The web application is targeted to software companies with at least two developers in the team and not to freelancers.
We’re basically trying to implement WordPress’ business model which is to offer an open-source, self-hosted version of the web app. and also to create a commercial service for companies who do not wish to host the application themselves.
Would you rather pay for the service (given the fact that the price is ideal for your company) or host it for yourself?
Impossible to answer without knowing what the service is all about, what the costs would be, and, most important, what its benefits are.
Mike
The service will be a scrum/kanban based project management tool for small-medium teams.
In my original post I wrote about the costs (given that it’s ideal for your company)
There are so many services like that, it’s hard to determine if/what it would be worth without some detail about what makes your product different.
That still doesn’t tell me what the benefits would be.
And to say that the costs would be “ideal for your company” doesn’t tell me much either.
Mike
Basically you need to reverse the question, and provide people with an idea of the actual/unique benefits of the product and how your customers would use it then ask them if they would like it to be hosted or installed.
Otherwise, your question is impossible to answer. If your product has some unique differentiators it can become popular, and you can offer both types of setups (i.e. ActiveCollab and many others) but the description of your product doesn’t say much.
Products like pivotaltracker are making a lot of money. Products like mantis or redmine have a lot of downloads. What is your product and why would I care about it?