Trade-offs between freemium and free trial business models

Freemium is oriented towards user growth, whereas free trial is oriented towards revenue.

• Acquisition — Free trial products have higher conversion from website visitor to signup, translating into faster and more efficient top-of-funnel growth.
• Conversion — Free trial products have 2-3x higher free-to-paid conversion because they create urgency to make a purchase decision.
• Time-to-value — Freemium products give users more time to use the product, share it with their team, and form a habit.
• Time-to-purchase — Free trial products have faster conversion as users buy upon trial expiration.