---
title: How long should the free trial be?
slug: free-trial-length-by-plan
summary: Default to 7-day trials on yearly and 3-day on weekly; 14 days occasionally wins, and longer trials look best when offered as an exit offer rather than the default.
domain: mobile-apps
tags: [monetization, free-trial, pricing]
related: [weekly-vs-yearly-plans-and-trial-placement, paywall-exit-offers, three-screen-pre-paywall-sequence, web2app-paywall-best-practices]
sources: [yt:2soA7LyyQ64, yt:FWF_AbsR0qc, yt:2oq2OlqfTro, yt:hs_hZS__hvA]
updated: 2026-10-23
---

# How long should the free trial be?

## TL;DR
- **Yearly: 7 days** usually best; 14 days sometimes slightly better for apps that need time to show value.
- **Weekly: 3 days.**
- Don't jump to 30-day trials because RevenueCat data says longer trials convert better — usually that won't work.
- Steve's hypothesis: longer trials look good in aggregate because apps show them as **exit offers** (14-day bonus trial after the user closes the paywall).
- Apple prevents repeat trials within a subscription group, so trial abuse isn't a real worry.

## Details
RevenueCat has been publishing that longer trials convert better net-net. Steve warns against reading that as "use 30-day trials": in his experience 7 days works best on yearly, sometimes 14, and 3 days on weekly; monthly LTV is poor anyway.[^1] Flow (period tracker) uses a 14-day trial — Steve calls that rare; most of the time 7 beats 14.[^2]

**Why the data might say "longer wins".** Rest of Me and Resemble show a normal paywall (after the three-screen sequence), and when users hit X they offer a **14-day bonus trial**. Steve thinks the industry trend is driven by these exit-intent placements.[^1][^3] He personally prefers a discount on exit, but clients have reported a longer trial beats a discount for them (anecdotal).[^3]

Trial-to-paid reference: a 7-day trial in Steve's niche health app converts over 60% to paid; average is 30–40%.[^4] The two-paywall test used a 3-day trial on weekly.[^5]

**Abuse question** (from a live audience): users who cancel and try again don't get another free trial — Apple handles eligibility.[^6]

## Disagreements / caveats
- RevenueCat aggregate data vs Steve's practice disagree on the default; Steve's reconciliation (placement drives the effect) is a hypothesis.

## See also
- [[paywall-exit-offers]]
- [[weekly-vs-yearly-plans-and-trial-placement]]

[^1]: yt:2soA7LyyQ64 @ 10:58 — Steve P. Young
[^2]: yt:FWF_AbsR0qc @ 01:57 — Steve P. Young
[^3]: yt:2soA7LyyQ64 @ 11:44 — Steve P. Young
[^4]: yt:2oq2OlqfTro @ 04:01 — Steve P. Young
[^5]: yt:hs_hZS__hvA @ 02:58 — Steve P. Young
[^6]: yt:2soA7LyyQ64 @ 14:42 — Steve P. Young