My Chrome extension has ~15k users but my paid version got exactly 1 sale. Roast my monetization.
Back in Jan 2023 I shipped a Chrome extension called Page Ruler — a pixel-measurement tool for devs and designers. Drag guides, snap to element edges, inspect the box model, copy computed CSS/Tailwind, grid overlays, that kind of thing.
https://reddit.com/link/1uosin3/video/i6lyvahpxkbh1/player
I built it for myself and genuinely never thought about money. It just slowly grew on its own. 1k → 5k → 8k → 10k, and it now sits at around 15k users. For three years it's been completely free.
About 2 months ago I finally added a Pro tier: $9.99, lifetime license, works on 2 devices.
Result so far: 1 sale in the first week. Then nothing.
So I'm stuck, and I'd love honest feedback from people who've actually been through this
Honestly I'm fine either way. If the consensus is "keep it free and move on," I'll do exactly that and pour the energy into a new project. But before I give up on monetizing, I wanted to ask people who've walked this road.