Why StatementSync Charges $19/Month Instead of Per-File

Originally published at chudi.dev

Every PDF-to-Excel tool charges per file. TextSoap: $0.50/statement. HappyFox: $0.25/statement. Bank statement converters on Zapier: $1.00/statement.

StatementSync charges $19/month. Unlimited statements.

This isn't underpricing—it's strategy.

The Per-File Problem

Per-file pricing makes sense on the surface:

• Simple to understand
• Aligns cost with value
• Easy to implement

But it punishes your best customers.

A bookkeeper processing 50 statements monthly pays $12.50-50/month at competitor rates. That's reasonable. But they're not your best customer—they're testing the waters.

Your best customer processes 200 statements monthly. At $0.25/file, they pay $50/month. At $0.50/file, they pay $100/month.

The more committed they are, the more they pay.

Per-file pricing creates incentive to minimize usage. Heavy users constantly evaluate whether each statement is "worth" the fee. They're never fully committed because every use is a new purchase decision.

The Flat-Rate Advantage

With flat-rate pricing, the dynamics flip:

Light users (10 statements/month): Pay $19 for $2.50-5 worth of per-file value. You're expensive for them—and that's fine. They're not your target.

Heavy users (100+ statements/month): Pay $19 for $25-100 worth of per-file value. You're a steal. They'll never leave.

Heavy users become your most loyal customers because:

1. They're getting the best deal
2. Switching means losing unlimited value
3. They recommend you to other heavy users

The Economics

This only works because extraction costs are near-zero.

Per-file competitors:
  Revenue per statement: $0.25-1.00
  Processing cost: $0.01-0.05 (if using LLM)
  Margin: $0.20-0.95

StatementSync:
  Revenue per user: $19/month
  Processing cost: ~$0 (pattern-based)
  Margin: ~$19/month

Break-even point:
  If competitor charges $0.25/file
  StatementSync breaks even at 76 statements/month
  Heavy users easily exceed this

Pattern-based extraction costs nothing at runtime. No LLM API calls, no per-document compute costs. This is what makes flat-rate pricing viable.

If I used LLM extraction (GPT-5 at $0.01-0.05 per statement), flat-rate would be suicide. A heavy user processing 500 statements would cost me $5-25/month in API fees against $19 revenue.

The tech decision (pattern-based vs LLM) enabled the pricing strategy.

Competitor Lock-In

Competitors can't easily match flat-rate pricing:

TextSoap scenario:

• Current customers expect $0.50/file
• Light users are profitable at this rate
• Switching to flat-rate means:
  • Losing revenue from light users
  • Explaining a business model change
  • Competitors attacking your transition confusion

The anchoring problem:
Their brand is built on per-file pricing. Their support, onboarding, and documentation assume per-file. Changing is a rebranding exercise, not just a pricing change.

New entrants (like StatementSync) can position as "the unlimited one" from day one. No legacy baggage.

The Psychology

Per-file pricing creates friction at every use:

• "Is this statement worth $0.50?"
• "Should I batch these for later?"
• "Maybe I'll just do this one manually..."

Flat-rate removes the decision:

• "I have unlimited. I'll process everything."
• No mental math before each use
• No anxiety about costs growing

Users with predictable costs are happier users. They budget $19/month and never think about it again. That's the relationship you want.

When Flat-Rate Fails

Flat-rate doesn't work for every SaaS:

High marginal cost products:

• AI image generation (compute per image)
• Data storage (cost scales with data)
• API aggregation (pass-through costs)

B2C with wide usage variance:

• Casual users dominate
• Power users rare but massively heavy
• Flat-rate either overcharges casuals or under-serves power users

Enterprise with unpredictable usage:

• Massive organizations with unknown scale
• Per-seat or usage-based often better

StatementSync works because:

1. B2B with predictable personas
2. Near-zero marginal cost
3. Usage correlates with commitment (heavy users = serious bookkeepers)

The Result

StatementSync's positioning:

The pricing strategy determines the customer base. Per-file attracts price-sensitive light users. Flat-rate attracts volume-committed heavy users.

I'd rather have 100 heavy users at $19/month than 500 light users at $5/month. The heavy users stay longer, refer more, and care more about the product.

The Lesson

Pricing isn't just about covering costs and adding margin. It's about selecting your customers.

Flat-rate selects for commitment. Per-file selects for caution.

Choose your customers by choosing your pricing.

Related: From Pain Point to MVP: StatementSync in One Week | Portfolio: StatementSync