Denly · The money, in plain terms
Honest about
the money
Denly holds some of the most sensitive records your Den has. You deserve to know how it's paid for, why it charges what it does, and what keeps it running.
Per Den · annual
$29.99/yr
Roughly ten months' price for twelve. One bill for your whole Den.
Per Den · monthly
$2.99/mo
Every feature, everyone in your Den. 14-day free trial on both.
Where your money goes
A subscription, split four ways.
We won't itemize every vendor — that's a security surface, and the exact numbers move with scale. But the shape is simple and honest.
Denly has two kinds of costs. The part that scales with each Den — servers, storage, backups — is genuinely small. The part that doesn't is most of it: the fixed cost of running a real company, and the person building it, which exists whether Denly serves fifty Dens or fifty thousand.
- Infrastructure 4–8%
Hosting, storage, backups, and the servers that keep your Den online.
- Payment processing 4–13%
What the card networks and our processor take on each charge.
- Building & supporting the app the largest share
Development, support, security — and the livelihood of the one person doing all of it.
- Hardship program & reserve the rest
Free access for anyone who can't pay, and the reserve that carries Denly through a lean year.
None of it goes to ads or data brokers — Denly doesn't have either. Percentages are approximate and shift with plan mix and scale; the order of magnitude is what's honest.
Where that stands today
That split is where your dollar goes once Denly is sustaining itself. It isn't there yet: at launch size, subscriptions don't cover the fixed costs, and the founder covers the gap. We're telling you that because a transparency page that only shows the flattering math isn't one.
The rest of the price
Why it costs more than the servers.
The price covers more than the raw cost of serving a Den — deliberately. The difference isn't profit sitting in an account; it does four jobs, and we'd rather name them than pretend they aren't there.
- 01It pays one person's livelihood — the person building and answering for Denly.
- 02It funds the hardship program, so no one is priced out.
- 03It keeps Denly independent — no investors to answer to, no pressure to monetize your data.
- 04It builds a reserve, so a slow year doesn't put your records at risk.
A product holding custody records shouldn't be run on fumes. That headroom is what lets Denly survive a bad year instead of disappearing in one — which, if you're trusting it with evidence, is the whole point.
How pricing changes
The price can move. The rules won't.
We'd rather commit to how pricing works than promise a number we can't keep. Changes should be rare — a last resort when the company's health demands it, not something to watch your statement for. Three rules, from day one:
Prices track costs.
If running Denly well comes to cost meaningfully more, the price may rise to match — only then, and only as much as needed. We won't inflate it for margin's sake, and we won't run it into the ground to look cheap.
At least 60 days' notice.
Any price change comes with at least 60 days' warning, by email and in the app — never a surprise on your statement. On a change, your subscription moves to the new price at your next renewal.
Paid terms are honored.
A term you've already paid for stays at the price you paid, all the way through. A new price only ever applies going forward.
The reserve
We hold an operating reserve targeted at a year or more of fixed costs, plus a legal contingency and a buffer for chargebacks and platform risk. It's what lets Denly keep your data safe through a lean stretch instead of shutting down. We'll tell you when it's fully funded — for now, we're building it.
Hardship exemption
No one is turned away.
If the price is a barrier, it isn't one. Email us a line or two about your situation — no proof, no income forms, no wrong answers — and you get a full year of Denly, free.
How it works: 12 months of full access to one Den. Fourteen days before it expires you'll get a one-click renewal link. If you don't renew, your Den becomes read-only — your data is preserved, never deleted. One active waiver per email address.
Paying subscribers fund this. It's a big part of why the price sits above raw costs — so that the answer to "I can't afford it" is never no.
What leaves Denly
Your records never leave. A fingerprint does.
Once a day, Denly sends a single cryptographic hash — a short fingerprint of your Den's record history — to an independent timestamping authority. That hash can't be turned back into your messages, documents, or events; it only proves the records existed, unchanged, as of that moment. Your actual content never leaves our systems for this.
"You're trusting Denly with the record of the hardest years of raising your kids together. The least I can do is be straight with you about the money."
Read more from Dan, the founder
I grew up between two homes, so I know how much smoother things go when the logistics just work. Denly is the tool I wish my parents had — the complete app, priced so anyone can use it.
I set the price above what it costs to run, and I won't pretend otherwise. The difference keeps the lights on, funds the reserve, and pays for every hardship waiver. If the way I spend it ever changes, this page changes with it.
Questions? Email me: [email protected] — I answer every email personally.
— Dan
Common questions
Is Denly making money?
Not yet. At today's size, subscriptions don't cover the fixed costs of running the company, and the founder covers the gap. The price is set for what Denly needs to sustain itself on its own — not to profit off early subscribers.
Will Denly still be here in two years?
That's the fair question behind every subscription to a small app. Our answer is structural, not a promise: the price includes headroom beyond raw costs on purpose, we hold an operating reserve targeted at a year-plus of fixed costs, and one person can keep Denly running without outside funding.
Will the price go up?
Rarely, and only if the real costs of running Denly rise enough to demand it — never on a whim, never month to month. If it ever happens you'll get at least 60 days' notice, and any term you've already paid for is honored at the price you paid.
What about parents who truly can't afford it?
No one is turned away. Use the confidential hardship exemption above — your email and a line or two about your situation, no proof, no income forms. A real person reads every request. It grants 12 months of full access, renewable. Paying subscribers fund it.
Is there a free trial?
Yes — both plans include a 14-day free trial. No charge today, cancel anytime during the trial. You subscribe inside the app once Denly launches.
Still here? That means this page is doing its job.
The full app, one price for your whole Den — $29.99/year, 14-day free trial. And if that's a barrier, no one is turned away.
Join the waitlistLaunching Summer 2026 · iOS & Android. 14-day free trial. Hardship exemptions available.