When to move a Sharetribe marketplace from Build to Live

After Sharetribe's October 1st pricing change, many founders are sitting on the Build plan and wondering what to do next. This is the decision rule I use.

Build is $39 a month. It covers building and testing a marketplace before launch: test users and listing data, sandbox payments, full API access to test and dev marketplaces, and 1 million usage credits per month. Custom code is allowed on Build, so a lot of the heavy lifting can happen there before any live plan is paid for.

Live is $259 a month billed monthly, with a cheaper yearly option. It adds what a real launch needs: real users and transactions, online payments with real money, full API access to the live marketplace, a white label platform with no Sharetribe branding, and no transaction fees.

The rule is simple. Stay on Build until a real customer is ready to pay. Move to Live the moment real money, real users, or a fully branded marketplace is needed.

Two checks make the decision safer. Look at the Usage section in Console to see how many of the 1 million credits are being used, since a test marketplace usually uses a tiny fraction. And use the Simulate usage fees link to estimate what a busier live marketplace would cost in extra usage.

The change that matters most for founders planning custom features is that code and API access on a live marketplace now come with Live, so the upgrade is about launch timing rather than a bigger plan.