How do you decide what features should be free and what should be paid?
Let me start from the creator’s perspective:
I personally don’t have a product (apart from hiring people for creative work or offering personal consultations).
But as a creator, I constantly share content, insights, and information, value that helps me build trust (for free). Based on that perceived expertise, people eventually decide to work with me (a paid service).
So some things I share for free to eventually move toward a paid collaboration.
Personally, it’s sometimes hard to judge when I might be giving away too much for free.
And I assume it’s similarly tricky for builders.
You want users to try the product, but then comes the question of paid features, or a trial limited by time or usage.
How do you decide which parts of your product or service remain free, and which become paid?
When I share content publicly, I usually provide generalised advice. But when it comes to a specific case or a tailored strategy that requires a personal approach, that’s where it becomes paid.
Replies
Great question! As a builder of a personal safety app (Lifeline: SOS Countdown App), I struggled with this too. Here is the framework I used to decide:
1. The "Essential Survival" Tier (Free) I believe some things should never be behind a paywall. In my case, a basic Manual SOS should be free. If someone is in danger right now, they need a tool that works immediately. This builds the core trust. If the free version can save a life, you've won a user for life.
2. The "Automated Guardianship" Tier (Paid) We decided to charge for features that require ongoing server costs and provide proactive (rather than reactive) safety.
The "What If" Logic: Our core paid feature is the Automated SOS Countdown. It’s for those "silent" emergencies where you can’t reach your phone (e.g., a sudden fall or a robbery).
Two-Way Guardianship: We also put the "Guardian Link" in the Pro tier. It allows loved ones to check your real-time status and GPS without you needing to do anything.
My takeaway: Free features should solve the immediate pain point. Paid features should provide the ultimate convenience or automated protection.
I’ve been testing this with Lifeline: SOS Countdown App, and it’s interesting to see that users are willing to pay $19.99 not just for a button, but for the "Peace of Mind" that someone is watching over them even when they can't call for help.
Curious to hear if others think safety features should ever be monetized differently!
I have come up with a simple theory. The feature ships for free initially, if it get's adopted then we think of monetising it.
We went through this exact debate at PrometAI, and honestly still revisit it. Our answer was to draw the line at the "aha moment." In our example, the free plan gives you one business plan and 25 AI requests. Enough to see what the product actually does, not enough to run a business on it. That was intentional. If someone can't see the value early, more free features won't change their mind.