💰 Huge price drop on Examine+ membership (2024)

Kamal here, co-founder of Examine. I have big news!

We decided to drop the price of theExamine+ membershipfrom $29 per month to $19 per month to make it more affordable for you.

After a year of historic inflation and everyone raising their prices, what kind of company dramatically lowers their prices? Examine is that kind of company. Even though it’s financially risky, we want to make our information more affordable to our readers with limited budgets.

Why are we lowering prices?

We’re a small team of regular people, more akin to a public health organization than a mega-corporation that’ll do anything to improve the bottom line.

For example, while I’m the co-founder of Examine, I live in a pretty standard, unfancy two-bedroom apartment. My co-founder Sol and I cap our salaries to ensure we're contributing to an equitable working environment, and all Examine team members participate in profit sharing.

This ethos stems from our upbringings. Because my last name is Patel, people sometimes presume my parents were doctors or engineers. Nope! My mom was a full-time waitress and nearly full-time student (if you’re reading this, hi mummy!), who was a single mom with no child support. She slept on the couch, and my bartender uncle was my roommate.

I got financial assistance for school lunches, and I didn’t have some things that other kids had growing up — health insurance, birthday parties, and so on.

Yet I was lucky in countless other ways that ultimately led me down the path to Examine. And along the way, I picked up some real-life experience in how limited finances can get in the way of health and happiness. This especially applies to our readers who need the most evidence-based help with chronic illness, some of whom can’t afford a membership due to budgeting every last dollar.

Long story short: after many lengthy conversations over at Examine, we decided to go the highly unconventional route and drop prices. At the end of the day, we sincerely want to help out and pay it forward. Be the change you wish to see in the world, ya know?

What's the catch?

There’s no catch for you, but there is (sort of) a catch for us.

This price cut is risky for our bottom line. We hope that it’ll end up being at least revenue-neutral in the long run by keeping customers for longer and attracting new customers, but in the short term it may cut revenue by up to 20%. Ouch.

We already operate on thin margins because we pay our staff fairly and take lots of time and money to scour heaps and heaps of studies.

Plus we only generate revenue from people buying our single Examine+ membership, rather than through typical sources like ads, corporate partnerships, and other questionable methods that can introduce conflicts of interest.

Perhaps this resonates with you. Maybe you love science or scrappy independent companies, or like us you also want to pay it forward. If you’d like to help us out, consider trying out the Examine+ membership.

Thank you. If you have any questions, thoughts, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

Kamal Patel

Co-founder, Examine