I used to hate free

If you know me, you know that I hate stuff.

Usually, when I see things on the side of the road labeled ‘free’ I run the other way.

So I was initially skeptical about giving Run The Day’s software to race organizers for free.

That skepticism came from experience. Before joining Run The Day, I worked with software companies that charged expensive annual subscriptions — anywhere from a few thousand dollars to a few million dollars per year.

In my mind, high quality software cost real money. So if Run The Day’s software was free, I assumed that it must be low quality.

I was mistaken.

I realized my mistake after understanding how software and payments collided over the past few decades to unlock new new business models that made high-quality software free for race organizers.

At Run The Day, this means race organizers pay nothing to use our software. Instead, participants pay a small transaction fee (5%–7% + $1). That fee covers credit card processing and allows us to pay brilliant engineers who continuously work to make our product better.

If you’re worried about the small fees, runners are already used to paying a bit more at checkout. Registration fees are not only industry standard for 5K races — they’re also much cheaper than fees charged in many other industries. For example, last night I paid $7.58 in fees on a $19 taco order from DoorDash — about a 40% markup.

I still hate most free things.

But I’m more open-minded when free comes with a reasonable tradeoff that allows a product to be high quality.

— Ian

Build Beautiful 5K Race Websites with AI

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Resources for Race Organizers

• Custom Websites for 5K Races in the Age of AI

• Why do free race registration platforms exist?

• Runner tracking with mobile apps