Freemium

Offering a free tier with core features to attract users, then charging for premium features, capacity, or advanced needs. Free acts as the top of the funnel.

Why it matters

Freemium can drive fast, low-cost adoption and let the product sell itself, but only works if enough free users convert and the free tier does not cannibalize paid. Getting the line between free and paid right is the whole art of it.

For example

Dropbox gives everyone free storage and charges when they need more space, using the free tier as the top of its funnel.

Go deeper

How to Choose Between Free Trial, Freemium, and Paid Pilot (Without Guessing) DEV Community · article This is the clearest side-by-side of free trial, freemium, and paid pilot we found, and it refuses to answer with a gut call. The writer, a Pune-based CTO who has shipped B2B products, ties the choice to how long your product takes to show value, so you pick the model that fits your customer instead of copying a competitor. A good starting point precisely because it names the tradeoffs rather than declaring one model the winner. Open dev.to →

Related terms

Also in Starting Up

See how founders actually handle this on Growing and marketing, part of the Starting Up hub.

eChai Partner Brands