How to Use Freemium Model to Grow Free & Paid Memberships

By Brian Denim June 27, 2025 9 min read

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Have you been hearing a lot about the freemium model for membership sites? You’re not alone. This business model for membership sites has been making waves across a variety of businesses from travel bloggers to SaaS businesses. But what is a freemium business model and how to build a freemium model? Honestly, it’s not that difficult.

This article is going to dive deep into the nitty-gritty of freemium models for increasing revenue for membership sites. To put it simply, a freemium model can provide a taste of our offer without the commitment to pay. You want to ensure your efforts are rewarded fairly, attracting dedicated members who truly value your offering. That’s why you need to go through each of the following sections that address a crucial aspect of utilizing the freemium model.

How Can You Define Freemium Model?

Are you using Gmail and Google Photos for free? But what if you want to create a professional Gmail account or have more storage on your drive? You can purchase them by making a payment.

This is one of the most basic examples of a freemium strategy where a user gets access to the basic services for free and pays for the premium features. Many people choose to listen to ads as a cost-effective way to enjoy platforms like Spotify and YouTube. Those are the well-known freemium models active in the industry that explains the freemium meaning.

So, when you allow access to basic features at no cost and offer an option to get premium features for payment, that’s your freemium membership model right there. Eventually, it is easy to set up and can drive higher conversions.

Understanding the Differences: Free Trial, Freemium, Paid Memberships, and Paid Trial

If you’re thinking about what is the difference between free premium or freemium and paid, let me add two more to the mix. Free Trial and Paid Trial. All these can be confusing at times and that’s why we are explaining each in detail.

Free Trial: With this model, you can offer a limited-time trial for everything that your product has to offer. It can be as low as 3 or 7 days. Some services offer a 30 day free trial. Using this strategy, a user gets a complete experience of what they are paying for and try for free. This eventually encourages an upgrade from a free trial to a paid version for a longer access duration.
Freemium: Freemium is a mix of free and premium. There is a set of features/content completely available for free, forever. However, people pay to access other premium features. Here, the free version is available for an indefinite time. It offers a selection of features from the product, giving users a taste of its capabilities. This freemium pricing model can bring in more users who can potentially become paid members of your membership offering.
Paid Membership: This model is designed for users who are confident in their choice and ready to fully invest in the product. A user looks at the description available and decides whether to get the product. It is a direct fee that gives complete access to the product.
Paid Trial: If you are unsure about providing complete access for free even for a few days, then offering a paid trial is your answer. You can charge a minimal amount for a 7 or 30 day trial. Like this, the user would explore the platform extensively as it is paid for and is available for a limited time. In this scenario, even if a user doesn’t convert to a full-time customer, you have received some money for your product. It is also a qualified lead for future email marketing tactics.

Thus, these four terms might seem confusing but have a very clear distinction. Knowing this, you can decide what fits your cause the best. Now, let’s go further to understand more about the freemium revenue model.

Why Choose the Freemium Subscription Model? Top Benefits of the Freemium Model

The freemium model acts as a powerful tool for attracting potential members. Let us see why it is so effective and talked about by everyone.

Broader Reach: While people may be selective about digital subscriptions, offering flexibility and value can increase their willingness to invest. Thus, a freemium model attracts them to use your services without any monetary commitment.
Higher Conversion Potential: If you plan it right, you are going to build trust and loyalty for your offer. Attractive and useful membership content will encourage free users to upgrade to paid memberships eventually.
Increased Engagement: When your product is available under a freemium pricing, people are going to access it extensively. They will gradually form a habit and keep coming back for more.
Brand Awareness: People enjoying their free access are going to recommend the freemium software or free trial products to their peers. This increases your word-of-mouth marketing.

In conclusion, all these benefits help you increase your email list. This in turn, can be used further for targeted marketing and providing personalized discounts.

Exploring the Freemium Model for Memberships

Every business strategy has its bright days and rainy days. The freemium model too has some pros and cons that must be taken into consideration while planning your membership business strategy.

Pros of a Freemium Strategy for Membership Business

Low Barrier to Entry: New users feel no risk in creating a free trial account. Thus, encouraging more and more visitors.
Viral Potential: If you offer attractive value even in your free membership version, people are going to share it and talk about it. By and large, your membership can be a hot topic among varied groups.
Revenue Potential: Your premium features can attract these free users to upgrade their plan from a free to a paid version.

Cons of the Freemium Model for Business

Revenue Delays: Income from free users takes time to materialize as they gradually transition to paid plans. It is potential income. This approach focuses on building long-term relationships, which may take time to generate predictable income.
Cost of Free Users: A growing base of free members may require additional investments in infrastructure, such as server capacity or multi-language availability, which can enhance your platform’s scalability.
Conversion Challenges: If your free version is very extensive, people’s overall requirements will just be fulfilled. Some users may prefer to stay on the free membership plan, continuing to benefit from the basic features provided.

For the most part, the benefits of the freemium business model far outweighs the cons. Thus, you must focus on the bright side. It will help you design your free trial version model in a way that it attracts new users but also encourages them to opt for premium features.

Best Practices to Successfully Leverage the Freemium Model

It’s important to realize some best practices that you should consider when designing freemium models that work for membership websites.

Define Clear Free vs. Premium Features: Okay, the first important thing is to strike a clear balance between the features of free and paid versions. You can’t offer too little or too much. For instance, provide some outstanding features in the free version to excite users. However, limit the capability so that there’s a motivation, a reason to opt for the paid version.
Limit Free Access Where Necessary: You can put a limit to daily access as well or number of content that a user can access in a day. For instance, freemium business model example like Wordtune provide 5-10 daily sentence generations.
Optimize the User Experience: You must value your free and premium users. Both their experiences from onboarding emails to using your product must be intuitive, guided, and easy. Additionally, you must keep them hooked and engaged with your membership business.
Provide Tempting Premium Benefits: Define your premium offers like exclusive content, VIP access, Expert community, and ad-free experiences. This feeling of superiority will attract more people to upgrade.
Provide Offers: Provide attractive offers to encourage upgrades. Use well-timed prompts and limited-time sales for higher conversion.

The freemium model may require adjustments to align with your product or business goals. These are some of the signs telling you to adjust your freemium business model strategy.

High Churn Rate: Check your free user’s churn rate. If users sign up but remain inactive, it’s an opportunity to review and enhance your offer. There may be room to add more value to the offering.
Low Conversion to Paid: Check your conversion rate from the free to the paid version. If uptake is low, it’s worth reassessing your pricing strategy to strike the right balance between free and paid versions.
Support Costs Are Rising: A growing base of free users presents an opportunity to optimize support and operational strategies, ensuring a sustainable balance. This could impact profitability, making it a great opportunity to refine and enhance your strategies.
User Feedback Suggests Frustration: Complaints about the free version offer valuable insights to provide even more value. Understand the cause of frustration and try to solve it on time using customer feedback.

Are you Ready to Leverage the Hybrid Free and Paid Model for Memberships?

With such a hybrid membership model, the chances of converting free to paid users increase. Only if you understand to lay down a proper balance between free and paid offerings. Focus on providing enough value so that it is easier to attract new users.

Check out the differences between various models and the benefits of choosing the freemium model. Further, do not get taken away by the benefits. Check out its Pros and Cons to understand what’s at stake. If your Freemium model is not working, tweak your strategy and offer to see better results.

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Brian Denim

Meet Brian, a WordPress expert with a decade of experience in web development and a passion for technical writing, watching movies, and camping.

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