Offering 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:
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:
1 more example
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:
freemium
noun
Etymology Blend of free + premium.
1
A 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
A 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: