I might be speaking out of turn, though here is what "I" understand. The "subscription" for a group (i.e. 2-30 members is $30 per month. 31-60 members is $60 per month). What the "subscription does is allow you to run reports and set meetings etc. You CAN all use the "free" version and you can manually add each person to your "contacts" and thus you can track referrals from each person, however without a monthly subscription, there is no way to check progress, track attendance, or 1-2-1 meetings etc. I think you CAN set up a group and it is free for a month so that you can encourage a core group of people to send referrals, track 1-2-1's, etc. during that month. I love this program and as a formal networking group, being able to track referrals and say at a meeting - "we passed 45 referrals, did 13 One-to-One meetings and have generated $18,327 in closed business in the past month", really becomes impressive to any guests that might be in the room. And...yes. You could just have a number of people that you all use the free version and can be in each others "contact" list, and thus you see the referrals on your dashboard. I hope this helps.

With $18k of referrals it would be a nice idea to pay for a subscription to help the founder fund support for the solution we are all using.

We did end up enrolling both groups as we do like the platform, but with the cost going up to $50 a month a group might be investing in developing our own platform.

I own a small development business. For us to duplicate chamber forge the cost would be considerable. With us paying $50 a month for 30 users, for our networtking group. Its seem very fair value to me. Especially when you consider support and the occasional improvement. If you decide to create your own it would be interest to see how the pricing works out for you.