freemium

1. not comparableOffering basic services for free while charging a premium for advanced or special features.

   When framing a business model within the consumer Internet space, we may hear about advertising-supported, freemium, subscription, or a hybrid model.

   2008, Darren Herman, Coloring Outside the Lines

   2 more examples

   Regarding premium services, both the "freemium" model (free basic service with a premium service offered on a subscription basis) and the free trial model...

   2008, Scott Allen, The Emergence of the Relationship Economy

   Venture capitalist and blogger nonpareil Fred Wilson calls it the "freemium" business model: "Give your service away for free, possibly ad supported but maybe not, acquire a lot of customers efficiently through word of mouth...

   2008, Tom Hayes, Jump Point: How Network Culture is Revolutionizing Business

plural freemiums

1. countableA product that is offered free of charge and supported by sales of a premium version.

   Most consumer-level cloud offerings would be labeled a freemium, which is a free version that is supported by a paid, premium version.

   2010, Khaled Elleithy, Tarek Sobh, Magued Iskander, Technological Developments in Networking, Education, and Automation, →ISBN, page 3

2. uncountableA business model that relies on offering a free version and charging for a premium version.

   So the only thing left would be using freemium as a means of gaining trial, with the potential to up-sell to a paid subscription.

   2015, Robbie Kellman Baxter, The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue, →ISBN, page 86

   Synonyms: freeconomics