Which one made you finally pay for your services, free trial or free tier?

I have been debating about pricing for my side project which is an application that creates short action lists from recorded meetings. Free plans seem more inviting but I am afraid people will use the app indefinitely without ever subscribing. A 14-day trial period sounds like coercion although it makes things clearer.

An analysis of my own past behavior provides insights. I pay now for both Granola and Supabase and in both cases, it was because I had reached some limitation that stopped me from doing actual work, not because I had reached the end of the trial period. In one case, the trial expired because I was too busy to use it within the two weeks.

That makes the limit more important than the pricing model. Perhaps a free trial limited by something tangible, such as meetings a month, could be a better solution than a time-based one. However, since I have not validated it among my potential users yet, it's just an assumption.

What drove you to take out your credit card the last time? Did the limit, the missing functionality, or perhaps your colleague persuade you?