Bluesky, a social networking startup and competitor to X, is developing a paid subscription service called Bluesky+. Initially announced during its $15 million Series A funding in October, mockups of the subscription have surfaced on Bluesky's GitHub, showcasing potential features. While the company cautions that these are merely mockups and subject to change, they hint at premium offerings like higher quality video uploads, profile customizations, and possibly verification badges.
The proposed pricing for Bluesky+ is $8 per month or $72 per year, although this is not finalized. The mockup also suggests additional features such as custom app icons, inline post translations, post analytics, and bookmark folders. Bluesky's software engineer, Dan Abramov, emphasized that the mockup does not guarantee the final feature set and that the “coming soon” label is just for testing purposes.
User reactions to the subscription model have been mixed, with some expressing skepticism about the proposed features. Besides subscriptions, Bluesky is exploring other revenue models, including selling domain names, a marketplace for algorithms, and potential advertising options.
