Free or Free Trial?
Claudiu Cogalniceanu
31 replies
I posted a poll on Twitter some time ago, and asked this very question:
What is better - Free or Free Trial?
And the results were quite clear.
Looks like a completely Free, standalone plan, is beneficial for getting users, show and create value without friction, and make your product as best you can to upsell.
So I removed the Free Trial, and left a completely Free plan with everything you need to get rid of all spam for good.
Check it out here 👉 https://sentrya.net
Do you have a Free trial or a Free plan on your service?
Replies
Neel Patel@neelptl2602
looks great!
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Launching soon!
Depends on the product. but freemium is preferred in most cases yes
@sentry_co Fully agree! I have noticed that providing a free value is more beneficial for your product in a long-term perspective
Depends on what the product is. If managing expenses is important then free trial.
Depends on the product
At viewflip, (launching May, 14) we thought about this a lot.
Since our application is requiring two users for interaction, we decided, that only the initializing user needs to have a payed plan, after the 14 days trial expired.
Feel free to get notified
I guess freemium is the best solution for most products. Enough options for people to try the product, understand if it fits them, and get used to it, but with additional options, that give users additional value and developers can monetize.
As I see it, the biggest problem is finding the balance between free and paid features 😅
@michaelshver definitely Michael! It was tricky for me as well - I had to choose between some features (and risk having users say that the service is sh*t), or all features, and I went for the latter. I want users to be mind blown the next day when they see the results 🤯 And since my operational costs are minimal, it made sense to go for a freemium plan
We have both for our products. For our product called Pagmaker we have Free trial and for our product called Vepaar we have Free plan with limitation.
If it adds value, remove the Free Trial even.
One super cool thing is lifetime access for early users at a reasonable price. For instance if your product will cost $20/month, you can give lifetime access for $50 before launch.
If your product is good, this will bring you early revenue + ultra supportive early users
@french_ninja personally I would never do lifetime access, those accounts become a liability that you will have to deal with for many years. On top of that, if you want to sell the business investors will hate that. Just something to consider.
@matthewrhoden1 I dabbled a bit with a lifetime deal, and got one sale😅 I don’t know if it’s a blessing in disguise or not, but I didn’t felt comfortable giving full access for life for a 2 year cost. I know that sometimes “lifetime” deals are actually limited (I even saw people closing down the business because the revenue generated from lifetime offers, couldn’t cover the operating costs), but I plan on staying in business a long time, and I didn’t want these lifetimes to bite me in the ass in 5 years
Free trials offer a fantastic opportunity to test a product and see if it meets your needs before committing financially. It's a win-win, allowing both users to make informed decisions and companies to showcase the value of their offerings.
Absolutely, Claudiu! While free trials offer a sneak peek into the full experience, opting for completely free tools can sometimes mean compromising on features or support.
Depends on product type
Having both like canva!
@yeahiasarker yeah, I kind of have both. I have a free standalone plan, and a free trial on paid plans (with more features). It makes sense to remove as much friction as possible
What was the poll result on X?
@terrence_kelleman sorry, I wasn’t being clear enough 😀 The Free standalone plan won the poll, and I got some feedback from current users saying the same
Interesting, I think that it depend if your product is young or not.
And witch type of product too
@pydubreucq on Sweego (https://www.sweego.io) we choosed freemium too
@pydubreucq it does depend on the product, yes, but I think a freemium plan is the best option for user acquisition.
Love your product btw - you offer more on the free plan than a lot of the competitors (talking about SMTP)👏
Free plan is more effective to grab the users as they don't have to think much before creating an account.