Because of of the features/benefits of the HIVE block chain is no fees (and very few ads), the presumption is that everything built on this platform would also have no fees involved. But value for value, if a product is useful enough, people would be willing to pay. Many people here are investment-minded, so any service that has a cost associated, in many cases must offer a greater return than the cost.

It's and up-hill battle getting new people to use these products even for FREE, not because they are low-quality, but because for some reason people are afraid of the technology. Either they think crypto is a scam, or they're intimidated with posting requirements, or managing keys. I suspect it's a catch-22 situation: having too few users and few to no name-brand names, creates a psychological barrier for new users. How can we we get new users, unless we already have many users?

Once this blockchain (and platforms) reaches a "critical mass" of users, then I think we can discuss associated costs. Even a MASSIVE platform like "X" (with millions of users) only costs between $3.00/month and $16/month for their premium services. How much would a service on HIVE get away with charging per month?