# Freemium dropped for paid plans with free trials: +90% revenue

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Paywall (App)
- Elements: Freemium limits, Free trials
- Date shared: 2024-11
- Test run by: [V1 Sports](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/v1-sports/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://www.revenuecat.com/blog/growth/alex-prasad-v1-sports-sub-club-podcast/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/v1-sports-freemium-to-paid-with-trial/

V1 Sports, a golf swing analysis app, replaced its freemium model with paid subscriptions that start with a free trial, and revenue rose 90% within 12 months. This was a before-and-after change, not a split test. It was described by CEO Alex Prasad on the Sub Club podcast and published on the RevenueCat blog.

## Result

**+90% revenue within 12 months**

- Revenue: up 90% within 12 months of the switch.
- Reviews: a wave of negative reviews from long-time free users. This is a real cost of the change.
- Trial start rate, trial-to-paid and churn figures were not shared.

## Control

A freemium model: golfers had used the app for free for years, with paid features on top.

## Variant

No free tier. Access requires a paid subscription, which new users can start with a free trial.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Removing the free tier means every engaged user has to make a pay decision, instead of staying free forever.
- The CEO expected that for every few users who complained, more would subscribe, and the revenue numbers matched that bet.
- The team also used customer conversations to find a coach segment and tailor the offer, which may have helped revenue too.

## Caveats

Before-and-after over 12 months, not a split test, so market changes and other product work (such as the new focus on coaches) may explain part of the lift. Reported on the RevenueCat blog, a vendor that sells subscription tools.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we replace the free tier with paid plans that start with a free trial, then revenue per install will rise because every active user meets a paywall, even if some free users leave.
- Primary metric: Revenue per install (or proceeds per user) over at least 6 to 12 months
- Guardrail: App Store rating and review volume
- Guardrail: Install-to-trial rate
- Guardrail: Trial-to-paid conversion
- Who should test it: Apps with a loyal, high-intent user base whose free tier gives away most of the value. It is risky for apps that rely on free users for network effects, word of mouth or ad revenue. A clean split test is hard here, so plan for a staged rollout by new users or by region.

---

Credit: V1 Sports ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/v1-sports-freemium-to-paid-with-trial/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.