PLG vs SLG: product-led and sales-led growth compared
PLG and SLG are two of the three ways how software gets bought. With PLG the product sells itself. With SLG a human sells.
Every product grows on exactly one motion. And the one you pick decides your price, your channels and what you build first. So it is worth to understand the difference properly.
The core difference
PLG is self-serve, low touch and high volume. Users try first and pay later. SLG is high touch and deal-driven, a rep qualifies, demos and closes. Sounds simple, but almost everything else follows from this one difference.
Where they enter the funnel
PLG is bottom-up and enters at Activation. The signups at the top are broad and cheap, and the product does the converting with the onboarding and an in-app upgrade.
SLG starts in the middle, at Consideration. A rep takes a qualified lead and owns the demo and the close, and at the end there is a contract.
Channels
PLG runs on SEO and content, on Reddit and communities and on product loops. SLG runs on LinkedIn, cold outbound and demos.
Both can use paid ads to fill the top fast, and both need lifecycle email to activate and keep customers.
Pricing and the numbers behind it
PLG lives at $10 to $50 per user per month. To win a user costs almost nothing, so a small price works. But only with big volume.
SLG lives at $5k to $25k per account per year. Salary plus commission for a rep is real money, and one rep closes only a handful of deals. So every deal needs a few thousand minimum.
Rule of thumb: the further up-market you go, the more expensive it gets to win one customer. And the price floor goes up with it.
How the buyer feels the pain
PLG runs on blocking pain. "I need this fixed now, it is in my way today." People search for a solution by themself and sign up and pay without anybody calling them.
SLG runs on nagging pain. "It costs me real time and money, but I live with it." These people wont go looking. But they lean in when someone shows them a better way.
Market type
In a Red Ocean both work. PLG catches the self-serve users who shop in a known category, SLG out-executes the competitors who are allready in the room.
In a Blue Ocean only SLG really fits. PLG needs people who already know they want the product, and a new market simply has no demand at the top yet. A human can teach one buyer at a time, a product can not.
What it asks from you
PLG asks for an audience or a place where your users hang out, the patience to grow slow with SEO and content, and a product that shows value without a human.
SLG asks one thing above everything else: that you are a seller. Cold conversations, pushing strangers into calls, follow up after follow up, and taking the no without getting frustrated.
How to validate each one
- ▸For PLG post the problem on Reddit and run a tiny Google Ads test or look at Google Trends. No search means no self-serve demand.
- ▸For SLG get ten ICP people into calls and ask for a deposit or a letter of intent.