How does the new members counter count, and over what window?
Nomads.com went from paid to $1 to join after a decade.
Join Nomads.com Join Nomads.com free
nomads.com
Loading both captures…
Use arrow keys to compare. Home shows before; End shows after.Before & afterDrag to compare
Both captures are the archived nomads.com homepage at the same window size, so the signup card is in the same place. In this phone view the before capture is shifted 16 pixels up so the two cards line up.
01 / What changed
Nomads.com went from paid to $1 to join after a decade.
In the August 28 capture the signup button on the homepage reads “Join Nomads.com →”. In the September 7 capture the same button, in the same place on the page, reads “Join Nomads.com free →”. Nothing else in the signup card changed.
BeforeJoin Nomads.com
AfterJoin Nomads.com free
Archive capture dates, not the release time; Pieter’s post is dated September 5, 2026. The button says free, but Pieter says it is $1 to sign up. The looping background video behind the card was not loaded in either render.
A price limits how big a community can get.
Pieter gave two reasons in his post: he has made enough money from Nomads.com, and charging for a community artificially limits its size. He said the higher the price, the fewer new members join each month, and that he did not want that limit but needed it to make money. It is not completely free: he said the $1 signup is there to avoid lots of spam. He also wrote that sponsors may be a better model for the future.
BeforeA paid membership.
The button read “Join Nomads.com →”. Pieter says it had 43,252 paid members.
After$1 to sign up.
The button reads “Join Nomads.com free →”. Pieter says the $1 is there to avoid spam.
What Pieter shared publiclyPieter Levels · Maker, Nomads.com
Sep 5, 2026
After a decade, I have made nomads.com free for everyone now! Well almost free, it's $1 to sign up to avoid getting lots of spam
Public post on X, verified September 26, 2026, and mirrored on levels.io. The same post gives his reasons and the paid member count. It does not report any result of the change.
Read the post on XWhat happened after the change?
THE RESULT SO FAR
- Third-party archive
New members a month, per the counter on nomads.com, as archived by the Wayback Machine
- 497/moAug 28, 2026 (UTC)Before
New members (497/mo)
- Sep 5, 2026 (UTC)The change
- 2,808/moSep 7, 2026 (UTC)After
New members (2,808/mo)
- 3,650/moSep 17, 2026 (UTC)After
New members (3,650/mo)
Wayback MachineEach point opens its source on Wayback Machine
- 497/moAug 28, 2026 (UTC)Before
- Founder stated
43,252 paid membersStated by Pieter on Sep 5, 2026, the day of the change
Right now for the record it has 43,252 paid members (so about 300/mo for 12 years!), so it will be interesting to see what it can grow too
Pieter Levels · X · Sep 5, 2026As of Sep 5, 2026
The paid membership built up before the change, not a result of it.
Read on X
The three counter figures are in the text of the archived pages; the counter widget itself does not render in the archive. The counter is the site’s own widget and the site does not say how it counts (the “/mo” label suggests a monthly window). Before September 5, new members were paid members; after, they are $1 signups, so the numbers are not like for like. None of the sources says what caused the rise.
THE OPEN QUESTION
How many of the new $1 members stay active, and what did dropping the price do to revenue?
We need Pieter’s perspective to connect this change to the results.Want the story behind these numbers?
What would you ask Pieter?
Go deeper into this decision. Ask the maker, or share this page with your audience.
About: What changed
Q&A · THE CONVERSATION
Ask Pieter about this change.
The story does not have to end here. What would help you learn from this decision?
Questions for PieterMaker, Nomads.com · No replies here yet
Questions
3Has the $1 fee kept spam signups down?
How will you know if sponsors can replace membership revenue?
How Nomads went from paid to $1
Pieter Levels said what a paywall cost him a year before he removed it. Then the archived signup counter moved.
Before the change
- The problem
Pieter explains how the paywall limits signups.
“If Nomads was free, it'd get 40,000 new users per month, but it's not free so it gets 200x less than that”
Pieter Levels Maker
- Maker’s why
Pieter argues community sites gain value as AI spreads.
“my site Nomads will become more valuable post-AGI I think”
Pieter Levels Maker
- Maker’s why
Pieter says Nomads revenue peaked and describes giving up revenue for a livelier community.
“if regularly priced it'd be at $40K-$50K/mo but with less people in it”
Pieter Levels Maker
- Earlier version
Archived homepage: the button reads Join Nomads.com and the counter shows 497 new members a month.
“New members (497/mo)”
Internet Archive Archive
The change
See the before and after on Nomads.com’s site- The change
Pieter announces Nomads is free with a $1 signup check, at 43,252 paid members.
“Well almost free, it's $1 to sign up to avoid getting lots of spam”
Pieter Levels Maker
- Maker’s why
Pieter’s reason.
“charging for a community artificially limits the size”
Pieter Levels Maker
After the change
We found no customer reactions yet, only commentary.
- Maker follow-up
Pieter shares the first things members built after the change.
“Already lots of fun stuff happening since I announced”
Pieter Levels Maker
- Outcome
Archived homepage: the button now reads Join Nomads.com free and the counter shows 2,808 new members a month.
“New members (2,808/mo)”
Internet Archive Archive
- Maker follow-up
Pieter states the goal.
“The community + data will be a moat if I do it right!”
Pieter Levels Maker
- Reaction
A French creator shares the change with his audience.
“est désormais gratuite pour tout le monde”
@ASoumagne Commentator
- Outcome
Archived homepage: the counter shows 3,650 new members a month and the headline adds a free global community.
“New members (3,650/mo)”
Internet Archive Archive
- Maker follow-up
Pieter publishes spam statistics from the open community chat.
“New interesting stats: most and least spammy countries”
Pieter Levels Maker
- Maker follow-up
Pieter starts paying hosts $25 per meetup where people show up.
“paying $25 per hosted meet up where people show up!”
Pieter Levels Maker
- Outcome
Pieter reports about 4,000 new members a month.
“with about 4,000 new members per month”
Pieter Levels Maker
- Maker follow-up
Pieter rebuilds the meetups page.
“Rebuilt the”
Pieter Levels Maker
- Outcome
Pieter puts Nomads at 13% of his all-time revenue.
“13% from Nomads”
Pieter Levels Maker
- Maker follow-up
Nomads adds a paid API for AI agents and companies, from $2,490 a year.
“now also has an API”
Pieter Levels Maker
Accounts differWhen did $1 signup start?
A June 30 post already describes $1 signup, while the archived homepage and the September 5 announcement date the public change to early September. Both are shown as said.
What happens next
Still open. Ask Pieter and we will add the answer here.
Did you test $1 signup before September 5, or was the June post describing the plan?
Resolves the date question.What did long-time paying members say, and did anyone ask for a refund?
We found few member reactions.How much of the lost membership revenue have sponsors and the API replaced so far?
No revenue number after the change is public.