelope that still gets you the complete platform: profile, project pages, item pages, forum, discovery, memberships, analytics, data export. Everything listed under All tiers above. The only constraint is per-file and total storage size, which makes Basic a fit for writers, bloggers, journalists, and newsletter creators whose content is text-shaped.
What You Get
- Everything in All tiers
- Unlimited posts and articles
- Rich text editor with markdown support
- Code syntax highlighting
- Free, paid, and member-only posts
Storage Envelope
- 50GB total for images, covers, embedded images, and any downloadable files
- 10MB per file (covers, embedded images, downloadable files)
Multimedia on Basic
If your primary content is text but you occasionally want to embed an audio or video piece, you don’t have to upgrade. Embed or link to anything you’ve already posted on YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Vimeo, Spotify, etc., from inside your posts and item pages. We encourage cross-posting and cross-streaming generally. Your work doesn’t have to live in one place to be discoverable here. Upgrade to Small Files or Big Files when you want the media to live on MNW (own the file, sell it, gate it behind memberships, generate a podcast RSS feed, etc.).
Small Files, $24/month
A larger storage envelope for musicians, podcasters, sound designers, indie developers, and plugin makers. The platform features are the same as Basic; what changes is the file size the envelope can hold and the content types that envelope unlocks.
What You Get (in addition to Basic)
- Audio hosting (MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, AAC, AIFF)
- In-browser streaming via custom audio player
- Chapter markers with timestamps
- Cover art per item
- Podcast RSS feeds
- Binary downloads (.zip, .dmg, .exe, .appimage, .deb, .tar.gz, .clap, .vst3)
- Versioned releases with changelogs
- License keys with activation tracking
Storage Envelope
- 250GB total for primary content (audio files, binaries, plugins, and supplementary materials)
- 500MB per file
Big Files, $36/month
The largest standard envelope: up to 20GB per file. For game developers, educators, course creators, and anyone producing large content. Same platform features as every other tier; what changes is what fits.
What You Get (in addition to Small Files)
- Video uploads (MP4, WebM, MOV) up to 20GB per file
- In-browser video player with access control
- Member-only and pay-per-view videos
- Video series and playlists
- Large binary downloads up to 20GB per file
- Per-file size increase available on request for files over 20GB
Automatic transcoding, adaptive streaming, and thumbnail generation are on the roadmap.
Storage Envelope
- 500GB total for primary content (video, large binaries, game builds, and supplementary materials)
- 20GB per file (increase available on request)
Everything, $60/month
For creators who want every feature the platform offers, including ones that carry real marginal cost, now and as we ship them. The lower tiers already include everything we can give creators without raising the bill. Everything is where the high-cost capabilities live.
What You Get (in addition to Big Files)
- First access to new features as they ship (see the roadmap)
- Priority for per-file size increases beyond 20GB
- Cost-heavy features (streaming infrastructure, etc.) as they ship
As the platform grows, this tier always includes the full feature set. You won’t need to upgrade again.
Our goal is to move features down into lower tiers over time, not gate more behind Everything. The economics of running this platform are a problem to be solved, not a goal to be maximized. If infrastructure costs drop or the creator base grows enough, we’d rather lower prices or expand what each tier includes than keep the margin.
Storage Envelope
- 500GB total for primary content (same as Big Files)
- 20GB per file (same as Big Files, increase available on request)
What Creators Keep: Example Earnings
All numbers are monthly. These examples use approximate US Stripe fees (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) and 0% platform fee. Stripe fees vary by country (2.2%-3.5%); check stripe.com/pricing for your region.
Understanding Stripe’s Per-Transaction Fee
Stripe’s fee is percentage plus a flat $0.30. The flat portion matters more on small transactions:
| Sale price | Stripe fee | Effective rate | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1 | $0.33 | 33% | $0.67 |
| $2 | $0.36 | 18% | $1.64 |
| $5 | $0.45 | 9% | $4.55 |
| $10 | $0.59 | 5.9% | $9.41 |
| $25 | $1.03 | 4.1% | $23.98 |
| $50 | $1.75 | 3.5% | $48.25 |
The “~3%” shorthand is accurate at $25+ but understates the cost on small transactions. Price accordingly. A $1 single loses a third to processing. Bundling (albums, packs) reduces the per-item fee impact.
Basic ($16/month tier)
A newsletter writer with 150 fan members at $5/month:
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Gross fan revenue | $750.00 |
| Stripe fees (150 transactions at ~$0.45 each) | -$67.50 |
| You keep | $682.50 |
| Your MNW tier fee | -$16.00 |
| Net income | $16 less than the line above |
On a percentage-cut platform at 10%, you’d pay $75.00 in platform fees instead of $16.00. At 20%, $150.00.
Break-even: Your tier fee pays for itself at four $5 sales (or two $10 sales).
Small Files ($24/month tier)
A musician selling albums at $10, averaging 80 sales/month, plus 50 fan members at $7/month:
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Album sales (80 x $10) | $800.00 |
| Stripe fees on sales (80 x ~$0.59) | -$47.20 |
| Fan membership revenue (50 x $7) | $350.00 |
| Stripe fees on fan memberships (50 x ~$0.50) | -$25.15 |
| You keep | $1,077.65 |
| Your MNW tier fee | -$24.00 |
| Net income | $24 less than the line above |
On a percentage-cut platform at 15%, you’d pay $172.50 in platform fees. At $1,150/month gross, MNW saves you the difference minus your tier fee.
Break-even: A handful of album sales or fan members covers the monthly tier fee.
Big Files ($36/month tier)
A game developer selling a $25 game, averaging 40 sales/month:
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Game sales (40 x $25) | $1,000.00 |
| Stripe fees (40 x ~$1.03) | -$41.00 |
| You keep | $959.00 |
| Your MNW tier fee | -$36.00 |
| Net income | $36 less than the line above |
On a 30% platform (typical game stores), you’d pay $300.00. MNW costs your tier fee instead.
Break-even: A couple of game sales covers the monthly tier fee.
At Scale
A creator earning $5,000/month gross (any tier):
| Platform model | Platform fee | You keep (after all fees) |
|---|---|---|
| MNW (0% + $16–$60 tier fee) | $16–$60 | ~$4,800 |
| 10% platform | $500 | $4,355 |
| 15% platform | $750 | $4,105 |
| 20% platform | $1,000 | $3,855 |
| 30% platform | $1,500 | $3,355 |
The flat fee becomes increasingly favorable as revenue grows. At $10,000/month, a 15% platform takes $1,500; MNW costs your tier fee.
Illustrative examples, not income guarantees. Stripe fees vary by country and payment method: stripe.com/pricing.
Software on Makenot.work
Software creators (app developers, plugin makers, game studios) fit into the tier system based on their file sizes:
| What you make | Typical size | Recommended tier |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress themes, small tools | Under 50GB total (10MB per file) | Basic ($16) |
| VST3/CLAP plugins, presets | 50-500MB | Small Files ($24) |
| Sample libraries with installers | 500MB-2GB | Big Files ($36) |
| Games, large applications | 2-20GB | Big Files ($36) |
| Very large games (20GB+) | 20GB+ | Big Files ($36) + size increase request |
All tiers from Small Files up include versioned releases, changelogs, license keys, and promo codes. Pick the tier that fits your largest deliverable.
Storage Limits
When you reach your tier’s storage cap, new uploads are blocked until you free space or upgrade. Existing content remains published and accessible to fans.
Upgrades take effect immediately and are prorated. If you’re at 240GB on Small Files (250GB cap), upgrading to Big Files (500GB cap) unblocks uploads instantly.
Upgrading and Downgrading
- Upgrade anytime. All existing content, members, and settings carry over. Prorated for the current billing period.
- Downgrade anytime. Existing files stay. New uploads are subject to the lower tier’s limits. If you’re over the new cap, you can’t upload until you’re under the limit.
- Missed payment: If a payment fails, Stripe retries automatically (typically 3 attempts over ~3 weeks). During this period your existing content stays published, but new uploads are disabled. If all retries fail, your creator tier subscription cancels and the cancellation grace period begins.
- Cancellation: 30-day grace period applies. Uploads are disabled, but existing items remain accessible to past buyers. After 30 days, items become hidden (not deleted). Resubscribing to any tier automatically restores all hidden items.
Free Trials
Request a free trial (2 weeks to 3 months) when you apply for creator access. No credit card required. At the end of the trial you can join or export your content.
Getting Started
- Create your account
- Set up your profile
- Share with your audience