Pieter Levels said in a post on X on Sept. 5, 2026, that Nomads.com is now free except for a $1 signup fee intended to deter spam. He said the site had recorded 43,252 paid members, or about 300 a month over 12 years.
Levels said he changed the price because he had made enough money from the site and charging for access constrained the community’s size. He said a $299 price attracted about 50 new members a month, compared with about 200 at $99 and 400 at $29.
The signup page lists the $1 option as a one-time lifetime membership. It also lists a $19.99 lite membership, billed once.
The change moves Nomads.com toward a larger community supported by more sponsors. Levels said he had previously charged users because he needed the revenue, but can now settle the longer-term business model later. He described the shift as borrowing from a subsidized venture-style model while remaining fully bootstrapped.
Levels said SafetyWing has sponsored Nomads.com for years. The company sells global travel medical insurance for nomads and remote workers. Levels expects adding more members and sponsors to become a bigger part of the model.
The Nomads.com FAQ says the site mostly makes money from membership fees and company advertising. It lists custom sponsorships starting at $20,000 a month.
Nomad List launched in July 2014 and became Nomads.com in 2024 after its 10-year anniversary. The site offers city data, chat, dating and friend matching, and says it holds 191 meetups a year across more than 100 cities. Levels wants it to serve digital nomads, world travelers, sovereign thinkers and network-state type people.
On Sept. 4, Levels said builders should focus on human connection and communities, including Nomads.com, because AGI cannot replace them. A day later, he said communities have a business moat that many of his software apps lack, prompting him to remove limits on the site’s growth.
