Sprout Builder Kills Its Free Publishing Service
Web 2.0 Called; It Says It's Just An Ad Platform Now
When we saw drag and drop widget creation service Sprout Builder launch at the DEMO conference a year ago this month, we called it far and away our favorite company that launched there. A year later the cold reality of financial survival beckons and Sprout has announced that there is no longer any such thing as a free widget. Users will need to pay a minimum of $140 for a year of uptime for three widget projects.
It saddens us that this awesome authoring tool isn't offering any entry level free service to allow nonprofit groups or casual widget makers a way to test the app or make quick little widgets on the fly. The company had tied making its service ad supported, but apparently the most viable interest has come from ad agencies wanting to use the service professionally. Sprout used to be an easy way for any of us to make dynamic, highly functional widgets - now it's just for marketers who want a piece of Facebook.
It saddens us that this awesome authoring tool isn't offering any entry level free service to allow nonprofit groups or casual widget makers a way to test the app or make quick little widgets on the fly. The company had tied making its service ad supported, but apparently the most viable interest has come from ad agencies wanting to use the service professionally. Sprout used to be an easy way for any of us to make dynamic, highly functional widgets - now it's just for marketers who want a piece of Facebook.We hoped that the company would be acquired by a large benefactor and kept free, or that enough widgets would proliferate to make the free service profitable. Apparently that's not been the case.
Time and time again, many of the most innovative services online today run out of money before the huge number of potential and diverse users that could find value in them end up discovering them. Those services end up serving instead the world of advertising, or as is the case with many of the most awe inspiring research technologies - financial services professionals. We certainly don't have anything against advertising, it pays our bills and we'd love it if you went right now to check out our advertisers, but when a really innovative technology ends up hanging a sign that says "for advertising companies only" on its door - that really rubs us wrong.
Sprout's price sheet is hardly unreasonable for people who want to use the tool in their work, but now that it will cost you $300 a month to make more than 7 of these widgets - that's going to cut a significant portion of potential users out of the loop. Would-be widget makers looking for something free and easy to use can check out iWidgets as one alternative, although the primary language there about monetizing your content and socializing your brand is just as vomit inducing.
Remember how the web (and "web 2.0") were supposed to be a huge force of democratization? As we all know, time and again it turns into just another ad platform to sell lowest common denominator mass marketed commercial trash. That is really a tragedy.
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We're also big fans of Sprout, and got to know their team a bit as members of API beta program.
I think this could be a good move for them. While it does seem like everyone-and-their-grandmother is launching an Ad Platform these days... creating high-quality DIY widgets has proven consistently difficult (much like DIY banner ads, DIY campaigns, etc.)
It is frustrating to see the "free" options dwindle for non-profit users though... am interested to see if other widget-builder toolkits - KickApps, iWidgets, Widgetbox - make similar moves.
Posted by: Kevin Tate | January 14, 2009 4:05 PM
I actually just found Sprout a weeks ago while looking for a widget to introduce a blogger recognition program called "Blog Popz" which launched last Friday. Not realizing Sprout was heading toward monetizing, I centered the entire Popz around passing on the widget to other bloggers many of whom already are displaying their Sprout "Pop."
A momy blogger who does this on the side, it's not feasible for me to pay the amount Sprout is charging which will force me to re-think the entire thing. After spending the last three weeks working with and learning Sprout and launching Blog Popz last Friday, this couldn't have come at a worse time. :(
Posted by: Cecelia | January 14, 2009 4:13 PM
Marshall, I learned about this from an email I got from Sprout. I have two Widgets there -- both for my podcast, For Immediate Release, which my co-host (Neville Hobson) and I do without much by way of compensation (we have a couple sponsors whose fees cover our production costs). While Sprout's pricing may be reasonable for businesses, for those of us using the service for not-for-profit reasons, and outside the scope of our businesses, it's just too much. From where I sit, the 1-to-3 widget range should have been the free range, with pricing kicking in for those who want more than three. You're right. This is sad.
Posted by: Shel Holtz | January 14, 2009 4:29 PM
I think this is too bad too - but we need to get over the idea that everything cool should be free. I wonder if they could or should offer a less daunting entry price (1 widget for $25 or something), but we really need to get over the idea that everything should be free.
When people create value they should be able to be compensated for that and when people get value from a thing, they should pay for it. That's the entire principle behind business - make something of value, offer it for a price that's fair and that reflects that value and people will buy it.
For the last decade, though, people have been trained to get something of value and not pay for it. That's a model that works in some cases, notably if the business can support itself via ads and/or related services like conferences. Service and information businesses tend to fall in this camp.
Those models don't work for every kind of business though, most notably product businesses. A book seller needs to sell the books. A software vendor needs to sell the software. That sale cane be a one time box or a SaaS hosted subscription but the software is a sale to the person using it. And yes, GMail and a few others violate this, but Google could never have launched GMail before they had a good ad business.
I would like to see people like Sprout provide some way for low-end users to try out the software or use it at a low cost... but that may not make financial sense.
Posted by: rick | January 14, 2009 4:37 PM
I had a great time building sprouts for my online magazine (www.transparentchristianmagazine) I certainly understand their need to make this a fee based service, the functionality is solid, robust and there are multiple applications that I have built... Banners, music players, and some promo pieces for my site and for friends.
The work I do online is ministry based, and my magazine is a free product (and hopefully will continue to be). I hope that the folks at Sprout realize their goals, both personal and professional, they built a good product and deserve their success.
I am a bit down about it though, I have had a great run and have developed some ability with the system... Unfortunately I will be unable to pay for the service moving forward.
Jason
Transparent Christian Magazine . Com
Posted by: TransparentJ | January 14, 2009 5:29 PM
Here is my experience with Sprout Builder. In November they announced a contest:
I'd read about Sprout Builder before on ReadWriteWeb, checked it out, and thought it sounded interesting. I had also been thinking it would be fun to design a little iPhone-style app based on my product. When they announced the contest something clicked and I decided to enter.
After a couple of weeks of busting my butt, I had my shiny new Sprout. I thought it was pretty nice, but what do I know? I submitted it for the contest and waited with bated breath for the results. And guess what? I won!
What did I win? Nothing! None of the things they said when they announced the contest. Was my Sprout put in their gallery? No. Was it put in the rotating slideshow on their front page? No. Did they even bother to send me a freakin' T-shirt? No.
That said, I did enjoy working with the Sprout Builder technology. It's very nice for simple widgets. But it holds you hostage to their whims. I put a lot of work in, uploaded a lot of stuff, designed around their platform, and now poof! It's all gone unless I pay them $150 per year.
Fortunately in the process of developing my Sprout I concluded that widgets are too limiting a platform for my purposes. So no great loss if it goes to the great cloud in the sky. But my experience from the contest has definitely soured me on Sprout Builder. To me their conduct implies a real disregard for the little guy.
You can see my prize-winning Sprout before it gets vaporized at http://www.spencerlearning.com/blog/ultimate-phonics-sprout/.
Posted by: Brian Spencer | January 14, 2009 6:04 PM
Great column, and I couldn't agree more. I feel thoroughly deceived by Sprout. I invested a massive amount of energy into working with their product (and demonstrating its effectiveness, and evangelizing to friends about it) and they thank me with a pricing scheme that makes it totally untenable for the work I've been doing.
I invested time and energy in Sprout because it seemed clear that while they'd probably move to a fee-based model at some point, a free model would still persist as a gateway for new customers, and at least I'd have a choice. (Otherwise, what was all that crap about SproutBuilder Pro?)
Instead, it sounds like my Sprouts will vanish if I don't pay up. Feels like extortion.
Not to mention the short two weeks (three weeks? It's not really clear) notice, unveiled in what seemed like a defensive and downright pissy note to users.
Nice work, Sprout. Democratization, indeed.
Posted by: JH | January 14, 2009 7:08 PM
I'm in the process of writing a blog post about how 'free' has not helped many businesses/verticals and I guess this is one of them.
If you are going to derive a value, then it has to be paid for - and I guess those casual widget creators don't create enough value to feel the need to pay for it, yet the ad agencies create enormous value and so they are prepared to pay... that creates a massive disparity and suddenly you wonder why you are giving the shop away for free at the low end.
Sprout Builder's move simply creates a new opportunity in the market for someone to offer a free widget builder without much competition. The market will decide whether it's viable, and if it isn't then Sprout actually made the correct decision.
Posted by: benmetcalfe.com
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January 14, 2009 8:19 PM
Maybe their technology execution was good, but on the business side there are obvious mistakes. One of the first things a startup should do is figure out their target market. It appears SB thought they could be both B2B and B2C, which is difficult to pull off. Setting the expectations of your users, paying or non-paying, is very important and the trust lost here is significant.
This is a harsh call to make, but Kirkpatrick nailed it.
On a side note, I was looking at Feedburner alternatives today and just about every one of them had "vomit-inducing" messaging. The long-tail of blogging is very difficult (if not impossible) to monetize, but that isn't stopping the mommy blogger set nor companies trying to cater to them.
Posted by: coldbrew | January 14, 2009 9:17 PM
Dumb move. How much to is it cost to host a widget? Those who think "free" isn't viable are nuts. Free is the easiest and lowest cost way to market a web service.
Posted by: pwb | January 14, 2009 9:41 PM
poof!
Posted by: Rajesh | January 14, 2009 10:20 PM
Love the service. Very sorry to see it go. A true shame.
Posted by: Carfeu | January 15, 2009 6:24 AM
While I think Sprout could have worked on a more graduated price model, I think people need to recognize that these web 2.0 "companies" are not charities. While I love all the free options available, there's a lot of times I wonder how the provider could afford to do so, and how much longer they can continue to do so. I don't know what Sprout's transition plan is for those with free accounts, but if you really derived value from it, then you'll pay for it. If you haven't, you won't. It's simple economics. Like benmetcalfe mentioned above, the market will decide whether it was a good decision or not.
Posted by: BS | January 15, 2009 6:49 AM
Always sad when things like this happen.
Kevin Kelly's "Better Than Free" should be required reading for all web-based startups:
www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/01/better_than_fre.php
Posted by: Dave | January 15, 2009 6:53 AM
As an educational client we will have to stop using Sprout when they move to a pay for widget service. I was promoting them everywhere I could and that will have to stop as well.
The service does not really offer enough to be free in my opinion when I can use others like Dapper, Popfly, and yahoo pipes for free to name a few.
Jeff Baker
Smith College, New Media
Posted by: Jeff | January 15, 2009 8:23 AM
Check www.wix.com
it has the same or even better functionality for flash widgets and flash websites, but they still keep a free offering
Posted by: Vish | January 15, 2009 9:04 AM
Sprout made me sad...
I agree that cool should be paid for, but a cool product should have a cool price.
Offering web programming accessible for the masses, and prices for only the select few seems incoherent.
Reasonable prices that the fan base (not customer base, FAN BASE) could afford to pay would probably have given better results. The good-will lost through the surprise "intellectual eviction" will make regaining credibility difficult.
Good product, good ideas... good-bye.
Posted by: matt | January 15, 2009 10:03 AM
This just so wrong.
It seems to be a trend of sorts, much like drug pushers many years ago; Put out a new software, touting it as a free service (a "taste") so that people will use it, GET used to it, and depend on it, only to cut it off and throw out a price that is far from cheap.
I am all for making money. But if it's money you want to make, you set your products as a free trial, not suddenly yank it away and say "I changed my mind." I intend on finding another service, and it won't be sproutbuilder, even if I have to pay.
Posted by: TomW | January 15, 2009 2:12 PM
All companies have the right to live and sustain, so money should be made.
However, Sprout made a big mistake in being *not clear upfront*.
A Sprout-branded, limited storage service should be free forever. Then, paying for no branding and enlarged storage is normal. Now they have not given any justification for the price *level*: what "they feel is right". What will be "right" next month? Double prices?
New management quickly please...
Posted by: Tom | January 16, 2009 1:18 AM
A year ago I checked sprout and Wix, but decided to go the Wix way because they had a bit more design options other then widgets.
I guess I made the right choice, especially since sprout dropped this on us out of the blue with no other payment options.
Wix.com also started their premium payment options a couple of month ago, but that is just it – premium options! So most of it is still free – unless I decide otherwise!
And not the impolite way sproutbuilder chose to use.
Posted by: Danny | January 16, 2009 9:18 AM