# Free is not what it used to be

> Free is not what it used to be. A Competitor Tracker & Co. report on SaaS companies removing free tiers, replacing products with trials and narrowing what free plans can do.


Free used to be a usable product tier in a lot of SaaS categories.

It had limits, but the deal was clear: create an account, use the product and pay later if the work grew. That model still exists. But across the last 90 days of Competitor Tracker & Co. data, the better read is that free is being asked to do less of the real work.

The word still appears on pricing pages. The offer behind it is changing.

We reviewed 42,775 website changes across 1,985 SaaS companies and kept the durable product changes: free tiers removed, trial clocks replacing ongoing free use and free plans losing work a buyer used to do without paying.

The durable changes fell into three buckets:

- **Free removed entirely:** the $0 plan disappears from the public pricing path.
- **Free replaced by trial:** ongoing free use becomes a time-limited evaluation.
- **Free hollowed out:** the free plan remains, but serious capabilities move into paid packaging.

Those are different moves. They point in the same direction: companies are getting more deliberate about what free is allowed to carry.

## 1. Free removed entirely

This is the cleanest signal. A free plan used to be visible on the pricing page. Then it was removed. The page now starts at a paid tier, a sales path or a different entry offer.

| Company | Category | What changed | Read |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Freshworks CRM | CRM | The public pricing page no longer showed the free CRM tier that had offered $0 pricing for up to 3 users. The visible Freshsales entry now leads with paid Growth, Pro and Enterprise plans. | The old free tier was a concrete entry plan a small team could understand. Removing it changes the first buyer question from “can we live in free for a while?” to “which paid plan do we need?” |
| [Vacation Tracker](/companies/vacation-tracker/) | Leave management | Freemium was removed in the last 90 days. | A permanent $0 tier went away, so the first real buyer decision moves from usage to payment. |
| Tradogram | Procurement | The Free Basic tier disappeared from the public packaging. | Procurement software often starts with a small operational pain: approvals, suppliers, purchase requests, internal process. Removing the free entry path means casual team adoption is less likely before budget enters the conversation. |
| Pabbly | Workflow automation | The free entry path was removed or heavily restricted while the page put more weight on longer paid commitments. Another detected change tightened free usage from broad multi-step workflows to a much smaller free allowance. | The page points buyers toward a paid bundle with a longer commitment instead of an open-ended free tier. |
| BUSY | Accounting | The free Express plan disappeared while the minimum advertised paid price moved up. | When a free accounting tier disappears at the same time the entry price rises, the company is usually trying to reset the floor for serious accounts. |
| [Remote](/companies/remote/) | HR / employee management | The HR Management free tier for direct employees was removed from the pricing page. | HR software carries support, compliance and workflow complexity. Removing the free tier narrows the product toward teams ready to pay for an operating system instead of trying one. |
| Box | Document collaboration | The Free Developer plan disappeared from public packaging. | Developer freebies can seed future usage, but they can also create support and security surface area. Pulling the plan back changes the developer adoption path. |
| Olark | Live chat | The permanently free tier with one agent and 20 chats per month was removed. | Small support teams lose a real ongoing support lane when that free tier disappears. |
| Coassemble | Training / LMS | The free plan for small teams was eliminated and paid plans now start with committed annual usage. | When a learning product removes the small-team free path, experimentation becomes a budgeted rollout earlier in the buying process. |
| Thena | Customer communications | The entry tier was renamed from Free to Starter and the $0 price disappeared. | Renaming can look cosmetic, but removing the $0 anchor changes how buyers read the bottom of the pricing page. |

![Freshworks Freshsales pricing screenshot showing paid Growth, Pro and Enterprise plan cards after the free CRM plan block no longer appears.](/img/reports/free-plans-2026/freshworks-crm.png)

*Freshworks CRM now leads with paid Freshsales plans. In the Competitor Tracker diff, the old $0-for-3-users free plan block disappeared from the pricing page.*

The motive varies by category. CRM, procurement, accounting, HR and document collaboration all carry different costs.

The common move is simple: free stopped being the public entry product. A free tier works as conversion tactic and positioning signal. It tells the market which buyers the company is willing to serve before money changes hands.

When that signal disappears, competitors should read the whole page around it. Did the first paid plan get cheaper or more expensive? Did the trial become longer? Did onboarding copy become more qualified? Did sales language move closer to the top? Those surrounding changes tell you whether the company is improving evaluation, abandoning low-end accounts or cleaning up old packaging that no longer fits.

## 2. Free replaced by trial

The second bucket keeps the low-friction start, but changes the buyer’s timeline.

A free plan lets a team keep using the product while its needs stay small enough. A trial gives the team a limited window to evaluate. Both reduce friction at signup. They create very different behavior after signup.

| Company | Category | What changed | Read |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Big Cartel | Ecommerce | The free Gold plan disappeared from pricing and comparison surfaces. Platinum now starts with a 7-day free trial before $15/month. | This changes the promise for a small seller. The old Gold plan let a maker or tiny shop open a store before the store made money. The new entry lets the seller inspect a paid plan for a short window, then decide before the business has had much time to prove itself. |
| Countly | Product analytics | The free tier was replaced with a 14-day trial. The Flex entry point also moved from $40/month to $175/month. | Countly changed two things at once. Product analytics needs implementation, events, history, team usage and enough traffic for the data to mean something. A 14-day trial compresses that learning period, while the higher entry price changes which accounts belong in the product. |
| Clockify | Time tracking | “Free Forever” language gave way to 7-day trial language around paid feature evaluation. The free plan itself is still on the pricing page — what moved is the copy, not the tier list. | One caution for this whole table: a page edit is not a product change. Clockify still parks a free plan below the trial. But “Free Forever” was the loudest promise a time tracker can make, and the page now leads with a clock. If the plan follows the copy, a later detection will say so. |
| [Visualping](/companies/visualping/) | Website monitoring | “Free plan forever after” copy disappeared. After the trial, monitoring pauses and the account becomes a free personal account after two weeks. | Monitoring does the work. A free account that stops monitoring is closer to a parked login than a usable free product tier. |
| Shoplazza / Kudobuzz Reviews | Ecommerce reviews | The free plan became a 14-day free trial. | Review tools need live storefront usage and customer volume. A trial changes the offer from ongoing small-store utility to a short evaluation. |
| [Yesware](/companies/yesware/) | Sales productivity | “Then free forever” disappeared from trial CTAs and freemium was discontinued. | The copy tells the story clearly: the page still starts with a trial, then removes the unpaid landing place after it. |
| Helply | Customer support | Free and AI-first tiers were replaced by unified usage pricing with a monthly minimum and annual commitment. | That moves the product away from casual self-serve testing and toward committed paid volume. |

![Big Cartel pricing screenshot showing Platinum at $0 to start with a free trial, then monthly pricing.](/img/reports/free-plans-2026/bigcartel-trial.png)

*Big Cartel is a clean version of the shift: the old free Gold entry disappears, and the current card frames Platinum as a free trial before paid use.*

![Countly pricing screenshot showing current pricing area with Flex and plan comparison after free-tier changes.](/img/reports/free-plans-2026/countly-trial.png)

*Countly’s change was heavier: CT detected the free tier replaced by trial language and the Flex entry point moving sharply upward.*

Trial replacement can be a sane strategy. Products with fast time-to-value, obvious activation and guided onboarding can convert better with a trial than with a forever-free tier that attracts low-intent accounts.

The risk is categories where value takes time. Ecommerce stores need traffic and transactions. Analytics tools need implementation and data volume. Time tracking needs habit. Website monitoring needs a live watchlist and enough time for changes to occur. In those categories, the move from free to trial can create an opening for a competitor with a more patient entry path.

The useful competitive question: when a rival turns free into a clock, can the buyer learn enough before the clock runs out?

## 3. Free hollowed out

This bucket takes more reading because the pricing page can still look generous.

The free plan remains. The CTA still says the buyer can start for free. But the plan comparison changes: features, usage, retention, support or controls move into paid plans.

| Company | Category | What changed | Read |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Auth0 | Identity | Free plan no longer listed Enterprise MFA Factors, Log Streaming and Machine-to-Machine Access for Organizations. | These are production features. They appear when identity becomes part of the application stack. The free entry still helps developers start, but it carries less of the path toward serious implementation. |
| Flock | Team collaboration | Starter no longer included private channels, smart channels, group video, screen sharing, guests, AD sync, SSO, compliance exports and admin controls. | A chat product can look generous while the features that make it company infrastructure move up. Guests, SSO, exports and admin controls matter when chat stops being casual messaging and becomes work infrastructure. |
| [Featurebase](/companies/featurebase/) | Product feedback | Surveys, Changelog and outbound engagement capabilities were removed from the Free tier. | A free feedback board can collect early signals. Surveys, changelog and outbound engagement turn feedback into an operating loop: ask users, publish changes, notify people and close the loop. That operating loop now sits in paid packaging. |
| Slack | Team collaboration | Security and compliance features including data residency, data exports and HIPAA moved from Free/Pro toward Business+/Enterprise+ packaging. | The enterprise boundary becomes clearer here. The free or lower-end plan can support collaboration, while regulated and administrated work moves upward. |
| Userlike | Live chat | Free plan capped at 200 monthly conversations while chatbot and WhatsApp limits were restructured. | Conversation caps define whether the free plan can support a real support motion or only a small test. |
| ActivTrak | Workforce analytics | Custom classifications and rules were removed from Free. | Classification rules are where monitoring becomes operationally useful. Removing them narrows what a free account can do beyond basic observation. |
| Wire | Collaboration | Free plan no longer included several communication, moderation, federation and security features. | The removed capabilities sit around trust, control and serious team usage. Free still introduces the product; paid carries more of the governed workflow. |
| [PostHog](/companies/posthog/) | Product analytics | Logs free tier reduced from 50 GB to 10 GB with 14-day retention; longer retention moved to paid usage. | Retention and volume define whether logs can support real debugging and analysis. Cutting them changes the free plan from operating history to short-window inspection. |
| Notion | Productivity | Notion Mail was removed from Free plan features and product navigation. | A free plan can stay intact while a new workflow is pulled back. That matters when the missing feature is part of a broader suite strategy. |
| [MailerLite](/companies/mailerlite/) | Email marketing | The free subscriber limit changed from 500 to 250 while paid starting price moved up. | A smaller free list cap changes how far a creator or small business can grow before payment. |
| Loxo | Recruiting | Free removed Loxo Boost and Chrome Extension while paid Basic picked up more of the workflow. | The free product still exists, but sourcing and workflow reach moved closer to paid packaging. |
| Zapier | Automation | Chatbots knowledge storage limits changed: the Free tier dropped while paid tiers carried the storage allowance. | Storage is part of whether an automation can do useful work. Removing it makes free less operational. |

![Flock pricing screenshot showing Starter free plan next to paid team plans.](/img/reports/free-plans-2026/flock-starter.png)

*Flock still shows a Starter plan at Free. The change was in the capabilities around real team work: channels, calls, guests, SSO, exports and admin controls.*

![Featurebase pricing screenshot showing Free, Growth, Professional and Enterprise plan cards.](/img/reports/free-plans-2026/featurebase-free.png)

*Featurebase still gives individuals a free way to start. Broader feedback operations sit in paid packaging.*

This will probably be the most common move. Most companies can keep free visible because it still helps distribution, buyer familiarity, SEO, developer adoption and small-team onboarding.

The easier move is to keep the free door open while narrowing what happens behind it.

That makes hollowing out easy to miss. A buyer looking quickly sees a free plan and assumes the product is still generous. A competitor watching carefully sees the operating features moving upward. Those are different reads.

## What these three buckets say about the market

“Free is dead” is too broad and misses the useful detail.

Free is becoming more precise. Companies still want the distribution advantage of free, but fewer of them want free accounts to carry expensive usage, support-heavy teams, security-sensitive work or serious operational workflows.

Older free plans often let users run a small version of the real workflow. Newer packaging more often keeps the door open while moving the durable workflow closer to paid.

That creates different openings depending on the category.

If several competitors remove free tiers, the category may be maturing past low-end acquisition. A serious free plan can become a contrast if your cost structure supports it.

If competitors replace free with trials, buyers may start comparing activation speed and evaluation pressure. A patient entry plan can be a wedge when the product needs time to prove itself.

If competitors hollow out free, buyers may start comparing what the free plan can actually do. The word “free” matters less than the workflow it still supports.

## How to read a competitor’s free-plan change

When a competitor changes its free plan, read past the headline on the pricing page. Read the plan table like a buyer would, then read it again like a competitor.

| Signal | Possible read | Team move |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier removed | Low-end users fell out of the motion. | Recheck your own entry plan and sales objections. |
| Freemium removed, trial extended | The company still wants evaluation while ending ongoing unpaid usage. | Compare activation speed, onboarding proof and trial-to-paid handoff. |
| Free replaced by trial | Vendor wants faster evaluation and cleaner conversion. | Watch onboarding, demo CTAs and trial-assistance language. |
| Production features moved out of free | Vendor wants free to educate; paid carries operation. | Check whether features your buyers consider table stakes are now paid. |
| Free allowance cut | Overuse or support load may be higher than expected. | Watch community support and new upgrade limits. |
| “Start free” remains, but limits tighten | The vendor wants the acquisition benefit without carrying the full workflow. | Compare the real path from signup to production use. |

The mistake is treating every free-plan change as pricing news.

Sometimes it is margin. Sometimes it is support cost. Sometimes it is a category moving upmarket. Sometimes it is a product finally learning which users become good customers. Sometimes it is a warning that a competitor’s old acquisition strategy stopped working.

Good competitive tracking keeps those possibilities open until the surrounding pages make the read clearer.

## What to watch next

If this pattern continues, the next changes will likely show up in specific places:

- free forever language disappearing from hero sections;
- 7-day, 14-day and 21-day trial language replacing durable free access;
- team features moving from Free or Pro into Business and Enterprise;
- free usage caps expressed as credits, conversations, logs, seats, exports or retention windows;
- product-led signup staying public while production usage moves behind paid plans;
- more sales language used for activation once the real workflow starts later.

The exact wording matters. “Free” by itself tells you too little now.

The better questions are practical ones: what can a buyer actually do for free, how long can they do it, which limits appear first and what changes when the work becomes real?

Those answers matter before the press release.

## The read

Free is not what it used to be.

The old version often gave small teams a usable version of the product for as long as they stayed inside the limits. The newer version is more controlled. Some companies remove the free tier. Some replace it with a trial. Some leave free in place while moving serious work into paid plans.

That is the signal worth tracking.

The word on the page may stay the same while the deal behind it changes.

Competitor Tracker watches the websites your competitors keep changing: pricing pages, plan tables, feature lists, comparison pages, integration pages and positioning copy. One coin tracks one competitor for one month; the first 25 are on the house.

See a [sample dossier](/demo/) or [start a case](/#engage).

*— C. T. Lucky*


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Source: https://competitortracker.io/blog/saas-free-plans-are-changing/
Updated: 2026-09-05