💡 In simple words: A subscription means you pay a small amount every month to use the platform, instead of paying a big fee each time. It is like a monthly pass. The price is only meant to cover what the platform really costs to run: nobody is supposed to make a profit on it, and the money is shared to keep the community strong.

🎯 In 20 seconds (scientific summary): Initial hypothesis for the WikiDeal revenue engine: a CHF 1/month (or CHF 10/year) subscription, billed at transaction time, intended to run the platform at real costs, with no profit for any third-party company. Subscribers would also be members, with voting rights and a path to co-ownership. Subscription revenue would first cover the Rewards owed to Early Supporters, operating costs (servers, coordination team, committee) and the awards of the Open Calls. Subscriptions could also be offered (solidarity gift, supported request, third-party payment). The page also explains why the term "subscription" was preferred over "membership".

The Subscription Model

Wiki Core · Concept. This page presents an initial hypothesis, proposed as a basis for discussion.

Governance costs, no profit

The first argument for the paid subscription is simple: it aims at guaranteeing that the platform runs without profit for a third-party company. Rather than an absolute "real cost" which is difficult to define globally, the subscription funds a policy of priority management for good governance: keeping the community stimulated, paying resource persons, answering fundamental questions, supporting whistleblowers, and improving the model.

This is intended to be the exact opposite of the model of large speculative platforms, whose business logic is sometimes compared to offering the first dose for free, then overcharging users once a dependence has been created. Here, users would pay a small, transparent price from the start, the price would stay aligned with real governance needs, and users would never be the product.

Subscription model at a glance

Monthly price	CHF 1 (≈1 EUR ≈1 USD)
Annual price	CHF 10/year
Annual increase	Under discussion, up to 5%/year (initial working hypothesis, draft Open Call)
Billing method	At Transaction time
Inactive months	Retroactive billing
NOT in	Funding Contract
See also	Fund WikiDeal
See also	Why Fund WikiDeal

The WikiDeal Subscription Model is intended to be the revenue engine that would make the entire system sustainable, and the source of funds that would ultimately pay back Early Supporters through Rewards. At CHF 1/month, it is designed for global accessibility: approximately equivalent to 1 EUR and 1 USD (not an exact equivalence), making it one of the most affordable community schemes in the digital economy.

CHF 1/month is not intended as a price for a service: it would work as a subscription to a community-governed commons. Every franc is intended to go back to the community.

What you gain and our commitments

To put it from the user's perspective, the subscription is designed around concrete benefits and systemic commitments. These arguments would be presented clearly to users when they create an account and subscribe.

Your direct benefits

The AI Assistant (Chatbot): The subscription is intended to include, as soon as possible, access to an AI assistant (text and audio). It would take users by the hand, help them formulate their needs, find the right contracts, and navigate the platform safely, saving precious time.
Voting rights and governance participation: Subscribing is intended to guarantee the possibility of becoming a co-owner of the platform, with a voice in its decisions.
Marketplaces at cost price: Use of every marketplace would be charged based on the principle of real cost. While the exact definition of "real cost" depends on each User Group's policy (what is paid in CHF, what is exchanged in Karma tokens, what relies on volunteering), the platform guarantees the principle: no extractive profit.
Fair access to dispute management: Every subscriber would have equitable access to dispute resolution and to the developments of the platform.

Our systemic commitments

All contract templates are free to read: They could be copied and pasted freely under a free license. Only signing a contract under the aegis of WikiDeal would require an active subscription.
Honest revenues only: People working for the platform would receive salaries at standard market rates. There would never be extreme bonuses, and no possibility of reselling the company.
Support for vulnerable people: The platform intends to provide incentives and levers for people in vulnerable or fragile situations.

Pricing structure

Monthly: CHF 1.00 per month
Annual: CHF 10.00 per year. Written in black and white: the annual rate covers 12 months at a reduced price. Paying a year in advance costs CHF 10 instead of the CHF 12 that 12 monthly payments of CHF 1 would total, a discount of CHF 2 (about 17%) for early annual payment. In practice, many scenarios could coexist: some users would cancel or suspend their subscription, some would add donations on top, some would obtain months of subscription in exchange for Karma tokens earned through contributions, and advantages for contributions are being considered. On average, the working assumption is therefore CHF 10 per user per year. New users would be encouraged from the start to take the annual subscription; the monthly option at CHF 1 is intended for cautious people who prefer to start small.
Annual value increase: a possible annual increase of the subscription amount, of up to 5% per year, is under discussion as an initial working hypothesis through a draft Open Call (not yet launched); no percentage is decided. A related but distinct question, a possible annual percentage increase on rewards, is under study at Annual Value Increase.

Why CHF 1/month?

The goal is a low price, accessible to all: CHF 1 is approximately 1 US dollar and approximately 1 euro. This equivalence is approximate; what matters is that the price remains an acceptable amount for everyone, and that it is a base rate. The CHF 1/month price is not arbitrary. It is intended to be:

Globally accessible: approximately equivalent to 1 EUR and 1 USD in most markets (approximate, not exact)
Below the friction threshold: low enough that cost is not a barrier to participation
Scalable to sustainability: at large user numbers, CHF 1/month would generate transformative revenue
Fair: no tiered pricing, no premium plans, everyone would pay the same

Offered subscriptions

The subscription is designed so that it can also be offered, not only bought for oneself. Three options are envisaged, proposed as a base for discussion:

Solidarity gift (1+1): people with sufficient income could offer subscriptions to others. A user could choose to "buy one for me, and offer one to someone who needs it" (as a one-time gift or a recurring donation).
Supported request: a person could fill in a request form to benefit from an offered subscription, mentioning in their profile how they engage in the community, for example as a volunteer.
Third-party payment: the subscription could be paid by a third party, for example an association that engages volunteers and offers them the subscription.

Offered subscriptions are expected to be frequent: gifts to volunteers, gifts within families, or subscriptions included in professional programs and continuous training programs.

Access rules and billing at transaction time

The rules proposed for subscription access:

Free access: WikiDeal is intended to remain freely accessible: anyone could browse, read and explore contracts without any subscription.
Contract signing requires subscription: to sign a contract on WikiDeal, both parties would need to be up to date with their monthly subscription. If there are overdue months, the unpaid fees would be settled at the time of signing.
Retroactive billing: if a user has never paid or has missed months, all overdue subscription fees would be collected retroactively at the time of their next contract signing.
Charged on top of commission: the subscription fee would be billed in addition to the transaction commission, not deducted from it. The transaction itself would carry a double commission: one for the User Group operating the service, and one for the WikiDeal platform. This double commission is intended to stay between 5% and 15%, with justified exceptions possible in either direction.
Micro-payments for small transactions: for frequent small transactions, overdue subscription fees could be collected in micro-installments spread across multiple transactions. For larger contracts, the full overdue amount would be settled in one payment at signing.

The billing approach explored here is unusual: subscription fees would be billed at transaction time, not as a recurring monthly charge. This means:

If you sign a contract in March but had not paid January or February, those fees would be collected retroactively at the March transaction.
Inactive users would not be constantly billed, but their subscription debt would accumulate and be settled in full at their next contract signing.

Where the money goes

Subscription money is intended to go exclusively to covering the operating and development costs of the platform. The key principle proposed is a simple division: subscriptions cover the operating costs of the platform (servers, general maintenance, coordination), while signed contracts cover the costs of the User Groups, through their commissions.

At the beginning, during the startup phase, subscription revenue is intended to cover three things:

Rewards for the Early Supporters who believed in the project by supporting it at its riskiest stage. These Rewards are tied to the deliverables of the first funding round: see Prototype 1 Deliverables.
Operating costs: servers, the coordination team and the committee.
Awards (prizes) for the Open Calls. A note on terminology: on WikiDeal, "rewards" designates the compensation of supporters under the funding model, while "awards" designates the prizes of the Open Calls. The two words are deliberately kept distinct.

A startup model, not the definitive model

Within Prototype 1, in order to give a starting impulse, the bonding curve is used and a share of the revenue would return to the Early Supporters as Rewards. This rewards model, tied to the initial support, is not intended to be the definitive model: it is a startup and incubation model. Progressively, there would be no new supporters of this type, only subscriptions, and subscription revenue would then serve exclusively the operating and development costs of the platform.

Beyond this, many complementary mechanisms are being considered and are intended to be added over time: compensations, incentives, non-discrimination safeguards, positive discrimination programmes, support for community programmes, and more.

Scalability (illustrative, non-binding)

Users	Annual Revenue (CHF)
10,000	100,000
100,000	1,000,000
1,000,000	10,000,000
10,000,000	100,000,000

These figures use the average working assumption of CHF 10 per user per year. They are an illustration of how revenue would scale with adoption, not a promise and not a commitment.

Subscription revenue and supporters

The subscription model is intended to be the direct source of the revenue that would pay back Early Supporters. When you support WikiDeal today, the underlying hypothesis is that subscription revenue would grow to the point where your Rewards could be converted to CHF. The subscription model is therefore not just a pricing decision: it is the financial mechanism intended to make the entire Rewards system work.

ℹ️ The subscription model is separate from the Funding Contract. The Funding Contract would govern support contributions and Reward allocation. The subscription model would govern ongoing usage fees. These are two distinct financial flows.

Why "subscription" and not "membership"

As an initial hypothesis, the term "subscription" was preferred over "membership", while recognizing that what is proposed is, in reality, a subscription for a membership: subscribers would also be members, with voting rights. As this naming choice sits at the heart of the system, it is explained in detail at Subscription or Membership.