Do Companies Remove Pricing Tiers — and How Often Is It Tested?
- By Ali Abouelatta
- n = 117
- Published
- Updated
- 2 min read
- pricing · monetization · saas · experiments · upsell
Short answer
Across Lazyweb's 4,814-experiment corpus, 117 detected experiments (2%) involve removing or dropping a pricing tier or plan, spanning 83 companies.source[1]source[2] Real examples collapse a multi-tier menu into a single headline price to remove the plan-evaluation step for a decided audience.source[3]
117 detected experiments removed or dropped a pricing tier across 83 companies — Lazyweb Research, July 2026 (n=4,814).
The finding: tier removal is a real but niche move
117 detected experiments involve a tier or plan being removed, dropped, or eliminated, across 83 companies.source[1] At 2% of the 4,814-experiment corpus it is one of the less-common tactics in this family, well behind discounts (1,133) and CTA copy (561).source[2] It shows up most where a company decides its audience is past the comparison-shopping stage.
Two named examples
Dribbble collapsed a three-tier comparison (Lite $4 / Standard $8 'Most Popular' / Plus $99) into a single '$8/mo' headline with one CTA above the fold.source[3] Inferred rationale: removing the $4 downgrade escape hatch and the plan-evaluation step for a mature audience that needs a decision, not a menu. Arcade went the other way structurally — repricing Growth from a $297.50/month flat plan (5 seats) to $42.50/month per user with per-plan CTAs — so a small team can start near $85 instead of facing a ~$300 anchor.source[4] Both simplify the decision, but one removes tiers and one re-slices them.
How to apply it
Tier removal is worth considering when your analytics show a dominant plan and a rarely-chosen decoy or downgrade tier. The observed pattern is collapsing to a single headline price with one CTA.source[3] But at n=117 across 83 companies this is a minority tactic — use the named examples as templates rather than assuming removal is a default best practice.
Caveats
The 117 count matches (tier OR plan) AND (remov/dropp/eliminat) in the change text, so it can include partial removals and re-structures.source[1] The stat pack provides no add/remove direction split or retention proxy for this tactic, so this page reports prevalence and examples only. Detected diffs with inferred rationale, not measured results.
Real in-market screens
Screens from real, in-market apps, tracked by Lazyweb Research.
Chaton1170 × 2532opens the full image 
Locket1179 × 2556opens the full image 
Betterme1206 × 2622opens the full image 
Coinsnap1206 × 2622opens the full image
The numbers
| # | Stat | Computed from |
|---|---|---|
| [1] | 117 pricing-tier-removal experiments across 83 companies | tactic_mentions__pricing_tier_removal |
| [2] | 4,814 total detected experiments (tier removal = 2%) | total_detected_experiments; 117/4814 |
| [3] | Dribbble: 3-tier plan ($4/$8/$99) collapsed to single '$8/mo' + one CTA | qualitative: pricing-tier removal, dribbble, 2026-07-04 |
| [4] | Arcade: Growth repriced from $297.50/mo flat (5 seats) to $42.50/mo per user | qualitative: pricing-tier removal, arcade, 2026-07-04 |
Methodology
Universe: 4,814 detected experiments (362 companies) in Lazyweb's ~800-app mobile corpus. Tier-removal tagged by (tier OR plan) AND (remov/dropp/eliminat) keyword match; no direction split or retention proxy available. Detected diffs with inferred rationale, not measured results. July 2026 pull.
Sources
- [1]
Lazyweb Research analysis of 4,814 detected experiments (362 companies, mobile-app corpus), July 2026
117 experiments where (tier OR plan) AND (remov/dropp/eliminat) appear, across 83 companies.
- [2]
Lazyweb Research analysis of 4,814 detected experiments (362 companies, mobile-app corpus), July 2026
117 of 4,814 total detected experiments (2%).
- [3]
Lazyweb Research analysis of 4,814 detected experiments (362 companies, mobile-app corpus), July 2026
Dribbble (2026-07-04): three-tier comparison collapsed to a single $8/mo headline.
- [4]
Lazyweb Research analysis of 4,814 detected experiments (362 companies, mobile-app corpus), July 2026
Arcade (2026-07-04): Growth repriced from $297.50/mo flat to $42.50/mo per user.
Source: Lazyweb Research — proprietary analysis of real, in-market app screens. Cite as Lazyweb Research, 2026-07-07.