Service Alexa that every day makes a list of the most popular one million domains based on traffic, it seems, lives its last days in its current, free version. More precisely, it already ceased to exist but was revived after stormy indignation of many researchers. This service is one of irreplaceable instruments for all researchers of the Internet no matter what exact issues they are studying. This is why their bewilderment knew no boundaries when two days ago Amazon, which owns Alexa, announced that from now on the service will be paid for and the price for each URL address in the list of the most popular domains will be $0.0025.
Obviously, Amazon has the right to set the rules for their services. However, it would be logical to at least warn users about changes beforehand. There were so many indignant comments on Twitter that representatives of Amazon felt it best to take a step back. They reported that they would temporarily bring the free version of Alexa back and would notify about changes in advance. Domain Incite reports that the key word here is “temporarily”. Amazon is clearly not going to give up on the idea of monetizing the service and just wants to do it in a less awkward way.
It should be understood that the price of 0.0025 dollars for a string on the list is not as cheap as it seems. The full access to the list of one million most popular domains once Alexa finishes its transition into paid mode will cost 2500 dollars a day and 912,500 a year. Obviously, this sum of money just won't be affordable for the majority of researchers.
