I killed the free tier on day 6. Here’s why I kept the $2.99 plan branded.

Today I made a decision that will probably reduce signups.

I killed the idea of a permanent free tier for AffiSpark.

That sounds backwards when you are early. Free usually feels like the safest move. More people sign up, the numbers look better, and you get to tell yourself there is traction.

But I do not think early-stage products need the biggest funnel.
I think they need the clearest signal.

Right now, I do not need 200 curious accounts that never install anything.
I need a small number of founders who are serious enough to set up an affiliate program, invite a few partners, and tell me where the product breaks.

So instead of a free plan, I kept a very cheap paid entry point: $2.99/month.

That is low enough to feel easy.
But it is high enough to force a real decision.

The part I did not want to lose was distribution.

A free tier often works because it spreads the product. People use it, other people see it, and that creates the loop. If I removed free, I needed another way to keep that loop alive.

So I pushed the distribution into the product itself.

The Starter plan stays branded.
When affiliates use the portal, they see a small “Powered by AffiSpark.”
If a founder wants the cleaner version with no branding, that is what the higher tiers are for.

That felt like the right tradeoff:
cheap enough to get started,
strong enough to filter for intent,
and visible enough to keep word of mouth alive.

This one pricing decision also forced a lot of product clarity.

Once I decided there would be no free tier, a bunch of vague product choices stopped being vague.

The billing flow had to make sense immediately.
The difference between branded and unbranded had to be obvious.
The onboarding had to feel trustworthy.
The emails had to look like they came from a real product.
The funnel tracking had to be in place so I can measure whether this decision was smart or just stubborn.

In other words, removing free made the rest of the product tighter.

I think that is the part people miss.
A free tier is not just a pricing choice.
Sometimes it is also a way to delay making the core offer clear.

I would rather have 10 founders paying $2.99 and actually trying to launch than 100 free users who cost attention but teach me nothing.

I could still be wrong.

Maybe free would create more surface area.
Maybe I am making the top of funnel too narrow.
Maybe people will tell me $2.99 is low enough that it behaves like free anyway.

But for this stage, I would rather optimize for seriousness than volume.

If you were launching from zero today, what would you choose:
a free tier with more signups,
or a very cheap paid tier that filters for intent?