Considering a Free Tier for Embedful (and we’ve started building it)
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We’ve been getting this request a lot, so we’re taking it seriously.
We’re currently exploring a free tier for Embedful and have already started the initial steps to integrate it. The goal is simple: make it easier for more people to try creating and sharing dashboards, charts, tables, and counters without friction. At the same time, we want to be thoughtful about how this impacts the product long-term.
Curious to hear from you:
* If you’ve built SaaS, how did you approach free vs paid?
* Did freemium help growth, or create more noise?
* As a user, what would you want from a free plan to make it worth using?
Would love to hear your thoughts 🙌
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Replies
I started with offering free credits, I wanted it to be meaningful. Something like 40 credits was enough for users to actually go through the full flow and get real value, not just poke around. It helped me understand how people think, where they get stuck, and what they actually need, which gave a lot of clarity for the next version.
It definitely helped with learning and feedback, but there are tradeoffs. You can attract users who don’t convert, and it can create noise if the free tier isn’t well scoped. I’ve found it works best when free is clearly useful but naturally pushes serious users toward paid once they hit real usage.
Embedful
@faysal_fateh This is super helpful, appreciate you sharing this. I like the idea of giving enough “room” for people to actually go through the full flow and get real value, not just test it. Curious, how did you land on the right amount for your credits? Was it more trial and error based on usage, or did you have a rough idea going in?
@fernan_de_dios
I mapped out the core flow and figured out how many credits a user would need to reach a real outcome, like getting to a clear problem statement and 2 downloadable assets. The idea was to make sure they don’t just try it, but actually get something valuable out of it.
40 credits felt like the point where users can understand the product properly, while still leaving room for a natural upgrade if they want to go deeper.
Freemium works best when people get a real results fast, not just poke around and leave. What's the one "aha moment" you'd want free users to hit first?
Embedful
@paige_lauren1 Yeah that’s a great point. We don’t want people just poking around and bouncing. The main “aha” we’re aiming for is: drop in some data then instantly get a clean embed live on your site. That moment where it just works and looks good right away.
@fernan_de_dios Yeah that's a good one. If people can get something live in few min and feel like "oh wait, this is actually nice" that's probably what gets them to stick around.
I'd personally use a free plan if it let me publish something useful without too many limits upfront. Are you thinking more creator friendly or team friendly for the first version?
Embedful
@reid_anderson3 That makes sense, we want people to actually ship something with it, not just try it and hit a wall right away. For the first version we’re leaning more creator-friendly, so individuals can get something live quickly. Team features will come later once that flow feels solid.
@fernan_de_dios That make sense. I think creator first is the right call because solo users are usually to fastest path to real usage and feedback. If they can get something live quickly, that's probably where the best upgrade signals will come from too.
This feels like one of those products where a free plan could really help word of mouth if people can share things easily. Do you think sharing is the main growth loop for Embedful?
Embedful
@grant_harrison2 Honestly that’s a big part of how we’re thinking about it. If people are embedding things on their sites and sharing them around, that naturally puts Embedful in front of more people. So yeah, making it easy to share and actually useful out of the box is pretty much the goal for us.
@fernan_de_dios Yeah, that tracks. If sharing is already built into how people use it, a free plan feels like a pretty natural growth lever.
As a user, I'd care less about "free forever" and more about whether I can build something meaningful before hitting a wall. What would be the natural upgrade point for someone using it seriously?
Embedful
@hailey_brianna1 That’s a great way to look at it! We don’t want the upgrade to feel forced, more like you’ve outgrown the free tier naturally. Probably things like needing more embeds, removing branding, or features like refresh and access control once you’re using it more seriously.
@fernan_de_dios Yeah, that framing feels right. If people can actually build and share something useful before upgrading, it'll feel a lot more natural.
I think that you're thinking about long term impact before rushing it, because free plans can help a lot or quietly create support chaos. What's your biggest concern with launching it?
Embedful
@ian_maxwell1 Biggest concern right now is keeping things simple and sustainable, mainly avoiding support chaos that eats up the resources we would otherwise put toward paid users, while still making the free tier genuinely useful. Trying to find that balance before going all in.
@fernan_de_dios If you keep it valuable without opening the floodgates on support, that's probably the win.
Embedful
@ian_maxwell1 Thank you! I agree
I'm still fairly new to building SaaS products, but I think the freemium model is good. It helps doubters get a taste of your app at no cost; if they like it, they upgrade. This is what I did for my LinkedIn writing assistant, Postrail.
Embedful
@hafiz_aderemi Totally agree, freemium is great for removing that initial friction. The challenge we’re seeing is finding the right balance, giving enough value to hook users without giving everything away. Curious how you decided what to include in free vs paid for Postrail?
@fernan_de_dios For Postrail, I went tight on the free tier: Free users can generate up to 4 posts in total, and that's enough to test if the voice training actually works, but not enough to use it as their main tool.
Basically, my logic is that if someone loves it after 4 posts, they'll upgrade. If they don't, they wouldn't have paid anyway.
What's your cost structure like for Embedful? That usually determines how generous you can be with free.
Embedful
@hafiz_aderemi Thanks for sharing, really like how intentional that approach is. For Embedful, we’re thinking about it a bit differently since our costs and support load are usage-driven. It’s less about number of charts, and more about embed views, dataset size, and refresh frequency.
So the free tier is mainly about balancing that. We let users get real value and let embeds spread, but keep limits in place so both infra costs and support creep stay under control. Still early, but that’s the direction we’re iterating on.
PickleMatch
We've recently introduced a freemium model.
The free tier is essentially an engaged email list - in that they are not customers, they are prospects. It works well if you can predictably convert a certain % of free users into paid.
Our free tier is access to passive insights, while the paid tier is where you actually automate part of your workflow
Embedful
@anneliese This is really helpful perspective, appreciate you sharing this. Since you’ve recently rolled out a freemium model yourself, I’m curious what was the biggest surprise or lesson you learned about converting free users to paid or managing the free tier without it taking too much focus away from paying customers?
PickleMatch
@fernan_de_dios our free tier is 10x the size our paying tier, so we can't manage those users except for automated drip feeds, guided tutorials, and proactive outreach to users with abnormally high usage.
The guided tutorials has been interesting. You have Unlimited plan for the first 7 days of signing up. We used to do a 1x walk-through of the product, but realized people would then often only remember a fraction of what they were able to do. We transitioned to a "progressive disclosure" style tutorial where they have to complete a certain action to "unlock" the next stage of the guided tutorial.
Embedful
@anneliese Thanks for sharing this, Anneliese. Really valuable. The 10x free vs paid point and treating free users as a system makes a lot of sense. Also love the progressive disclosure approach, the unlock-by-action flow feels much more natural than one-time onboarding.
Definitely taking notes here, appreciate you sharing!
I personally think a free tier is very important, mainly because of the viral aspect.
When people can try the product without friction, they’re much more likely to experiment with it, share it, and embed it in real projects. That exposure can bring in a lot of organic growth.
But I also think the key is defining the freemium boundary clearly. The free plan should be good enough for people to understand the value, but limited in a way that naturally encourages upgrading once they start using it seriously.
For something like Embedful, I’d imagine things like limited embeds, branding, or usage caps could work well.
As a user, what matters most to me in a free plan is simple: I want to be able to try the real workflow, not just a restricted demo. Once I see it working in my own use case, I’m much more willing to pay.
Embedful
@adams6 This is a great breakdown, really appreciate you taking the time to write this out. That last part especially resonates, being able to try the real workflow is exactly what we’re aiming for. Not just a demo, but something you can actually use in a real project. And yes, we’re thinking along similar lines with limits like embeds, branding, and usage caps so the upgrade feels natural once you start relying on it.
Free tier decisions are some of the hardest in product. The calculus we use at Hello Aria (AI assistant in WhatsApp/iOS, launching April 10th on PH) is: does a free tier bring in people who will eventually convert, or does it mostly attract people who never would? That distinction matters more than the CAC math.
For embedding tools, I can see how a free tier creates a distribution flywheel — developers who discover and fall in love with your product build apps around it, then need paid features as they scale. That's a real and proven path. The risk is support cost creep and the psychological anchoring problem (hard to charge someone who's been free for a year).
We went with a 3-month free trial instead of a permanent free tier. Full access, then a gentle paywall. Still testing if that's optimal. Would love to hear how your conversion rates track over time.
Embedful
@sai_tharun_kakirala Really like this framing. The “who are you attracting” question hits. Your 3-month full access trial is interesting too. Curious how it plays out over time, especially around when people actually engage and convert. We decided on a free tier for the distribution side, and have a solid idea of the limits. Now it’s mostly tweaking and testing.
Would love to compare notes as we both get more data 👍