How to increase sales of your product that has many free users but only a few paying ones?

For over a week, the wider Product Hunt community has been chiming in with their “two cents” in the discussion about where to draw the line between which product features should be free and which should require payment.

Just yesterday on X, a post started trending about a tool with 35,000+ users, but only just over 1,300 paying customers. The founder was asking the community for advice on how to increase conversions.

Many people had a very straightforward opinion: remove the free version (but this isn’t the path he wants to take).

Possible solutions include:

• Free users could be required to have a badge on their profile promoting the brand. (though this can’t be applied to every business, but he is considering this one)

• Showing ads in the free tool. (invasive, but can at least cover some costs; downside: the tool may feel sluggish)

• Removing the free plan completely – this could work if users have been accustomed to the tool long enough. (CapCut did it like that.)

What tricks would you use to convert free users into paying customers?