In our recent piece on “Build or Buy: The Costs Behind IoT Connectivity“, we explored why building your own IoT connectivity infrastructure can quickly spiral to $200,000+ in development costs, not to mention the opportunity cost of your engineering team becoming telecommunications experts instead of focusing on your core product. 

But understanding the value of a ready-made solution is only half the equation. The other half? Understanding exactly what that solution costs and how it scales with your business. 

Blues pricing is built on a simple principle: you should only pay for what you use, and your costs should be predictable from prototype to production. No monthly minimums for small deployments. No complex tiers that change based on arbitrary thresholds. Just transparent, usage-based pricing that grows with your business. 

We believe that you shouldn’t need a finance degree to predict your connectivity costs, and you definitely shouldn’t face pricing cliffs that make scaling feel like a punishment. 

Let’s break down exactly how Blues pricing works in practice, with real numbers and real scenarios. 

Essentials vs Enterprise: From Development to Scale 

Every month, the first 5,000 Events you use are free. While you develop your connected product, this means that there is no monthly subscription charge, and your prototype can send up to approximately 166 Events per day before you begin to pay for data usage. 

For small to medium businesses with fewer than 500 devices deployed, our 10-year data inclusion and no monthly minimums eliminate the subscription complexity that often makes IoT projects economically unfeasible. You can launch with predictable costs by managing your cadence of data egresses, only pay for what you use, and scale at your own pace without hitting pricing cliffs. 

For enterprises, our Enterprise Service Agreement rewards you with a greater discount, the greater the commitment you make. By only charging for the number of Events you use, you can easily predict your usage and benefit from volume discounts on both data and hardware 

The Math That Matters: Blues Pricing Examples 

Let’s put real numbers down and take a look at four scenarios that break down Blues costs. There are only three things we charge you for:  

• Notecard devices with 10-year connectivity: Device cost and included data: Between $9.75 and $72 
• Event processing: $0.000750 per event, after 5,000 free per month 
• Enterprise Support, Standard Support is free for all users 

Scenario 1 – Essentials Customers, Low Volume 

In Scenario 1, our customer has 100 devices deployed in the field which include Notecard Cellular, they are waking up to transmit data once every hour. This customer is on the Essentials Plan 

• One-off hardware cost = $45 per Notecard = $4,500 
• Data cost  
  • Each Event costs $0.000750 
  • If you have 100 devices consuming 24 Events per day, in a 30-day month, you will consume 72,000 Events 
  • At the beginning of each month, if your account is less than 5,000 Events, we’ll top it up to 5,000 for free. So, the total number of Events you need to pay for is 67,000 Events  
  • 67,000 Events cost = $50.25 per month 

Total cost in the first year = Approx $5,103 

Total cost after the first year = Approx $603 

Scenario 2 – Essentials Customers, High Volume 

In Scenario 2, our customer has 400 devices deployed in the field, including Notecard Cellular. They are waking up to transmit data once every minute. This customer is on the Essentials Plan, but due to the volume of devices, they also have an Enterprise support package. 

• One-off hardware cost = $45 per Notecard = $18,000 
• Support cost = $10,200 per year 
• Data cost 
  • Each Event costs $0.000750 
  • If you have 400 devices consuming 1,440 Events per day, in a 30-day month, you will consume 17,280,000 Events 
  • At the beginning of each month, if your account is less than 5,000 Events, we’ll top it up to 5,000 for free. So, the total number of Events you need to pay for is 17,275,000 Events  
  • 17,275,000 Events cost = $12,956.25 per month 

Total cost in the first year = Approx $183,675 

Total cost after the first year = Approx $165,675 

However, this cost is dramatically reduced if you commit to an Enterprise Service Agreement. In this scenario, the customer knows they will have these 400 devices deployed for 1 year using 207,300,000 events. Under an ESA, you would receive a 57.4% discount, making each event $0.0003197. The total cloud cost each year would be approximately $66,273.81. And, the discount increases the more Events you commit to. If this customer commits to 3 years, they will receive over 70% discount on their cloud costs! 

Scenario 3 – Enterprise Customers, Low Volume 

In Scenario 3, our customer has been prototyping with Blues and plans to deploy 1,000 devices on day one with Notecard Cellular. They know these devices will transmit once an hour and be deployed for at least 3 years, so they sign an Enterprise Service Agreement.  

• One-off hardware cost = $45 per Notecard = $45,000 
• Support cost = $10,200 per year 
• Data cost 
  • If you have 1,000 devices consuming 24 Events per day, in a 30-day month, you will consume 720,000 Events 
  • Over three years, you would need 25,920,000 Events 
  • When you commit to over 25 million events over the course of the ESA, you receive a 50% discount on Event cost. Events now cost $0.0003750 per Event. 
  • 25,920,000 Events cost = $9,720 

Total Cost in the first year = Approx $58,440 

Total cost in the second year = $13,440 

Total cost in the third year = $13,440 

Scenario 4 – Enterprise Customers, High Volume 

In Scenario 3, our customer has been prototyping with Blues and plans to deploy 1,000 devices on day one with Notecard Cellular. They know these devices will transmit once every five minutes and be deployed for at least 2 years, so they sign an Enterprise Service Agreement. 

• One-off hardware cost = $45 per Notecard = $45,000 
• Support cost = $10,200 per year 
• Data cost 
  • If you have 1,000 devices consuming 288 Events per day, in a 30-day month, you will consume 8,640,000 Events 
  • Over two years, you would need 207,360,000 Events 
  • When you commit to over 200 million events over the course of the ESA, you receive a 57.4% discount on Event cost. Events now cost $0.0003197 per Event. 
  • 207,360,000 Events cost = $66,293 

Total Cost in the first year = Approx $88,346 

Total cost in the second year = $43,346 

The Bottom Line: Pricing That Powers Growth 

Whether you’re deploying 100 devices or 10,000, Blues pricing is designed to support your growth at every stage. From the free 5,000 Events per month that let you prototype without subscription fees, to Enterprise Service Agreements that reward commitment with discounts up to 70%, our model aligns our success with yours. 

Remember the hidden costs we outlined in our “Build or Buy” analysis? Field provisioning at $1,000-3,750 per day. Security infrastructure that requires becoming your own security company. Cloud platform management, regulatory compliance, fulfillment complexity, and the opportunity cost of your engineering team’s expertise. 

Our pricing isn’t just about the cost per Event or the hardware price; it’s about eliminating all those hidden costs while providing transparent, predictable pricing that scales with your success. When your competitors are still building, and paying for, their DIY connectivity infrastructure, you’re already shipping products and capturing market share. 

Ready to see the complete financial analysis? Download our comprehensive guide ‘Build or Buy: The True Cost of Developing Wireless Connected Devices‘ and contact our team for a custom ROI analysis based on your specific deployment requirements.” 

Additional Resources 

• Download our guide: Build or Buy: The True Cost of Developing Wireless Connected Devices 
• Discover the case study: How American Crane & Equipment Corporation is cutting cost by 10x with Blues 
• Read the blog: Build or Buy: The Costs Behind IoT Connectivity