:PROPERTIES:
:ID:       1a2b38df-20ba-58ca-ba55-a072be67bd0d
:END:
#+title: Personal Data Store as a Service
#+filetags: :passepartout:agora:revenue:pds:saas:

Classic open-core SaaS model (GitLab, Sentry, PlanetScale). The Merkle fact store exposed on Agora can be self-hosted (free, AGPL) or hosted by the early player.

- **Free tier (self-hosted):** full AGPL PDS, runs on any Lisp host, full control, no cost
- **Basic hosted tier:** $10-$20/month, 10GB fact store, 10M queries/month, automated backup, automatic upgrades
- **Business hosted tier:** $100-$500/month, 100GB+ fact store, unlimited queries, SLA, dedicated relay, compliance logging
- **Enterprise hosted tier:** $1,000-$10,000/month, air-gapped appliance management, dedicated support, regulatory-compliant data residency, SIEM integration

The free self-hosted version drives adoption and trust (you can inspect every line). The hosted version captures value from users who value convenience over control. Bluesky already demonstrated demand at ~$10/month for a simpler PDS.

Target: 100K subscribers at $15/month average = $18M/yr recurring, near-zero marginal cost per additional subscriber (the symbolic engine is CPU-bound, not per-user metered).

Combined with premium usernames: $28M/yr from Agora services alone before compute marketplace revenue.

See also: [[file:agora-usernames.org][Agora usernames]], [[file:infrastructure-lock-in.org][Infrastructure lock-in]], [[file:licensing.org][Licensing]]