--- title: "How to price your first paid pilot without giving the shop away | Hypergility" description: "A practical framework for pricing a first paid pilot that funds your work, protects your roadmap, and keeps the customer engaged." lang: en json-ld: | { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BlogPosting", "headline": "How to price your first paid pilot without giving the shop away", "description": "A practical framework for pricing a first paid pilot that funds your work, protects your roadmap, and keeps the customer engaged.", "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Hypergility" } ], "datePublished": "2026-05-21T06:51:11.386039+00:00", "dateModified": "2026-05-21T16:28:51.808646+00:00", "image": "https://aaiqevwzojrlzhxdxxzq.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media-processed/blog-heroes/price-your-first-paid-pilot-without-giving-the-shop-away.jpg", "keywords": "Monetise", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://www.hypergility.com/blog/price-your-first-paid-pilot-without-giving-the-shop-away" }, "citation": [ { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "OpenView 2025 SaaS Pricing Benchmark", "url": "https://openviewpartners.com/" } ], "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Hypergility", "url": "https://www.hypergility.com" } } --- [![Hypergility](/assets/hypergility-logo-BKOgRT51.png)for bold startups ](/) Services [Startup Grower](https://startupgrower.hypergility.io/)[Website Build](/build-your-website)[Public Sector Bids](/offerings/win-public-sector-bids)[Management Systems & Assurance](/services/management-systems) Who it's for [Are you a bold founder?](/are-you-a-bold-founder)[Innovation Hubs](/partners/innovation-hubs)[Universities](/partners/universities)[Researchers](/personas/researchers) [Why us](/why-us)[News](/news)[Try Startup Grower](https://startupgrower.hypergility.io/)[Contact](/contact) [Back to News](/news) ![How to price your first paid pilot without giving the shop away](https://aaiqevwzojrlzhxdxxzq.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media-processed/blog-heroes/price-your-first-paid-pilot-without-giving-the-shop-away.jpg) Monetise # How to price your first paid pilot without giving the shop away Hypergility May 21, 2026 TL;DR - Free pilots almost always under-deliver — the customer has no skin in the game. - Charge 25–40% of expected annual contract value as a one-off pilot fee. - Time-box ruthlessly: 6–10 weeks, written success criteria, exit on either side. - Convertible pricing: pilot fee credited against year-one contract if they sign. - Never give perpetual IP, exclusivity, or roadmap control as part of pilot pricing. - UK SaaS median first-pilot price (2025): £6,800 (OpenView 2025 pricing benchmark). The biggest pricing mistake first-time founders make isn't charging too little — it's charging zero. A free pilot tells the customer the work is worth what they paid for it. Here's how to price the first paid one without scaring them off. Price the pilot at 25–40% of what a full annual contract would cost. It's low enough to land, high enough that the customer actually shows up to the kick-off call. Time-box the work. 6–10 weeks, written success criteria signed by both sides, an exit clause for both parties if criteria aren't hit. Make the pilot fee convertible — credited against year-one if they sign. This removes the "but I already paid" friction at upgrade time. What you never give away in a pilot: perpetual IP, exclusivity in their sector, roadmap control, or unlimited support hours. Those are the things VCs check. > “A paid pilot at 30% of ACV outperforms a free pilot on conversion roughly 3 to 1 in our portfolio.” — Mark Preston , Hypergility ## Sources 1. 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