Cut the free plan?

I launched Perligo with a free plan mostly because creatives (and writers especially) don’t have a ton of money to spend. So, I wanted there to be an option for those writers to get some value from the product for free. However, I’m now really wanting to lean into further validation as I release the next big feature and having a free plan seems to hurt my ability to validate the product.

If people convert to paid along the way, that’s validation, but it takes longer. If people sign up and have to pick a plan with a free trial, that feels more like immediate validation (or lack thereof).

What do you think? Drop the free plan? Or keep it?