

Your free plan is killing your SaaS - standout
http://david.elbe.me/saas/2015/06/23/your-free-plan-is-killing-your-saas.html

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omegote
Evernote is not exactly the best example I'm afraid. I paid for it once, and
it was because I needed shared folders and that was a paid-only feature.
Otherwise I wouldn't have paid. Heck, I'd have used any other service if my
then-teammates weren't that attached to Evernote. The new web interface is
slow and sloppy, the Windows desktop client has ALWAYS been behind the Mac
client, the proprietary language for the source of the notes is retarded,
there's no way of editing the raw content of the notes, etc.

Every year that passes, I'm honestly baffled by them not going bankrupt.

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GrowMap
A better idea is to offer a free, limited version with no support and premium
versions with support. That way your time is focused on those willing to pay
and anyone who needs it free has to find someone to help when they get stuck.
That gives them an incentive to upgrade while still making your SaaS visible
to new users. I think Trello has it right; the free version has us onboarding
hundreds of new users for them and teaching them to use it and the paid
version is worth paying for if you need to control your users.

