# Do Companies Remove Pricing Tiers — and How Often Is It Tested?

Source: Lazyweb Research
Published: 2026-07-07
Sample size: n=117
Tags: pricing, monetization, saas, experiments, upsell
HTML: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-many-experiments-touch-pricing-tier-removal
Markdown: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-many-experiments-touch-pricing-tier-removal.md

**Answer.** Across Lazyweb's 4,814-experiment corpus, 117 detected experiments (2%) involve removing or dropping a pricing tier or plan, spanning 83 companies.[1][2] Real examples collapse a multi-tier menu into a single headline price to remove the plan-evaluation step for a decided audience.[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.[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).[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.[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.[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.[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.[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.

## The numbers

| Stat | Computed from |
| --- | --- |
| 117 pricing-tier-removal experiments across 83 companies | tactic_mentions__pricing_tier_removal |
| 4,814 total detected experiments (tier removal = 2%) | total_detected_experiments; 117/4814 |
| Dribbble: 3-tier plan ($4/$8/$99) collapsed to single '$8/mo' + one CTA | qualitative: pricing-tier removal, dribbble, 2026-07-04 |
| 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 & citations

- [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.

## Related questions

- [Should You Add or Remove a Discount Badge? What Companies Actually Do When They Iterate?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/should-you-add-or-remove-a-discount-badge-what-companies-do)
- [Do Companies Remove Their Free Plan? What the Detected Experiments Show?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-many-experiments-touch-free-plan-changes)
- [How Many Detected Experiments Change CTA Copy, and What Do Companies Rewrite?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-many-experiments-touch-cta-copy-and-what-changes)