We're definitely still iterating on the pricing. Currently the platform is completely free (while in Beta). We are yet to implement billing and welcome all feedback that can help make our pricing more attractive for target use cases.
Thanks for the interest! The questions you are asking are very valid. Let me address them one by one:
1. We are evaluating an open source strategy, but currently don't have plans to open source it. There are couple ways we're addressing this. First, in an event of a closure of the platform we commit to open sourcing it, just like Parse did. Second, which is a more immediate one, is that we will be adding features that make 8base fit well into developer workflows as a tool rather than a platform. That way developers don't have to commit to building on 8base right away and can use it as an integration layer that accelerates access to business data and workflows. By focusing on enterprise use cases we believe we can achieve a good value proposition without forcing people to build entire application on 8base. Also, as serverless architecture becomes more pervasive porting business logic comprised of cloud functions should become easier than before (this is a somewhat weaker point).
2. We're still working on the pricing and gathering feedback. If you don't mind, could you share which aspects of pricing concern you specifically? Indeed a SaaS, especially one in the enterprise space, is definitely our target. As a matter of fact, we already have an enterprise SaaS built on 8base that's launching in a few months.
I'd say at the current stage 8base is closer to Graph.cool than Prisma. But that's more of a function of our development timeline rather than the ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal is to become a tool for businesses to build externally-facing applications on top of data in business systems, such as Salesforce, SAP and other, as well as data in 8base. We'll be releasing Salesforce integration in the next month or so.
With 8base front-end developers will be able to access data across legacy business systems through a unified GraphQL API. They can build business apps quicker and without developing custom server-side middlewares. Unlike a traditional BaaS, we have heavier focus on front-end tools (e.g. we have a UI kit for React) and enterprise features (identity, role-based permissions, document management, etc). We're not trying to be a BaaS for everything like Firebase or AppSync.
A new experimental feature in 8base CLI generates a working React app from your data model. This is great for getting started with GraphQL and React or for quickly generating an admin UI for your app. Similar to scaffolding in Ruby on Rails.