Freemium vs. Free trial: Which converts better for B2B SaaS? 💰
Toni
9 replies
Each model has its pros and cons. for buska, we tested both and opted for Free trial, which was better suited for our tool.
I m curious to learn from your experience. What works best ?
Replies
Srivatsan Venkatesan@storcube
Highperformr.ai
Great question! From my experience, offering a free version works best when you can track how users are adopting your product. You can use prompts and nudges to help them discover features, which can encourage them to upgrade to a paid plan over time.
A free trial, on the other hand, creates a sense of urgency. It's good for customers who are ready to explore your product fully but within a limited time. This often works well if you have a sales team to assist them during the trial.
So, it depends on your product plus GTM motion and how you want to engage users. If you can guide users within the product and show value over time, a freemium model can be powerful. If your product needs deeper commitment to shine, a free trial might be the way to go.
Share
Each model has its own pros and cons. One may work better than the other depending on industry, incumbents/competitors, target audience, use case, etc.
Whatever model works, have any of you considered supplementing your GTM motion with interactive demos helping (potential) users to try out the product before they start a free trial or letting them "try" paid features that they can't access in a freemium model?
Yescribe.ai
We're actually using a freemium model for our B2B SaaS and seeing decent conversion rates. The key is offering enough value in the free tier to attract users, while still making the premium features compelling enough to drive upgrades. It's a balancing act but can work well if you structure your plans strategically.
Free trials can definitely drive faster conversions in the short term. But I've found freemium models tend to have higher retention and LTV in B2B SaaS, since users get hooked on the core product before paying. It depends on your goals - trials for quick revenue, freemium for sustainable growth. Would love to hear others' experiences!
I think free trials convert better for B2B SaaS if you want faster decisions. It lets users experience the full value right away. But freemium is great for keeping people around longer until they’re ready to upgrade. It really depends—are you aiming for quick conversions or long-term engagement?
Freemium can work well for B2B SaaS if your product has strong network effects or virality potential. But generally for B2B, a free trial converts better since it lets buyers fully experience the value prop before committing. The key is nailing the trial-to-paid conversion process with a tight sales playbook. We saw 30%+ lift in conversions when we optimized our trial follow-up cadences.
We're using a freemium model and it's working well for us. Lets users get a taste of the product and value before upgrading. Free trials can work too but we've found freemium converts better in the long run by getting more folks using the core product. Just my 2 cents!
Launching soon!
Since we are launching our product, free trial works the best for us as it creates immediate exploration of the full product to drive quicker conversions.
I think you should first try to get volume of users, so let them use your product for free. After some time add paid-only features. First try to have users committed to your product and let them feel that they need it because they now are used to use it daily.