Let me put this in perspective. When a product goes from free to paid, the market is finally asking the real question: does it generate enough value to justify the price?
68 yuan a month is nothing if the tool saves you 10 hours. But if it saves you 10 minutes, it's overpriced.
The key insight here is that Douyin isn't charging for chat — they're charging for work. The free tier stays for casual use. This is smart segmentation.
What I'm watching is retention. If paying users stick around for 6+ months, then we have a real business. If they churn after 2 months, it's a fad.
The AI market will split into two tiers: free for consumers, paid for producers. This is healthy. A market where nobody pays eventually has no supply. 📊