Freemium conversion rates are low by design, which means the model only works at scale — and the free tier has to pay for itself in distribution rather than revenue.
Freemium Conversion Calculator
Free users, conversion rate and price in. See the MRR, and what each point is worth.
$/mo
Freemium conversion is usually low single digits. Anything above 5% is unusually strong.
New paying customers300from 10,000 free users at 3%
- New MRR
- $6,000
- Annualised
- $72,000
- Price point
- $20/mo
Moving conversion from 3% to 4% is worth another $2,000 MRR — $24,000 a year.
MRR at each conversion rate
1%$2,000
2%$4,000
3%$6,000
5%$10,000
8%$16,000
12%$24,000
15%$30,000
Why the rate is so low
A free trial ends. Free forever does not. The overwhelming majority of freemium users are people the product serves adequately at zero, and they will never convert — which is fine, provided the free tier earns its keep some other way.
| Conversion | Paying customers | MRR | ARR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1% | 100 | $2,000 | $24,000 |
| 2% | 200 | $4,000 | $48,000 |
| 3% | 300 | $6,000 | $72,000 |
| 5% | 500 | $10,000 | $120,000 |
| 10% | 1,000 | $20,000 | $240,000 |
At a realistic 3%, a business with ten thousand free users has roughly $72K of ARR — and is supporting 9,700 people who pay nothing.
What the free tier must earn
- Distribution. Free users invite colleagues, share output, or make the product visible in public.
- Content and SEO. Free usage that produces public pages compounds over time.
- Network effects. Every additional free user makes the product more valuable for paying ones.
- Data. Usage that measurably improves the product for everyone.
If the free tier delivers none of these, it is a support cost with a marketing story attached, and a free trial will almost certainly serve you better.
Where the limit should sit
The free tier has to be genuinely useful, or nobody adopts it — and it has to run out at exactly the point where the user is getting real value, or nobody upgrades. Limits tied to success (projects, seats, volume) convert far better than limits tied to time or arbitrary feature gates.
GOOD QUESTIONS
Frequently asked
What is a good freemium conversion rate?+
1–5% is the normal band, with 2–3% typical. Anything sustained above 5% is unusually strong and often means the free tier is tightly limited. Rates like the 40%+ seen on card-required trials are not achievable in a free-forever model.
Freemium or free trial?+
Freemium needs a very large addressable audience and a free tier that earns its keep through distribution or network effects. A trial works at far smaller scale and converts an order of magnitude better. Most B2B SaaS should start with a trial.
How much do free users cost?+
More than most teams model. Storage, compute, email and support scale with total users. At 3% conversion each paying customer is funding about thirty-two free ones, so free-tier limits are a margin decision, not just a product one.
Where should the free tier stop?+
At the point where the user is clearly getting value and wants more of it. Limits tied to success — projects, seats, volume — convert much better than time limits or arbitrary feature removal, because hitting them is itself evidence the product works.