# Your competitor might not be trying to make money like you

Merlin offers a useful reminder: a popular free product can have a different mission and funding model from your startup.

By AppRill Editorial · Published 2026-09-08
Canonical: https://apprill.app/blog/merlin-free-competitor-business-model

A founder sees a popular free app and asks, “Where do they hide the paywall?” Sometimes that is the wrong question.

[Cornell Lab's Merlin FAQ](https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48000961587-merlin-bird-id-faqs) says the app is free and connects that choice to its mission of advancing understanding and protection of birds. It is a useful example of why product popularity and a conventional subscription business model should not be treated as interchangeable.

## Map the organization, not just the app

When researching competitors, identify who operates the product and what success means for them. A university project, public-interest organization, hardware companion, advertising business and independent subscription app may all offer software that appears in the same search results.

Their economics and incentives can differ substantially. A feature that supports one organization's wider mission may be difficult to fund through a small standalone subscription.

## Compete on a real unresolved job

A strong free alternative does not make every adjacent business impossible. It raises the standard for what somebody would pay you to do. Look for a distinct workflow, customer group or service obligation rather than assuming that a prettier version of the free product creates a market.

For a hypothetical specialist fieldwork tool, the paid job might concern team coordination, private records or a supported reporting workflow. Those are hypotheses to validate with the intended customers, not features to attach automatically.

## Refuse the missing-revenue fantasy

If revenue is not reported, leave it unknown. Do not assign an estimated subscription price to every download simply because a marketplace spreadsheet needs a number.

Instead, record the product's apparent role in the organization and the evidence supporting that interpretation. Then decide whether it is a useful commercial comparable, a design reference or a substitute customers already have.

The best competitor analysis sometimes changes the question from “How do I copy this business?” to “What business, exactly, am I comparing myself with?”


## Sources
- [Cornell Lab: Merlin FAQ](https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48000961587-merlin-bird-id-faqs)