Users creating multiple accounts to abuse free tier :(

For my product they try to abuse the free trial since i don't offer a free tier, and in my case I disable any new account with the same domain name (except for team members invites of course), so far it worked well, you can try it or completely discontinue the free tier because if they can't even pay for something that will help their business then they're the wrong customers for you.

Personally, I would discontinue the free tier and add free trial to paid tiers. That way users can try it out for free -- assuming that free trials is hard or inconvenient to abuse (e.g. starting multiple free trials causes user to lose data/history etc.)

I think paid trial has worked only for products where the value prop is hugely obvious and valueable, and/or the product/brand is well-known enough that users are willing to pay up front.

I hate free tiers and freemium products b/c:

1. People abuse them (as you experience)
2. Server costs and customer service costs/time increase
3. It's hard to know whether your product and what you're working on is really delivering value
4. You get the wrong kind of customer (cheapskates who complain a lot)

Good luck!

Just my 2 cents but maybe limit the free tier further (less everything per seat) but allow people to invite more team members for free? If you get a bunch of people at an account you could reach out to discuss upgrading everyone?

It can be difficult to strike a balance between the need to draw in and keep consumers and the need to make money, and it appears that you are doing so with Essense's freemium business model. Although it is upsetting that users are abusing the free tier by opening numerous accounts, removing the free tier entirely would not be the wisest course of action because it might deter new users from trying out your services.

Instead, you might think about tightening restrictions on the free tier to stop abuse, including capping the number of free users or features. Introduce a paid trial so users can access all of the services for a brief period of time before deciding whether to subscribe to a more expensive plan.

It could also be a good idea to offer a free trial with the paid levels so that potential consumers can explore all of the features before making a decision. The optimal course of action will ultimately depend on your unique business objectives and the requirements of your target market, therefore it may be useful to carry out some user research or speak with industry experts.

First of all it sucks that users are abusing your goodwill and hard work. Second, this may be naive, but the first thing I would try is actually talk to some of them. I'd email the first email of some of the obviously duplicate accounts and say something like "hey, I noticed you're creating duplicate accounts in violation of the terms of service. In doing so, you are abusing my freemium program and taking advantage of my hard work. I would love to talk to you and understand what's blocking you from upgrading your account to suit your needs so we can arrive at a mutually beneficial understanding."

I vote for no free tier and offering free trial to paid tier (which ccard required). You will get a lot less users but that will be a good thing because you want the feedback only from the serious ones, that have enough of a pain point that they are willing to pay. This is YCs advice but it makes sense to me. You want to tailor your product to your real customers and not everyone that might be slightly interested.

Instead of removing the free tier or fight against the abuse. Would it be possible to adjust the features offered as a free tier so that tou will give enough taste of your product without limiting (too much) the users?

I am finding free tier as a good way to mitigate/reduce the risk that a startup represents.

Confession: I did the same for some services; honestly, I wouldn't call it "abuse".
If you limit their possibilities, what is the problem?
Just limit to avoid unnecessary expenses and that's it.

I think your free tier and first paid tier has a huge gap.
You should consider offering less in the free tier so its good enough just for trial, like reduce number of reviews.
And maybe launch a smaller package for people who are just getting started.
So we should look at adopting better pricing plan.

Free versions work, but you have to come up with a freemium model that will motivationally produce results. We give away Valentina Studio (http://www.valentina-db.com) which is a highly functional database management tool. Visitors often come in and request all three OS versions of it, even though in our experience, they are mostly using just one. But that's okay.

Every contact we have following this, is an opportunity to upsell. They have to see our recent news when they start the software. They are prompted to get the latest version when they start the software. The license dies at the end of the year, so they have to come back and get the latest and also, a new license. In any 12 month period, we are putting out new features and giving folks a reason to get the PRO version.

Sure, there are those that only use the free version, but at some point, many will notice a PRO feature that is motivational for them enough to pay. They will often suggest features that are meaningful for them and that can drive new sales. Doing that often results in our product being strongly recommended to colleagues and friends.

How much does it cost you to support those free tier users that are abusing it? If they aren't costing you much money, why not let it ride for a bit until it becomes a bigger problem later?

As some other users have mentioned, I would recommend trying to talk to these users, and see if you can convert them. If they are personal domains, you could also limit the number of free accounts per domain.

I have the same problem with a project. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to prevent this. Have considered introducing a free trial period and no freemium

You've provided very helpful information, but I'd like to know even more details.

We have a lot of these abusers but we have literally wiped it out to 0.

1. Block EVERY disposable email.
2. Use Captcha on registration page.
3. Minimal viable free tier. Basically enough for the user to understand that the product works as expected. And nothing more.
4. Cheap first paid tier. Mine is $10. You can even toy $0.99 if you like.

That's about it. We actually released a free Disposable Email Checker API which powers our own stack to catch these abusers.

There should be something incorporated into your app that makes users invest time in their specific account. It should be too much of a hassle to do the same thing over and over again when making new accounts. Very simple example, in a SaaS people can write thoughts down or label things, when trying to dodge the paid model by making a new account, they will lose all data and have too start over again.. no one is gonna do that..

So my advice is to think of useful features that makes this possible.