Killed the free trial on my SaaS. Hit $1K MRR in 30 days. Here’s what I learned :
Quick context:
I built Redditgrow.ai , a tool that helps people use Reddit for lead gen and SEO without getting banned. Launched a month ago. Just hit $1K MRR. Solo, bootstrapped.
Started from zero. Small waitlist, no paying users, no audience to speak of. Built it because I was tired of solving the same problem manually.
What worked:
Reddit itself, used correctly. Not spamming, not mass DMs. Building authority first, engaging where it actually made sense. I’ve been on Reddit for 5 years and I know how this place works. Most people building “Reddit growth tools” get banned before they see a single conversion because they treat it like LinkedIn.
Two pricing tiers from day one: $29/month subscription, or $37 one-time for people who want to test without committing. Both require a card. No free tier, no free trial.
That last point is the one I want to talk about.
What didn’t work: the free trial.
I had one initially. It was a disaster.
It brought in curious people with zero intent to pay. A few signed up just to screenshot the product.
My support queue exploded with questions from users who were never going to convert.
And a specific chunk of trial users treated it as a permanent free tool and churned on day 14 like clockwork.
The free trial wasn’t a funnel. It was a magnet for the wrong people.
I killed it. Replaced it with the $37 one-time option for “just want to try it” people. Same value prop, but skin in the game.
Result: fewer signups, way more revenue per signup, and my inbox is quiet again.
I’d rather have 30 customers at $29 than 300 free users clogging my support.
What I’m still figuring out:
- Whether the $37 one-time is leaving money on the table (some of those people would probably pay monthly)
- How to scale lead acquisition without burning my Reddit reputation
- When to raise prices (probably soon)
Anyone else here removed their free trial? Curious if you saw the same thing or if my experience is an outlier
The strongest lesson here is not just “free trial bad.” It is that Reddit lead gen has a trust filter built into the channel. If someone is not willing to put even a small amount of money down, they probably are not serious enough to use Reddit carefully without damaging their account or reputation.
The $37 one-time option is smart because it separates curiosity from intent without forcing a full subscription decision. For this category, that probably matters more than raw signup volume because low-intent users can create support load and misuse the product in ways that hurt the brand.
One thing I’d watch is the Redditgrow.ai name. It is clear, but it also locks the product into a narrow “Reddit growth tool” frame. If this expands into broader authority-led lead gen, community SEO, or organic acquisition intelligence, a cleaner SaaS brand like Beryxa .com would probably age better than a descriptive .ai name.
thanks for your feedback. very helpfull and true