# Overview This initiative enables monetization of DAP for free users across GitLab.com and Self-Managed Enterprise Edition deployments, introducing a usage-based pricing model without requiring base plan subscriptions. * **Target Deployments:** GitLab.com and Self-Managed Enterprise Edition * **Exclusions:** Community Edition (CE) will remain non-monetized #### Free user definition * Definition of free tier customer on .Com- A user belonging to a namespace/top level group that does not have an associated subscription to a base plan (like Premium or Ultimate)  * Definition of free tier on Self managed - A user added to an EE instance that does not have an active license for base plan (premium or ultimate) * Edge cases: Users belonging to free tier and a paid subscription group on [GitLab.com](http://gitlab.com). This is not our primary focus * Key consideration: We still assume an Admin and owner would take action to purchase for a free tier. User cannot buy it just for themselves to use across multiple groups in .com. They still make the purchase for their owned namespace or instance ## Initial Core Requirements ## Growth * Overall user journey + end to end experience for free user accessing DAP * Individual conversion levers ## Fulfillment * Enable DAP access without Premium or Ultimate base plan requirements * Allow purchasing and provisioning of existing monthly commit SKU for credit-based purchasing via self-service & Sales assisted * No free or included credits for these customers - usage should be immediately attributed to monthly committed pool * Usage dashboard for tracking consumption of credits * Establish foundation for future usage-based product offerings ## AI teams * Ensure DAP functionality properly integrates and functions with Free tier * Guardrails around Premium/Ultimate functionality so DAP does not access those features and undermine the value ## Launch requirements * Create lower tier of support made available to Free Users who purchase GitLab Credits * Documentation * Pricing/Marketing changes * Field enablement ### Implementation Framework **Subscription:** * Option 1: Seat based SKU + Monthly commitment SKU provides credits that enables access to all usage-based products * **\[Selected\] Option 2: Monthly commitment SKU provides credits that enables access to all usage-based products** * DAP serves as the initial offering in this new product category (acting as a Land SKU) * Credit balance and active commitment required for service access - Overage cut off implied with lack of credits **Billing & activation:** * Consistent usage billing methodology similar to existing base plans * Unchanged consumption calculations and tier pricing structure * Standard activation via online cloud license activation codes (Self-Managed) or namespace linking (GitLab.com) ## Key highlights * **No updates to seat count restrictions** - Free users can add 5 users in .Com and unlimited in self Managed EE version - we will not change this as part this initiative * **No included credits (to start)** - pure consumption-based approach - They use the commitment credits and then pay for overage * We'll explore other mechanisms for free users to begin using DAP, such as a Free or very low cost model only. The cost to include credits to all free users have a significant impact on our COGS which we have to consider. * **Allow an upgrade path** - commitment SKU transfers when upgrading to Premium/Ultimate ### Pending decisions 1. Are we doing purely usage based or is it seat+usage based subscription? **Yes its purely usage based** 2. Are we going to offer all existing features within DAP for free tier? [Details in the issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/work_items/590692) 3. Are we moving features down from premium to free tier to support DAP features? **No** ## Resources * [Strategy document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FjHYQfohxnFFmGVDqxqpk-yMFDmqYf2yyp9GiK-7feo/edit?tab=t.960hcwi3n4c0#heading=h.q5yirlwtmqdt)