---
title: Removing the free trial (pay-up-front plans)
slug: removing-the-free-trial
summary: When dropping the free trial wins — Natal's no-trial monthly grew monthly subs 2,000% (quarterly +46%, annual +21%), Claim went paid-only after 34% trial starts and 50–55% trial-to-paid — and the prerequisites, plus counter-cases (Ladder, Skylight).
domain: mobile-apps
tags: [monetization, free-trial, pricing, hard-paywall, experiment]
related: [hard-vs-soft-paywalls, free-trial-toggle-pricing, weekly-vs-yearly-plans-and-trial-placement, free-trial-length-by-plan, paid-intro-offers, net-revenue-after-refunds-experiment-metric, subscription-conversion-benchmarks, web-paywall-annual-default-and-trial-framing]
sources: [yt:gqN6Z5WAeiI, yt:L-W6tm-Yk5E, yt:24QMRDXck70, yt:AilakPuHdf4, yt:AWI3rofh0BA]
updated: 2026-10-24
---

# Removing the free trial

## TL;DR
- **Natal** (women's pre/postnatal fitness, $25/month) removed the trial from its *monthly* plan: monthly subs **+2,000%**, quarterly **+46%**, annual **+21%**; kept permanently.
- **Claim** (settlement-claims app) went fully paid after its trial paywall hit **34% trial start** and **50–55% trial-to-paid** — revenue was higher without a trial.
- Prerequisites (Vahe Bagdasarian): high install volume, strong trial-start rate, strong trial-to-paid (>30%, ideally ~50%), and a pressing, high-motivation problem.
- No-trial only works if **trust is built before the paywall** — the onboarding (and content, ads, store page) must do the selling.
- Counter-cases: Ladder gives 7 days free with no card and lets the product sell; Skylight sells without any trial and a trial test added nothing.
- Middle ground: offer both — trial and no-trial on the same paywall ([[free-trial-toggle-pricing]]).

## Details
**Natal.** Nancy Anderson heard Zumba describe removing the free trial from the monthly option on Sub Club and tried it, expecting it to fail. Monthly subscriptions rose ~2,000%, quarterly ~46%, annual ~21%; it became the permanent offer.[^1] Her explanation: users arriving from her founder-led content already trust the brand and don't need a trial. Supporting numbers she cites: 93% of web-checkout visitors download the app; trial conversion ~68% vs a ~38% industry average she quotes; download-to-trial ~17% vs ~6% health & fitness average — at $25/month.[^2][^3]

**Claim.** Vahe's team's multi-step trial paywall reached 34% trial start and 50–55% trial-to-paid; since trials converted so well they removed the trial and optimised for direct purchase, which earned more.[^4][^5] His checklist: lots of installs (otherwise you can't make money paid-only), strong trial start, strong trial-to-paid, and a very pressing problem — Claim users may recover settlement money worth more than the annual price.[^6]

**The three meanings of "hard paywall".** David Barnard frames "no free trial" as the third kind of hard paywall (after no free tier and no X). If you remove the trial, your onboarding must do the selling and users must trust they'll get what they pay for.[^7]

**Counter-case: Ladder.** Greg Stewart (Ladder) runs a 7-day free trial in-app *without* asking for a card, letting one or two workouts do the selling; he'd split effort ~90% product activation vs 10% deals. David calls this a reverse trial — and warns it exposes a bad product rather than saving it.[^8]

**Counter-case: Skylight.** Skylight's subscription (attached to a $300+ device) has never had a free trial: most buyers decide to subscribe up front ("give me the whole bundle"). A test of a trial with and without a card produced no lift — trial takers were roughly the people who'd have subscribed anyway.[^9][^10]

**When a trial still makes sense.** Ravi Mehta: a limited paid trial works if you can build a habit loop within ~7 days (Wispr Flow converted him that way); some products need upfront financial commitment instead — you'd never give a gym a 7-day free trial.[^11][^12][^13] BoldVoice keeps a 7-day trial because people need to experience it before committing ([[freemium-vs-hard-paywall-free-tier]]).

## Disagreements / caveats
- Natal's lift is a pre/post comparison from a founder with an unusually trusting audience; Claim's figures come from the agency that ran the work.
- Steve P. Young's sources say most apps convert better *with* a trial ([[weekly-vs-yearly-plans-and-trial-placement]]); these cases are high-trust or high-intent exceptions.
- Watch refunds and chargebacks when going paid-up-front ([[net-revenue-after-refunds-experiment-metric]]).

## See also
- [[free-trial-toggle-pricing]] — let users pick trial vs no trial
- [[paid-intro-offers]] — a cheap paid first period as an alternative
- [[people/nancy-anderson]], [[people/vahe-bagdasarian]]

[^1]: yt:gqN6Z5WAeiI @ 1:01:55 — Nancy Anderson
[^2]: yt:gqN6Z5WAeiI @ 22:16 — Nancy Anderson
[^3]: yt:gqN6Z5WAeiI @ 25:39 — Nancy Anderson
[^4]: yt:24QMRDXck70 @ 15:21 — Vahe Bagdasarian
[^5]: yt:24QMRDXck70 @ 16:28 — Vahe Bagdasarian
[^6]: yt:24QMRDXck70 @ 18:00 — Vahe Bagdasarian
[^7]: yt:L-W6tm-Yk5E @ 08:53 — David Barnard
[^8]: yt:L-W6tm-Yk5E @ 08:06 — Greg Stewart, David Barnard
[^9]: yt:AilakPuHdf4 @ 45:38 — Mark Ungerer
[^10]: yt:AilakPuHdf4 @ 56:59 — Mark Ungerer
[^11]: yt:AWI3rofh0BA @ 19:40 — Ravi Mehta
[^12]: yt:AWI3rofh0BA @ 20:48 — Ravi Mehta
[^13]: yt:AWI3rofh0BA @ 23:31 — Ravi Mehta