You are going to see a lot of freemium models below. Usually, if your SaaS value proposition is cheap to maintain, it is worth it to give customers a viable taste that is free while offering upgrade paid options.
The cost of running a SaaS (Software as a Service) company depends on various factors such as the complexity of the software, the size of the team, marketing expenses, infrastructure costs, and so on. However, here are some examples of SaaS companies that have relatively low operating costs:
- Trello: Trello is a project management software that offers a free plan as well as paid plans. The company has a small team and relies on cloud hosting, which keeps infrastructure costs low.
- Mailchimp: Mailchimp is an email marketing platform that has a free plan as well as paid plans. The company focuses on automation and self-service support, which keeps labor costs low.
- GitHub: GitHub is a code hosting platform that offers a free plan as well as paid plans. The company's infrastructure is primarily cloud-based, which helps to keep costs low.
- Buffer: Buffer is a social media management platform that offers a free plan as well as paid plans. The company has a small team and uses cloud hosting, which keeps infrastructure costs low.
- Hootsuite: Hootsuite is another social media management platform that offers a free plan as well as paid plans. The company has a larger team than Buffer but still manages to keep operating costs relatively low by using cloud hosting and automation.
It may be the case that you want to build an enterprise SaaS solution. These typically have no sort of freemium offering and will involve multi-million dollar contracts with upsell services. The target customer in this case will be large and usually sign for 1-2 years at minimum. It could involve heavy on-boarding / implementation one-time costs as well.
It's worth noting that while these companies may have relatively low operating costs, they have also achieved significant success and growth. Keeping costs low is only one factor in building a successful SaaS company, and there are many other considerations such as product-market fit, customer acquisition, and retention that are equally important.
