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47 Companies With Freemium Models: B2B SaaS Success Stories (2026)
Comprehensive analysis of 47 successful companies using freemium models. Learn freemium-to-paid conversion rates, strategies, and when freemium works for B2B SaaS.
January 26, 2026Written by Joe Wilkinson, CRO Specialist
The freemium model has powered some of the most successful B2B SaaS companies in history. From Slack's explosive growth to Notion's viral expansion, offering a free tier has become a proven path to market dominance—when executed correctly.
This guide analyzes 47 companies successfully using freemium models, breaking down their strategies, conversion rates, and what makes their free-to-paid funnels work.
What Is a Freemium Model?
A freemium model offers a basic version of a product for free, with premium features or increased usage available through paid plans. Unlike free trials (time-limited), freemium provides ongoing free access with strategic limitations.
Freemium vs. Free Trial
| Aspect | Freemium | Free Trial |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | Unlimited | 7-30 days |
| Feature Access | Limited | Full |
| Conversion Pressure | Low | High |
| User Base Size | Large | Smaller |
| CAC Impact | Very low | Low |
| Best For | PLG, viral products | Enterprise, complex products |
47 Companies With Successful Freemium Models
Communication & Collaboration (12 Companies)
1. Slack
- Free Tier: 90-day message history, 10 app integrations
- Conversion Rate: ~3-5% free-to-paid
- Strategy: Limit history to create pain at scale
- Annual Revenue: $1.5B+ (pre-Salesforce acquisition)
2. Zoom
- Free Tier: 40-minute meeting limit, 100 participants
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Time limit creates natural upgrade trigger
- Annual Revenue: $4.5B+
3. Discord
- Free Tier: Full communication features
- Conversion Rate: ~2-3% to Nitro
- Strategy: Cosmetic and quality upgrades
- Annual Revenue: $500M+
4. Notion
- Free Tier: Unlimited pages, 5MB file uploads
- Conversion Rate: ~4-5%
- Strategy: Collaboration limits drive team upgrades
- Annual Revenue: $250M+ (estimated)
5. Miro
- Free Tier: 3 editable boards
- Conversion Rate: ~5-7%
- Strategy: Board limits for active users
- Annual Revenue: $500M+
6. Loom
- Free Tier: 25 videos, 5-minute limit
- Conversion Rate: ~3-4%
- Strategy: Video and time limits
- Annual Revenue: $150M+ (estimated)
7. Calendly
- Free Tier: 1 event type, basic integrations
- Conversion Rate: ~5-8%
- Strategy: Feature-gated for professionals
- Annual Revenue: $200M+
8. Airtable
- Free Tier: 1,200 records per base
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Data limits drive upgrades
- Annual Revenue: $200M+
9. Monday.com
- Free Tier: Up to 2 seats
- Conversion Rate: ~7-10%
- Strategy: Seat-based limits
- Annual Revenue: $600M+
10. Asana
- Free Tier: Up to 15 team members
- Conversion Rate: ~3-5%
- Strategy: Team size limits
- Annual Revenue: $500M+
11. ClickUp
- Free Tier: Unlimited tasks, 100MB storage
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Storage and feature limits
- Annual Revenue: $150M+ (estimated)
12. Figma
- Free Tier: 3 projects, 30-day history
- Conversion Rate: ~5-8%
- Strategy: Project and history limits
- Annual Revenue: Acquired by Adobe for $20B
Developer Tools (10 Companies)
13. GitHub
- Free Tier: Unlimited public repos, limited private
- Conversion Rate: ~7-10%
- Strategy: Private repo and team features
- Annual Revenue: $1B+ (Microsoft subsidiary)
14. GitLab
- Free Tier: Full DevOps platform, 5GB storage
- Conversion Rate: ~3-5%
- Strategy: Storage and enterprise features
- Annual Revenue: $500M+
15. Vercel
- Free Tier: 100GB bandwidth, hobby projects
- Conversion Rate: ~5-8%
- Strategy: Bandwidth and team features
- Annual Revenue: $100M+ (estimated)
16. Netlify
- Free Tier: 100GB bandwidth, 300 build minutes
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Usage-based upgrades
- Annual Revenue: $100M+ (estimated)
17. Postman
- Free Tier: Unlimited API requests, basic collaboration
- Conversion Rate: ~3-5%
- Strategy: Team and enterprise features
- Annual Revenue: $150M+ (estimated)
18. MongoDB Atlas
- Free Tier: 512MB storage, shared clusters
- Conversion Rate: ~5-8%
- Strategy: Storage and performance tiers
- Annual Revenue: $1.5B+ (parent company)
19. Supabase
- Free Tier: 500MB database, 1GB storage
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Resource-based limits
- Annual Revenue: $50M+ (estimated)
20. Railway
- Free Tier: $5/month credit
- Conversion Rate: ~8-12%
- Strategy: Usage credits
- Annual Revenue: $20M+ (estimated)
21. PlanetScale
- Free Tier: 5GB storage, 1B row reads
- Conversion Rate: ~6-8%
- Strategy: Storage and usage limits
- Annual Revenue: $50M+ (estimated)
22. Retool
- Free Tier: 5 users, unlimited apps
- Conversion Rate: ~5-7%
- Strategy: User-based pricing
- Annual Revenue: $100M+ (estimated)
Marketing & Analytics (8 Companies)
23. HubSpot
- Free Tier: CRM, basic marketing tools
- Conversion Rate: ~3-5%
- Strategy: Full CRM free, upsell marketing hub
- Annual Revenue: $2B+
24. Mailchimp
- Free Tier: 500 contacts, 1,000 emails/month
- Conversion Rate: ~5-8%
- Strategy: Contact and send limits
- Annual Revenue: $800M+ (Intuit subsidiary)
25. Canva
- Free Tier: 5GB storage, basic templates
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Premium templates and features
- Annual Revenue: $1.7B+
26. Buffer
- Free Tier: 3 social channels
- Conversion Rate: ~5-7%
- Strategy: Channel limits
- Annual Revenue: $20M+
27. Hotjar
- Free Tier: 35 daily sessions
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Session limits
- Annual Revenue: $100M+ (Contentsquare)
28. Mixpanel
- Free Tier: 100K monthly tracked users
- Conversion Rate: ~3-5%
- Strategy: Volume limits
- Annual Revenue: $100M+ (estimated)
29. Amplitude
- Free Tier: 10M events/month
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Event volume limits
- Annual Revenue: $250M+
30. PostHog
- Free Tier: 1M events/month
- Conversion Rate: ~5-7%
- Strategy: Event and feature limits
- Annual Revenue: $30M+ (estimated)
Productivity & Documents (7 Companies)
31. Dropbox
- Free Tier: 2GB storage
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Storage limits
- Annual Revenue: $2.3B+
32. Google Workspace
- Free Tier: Full productivity suite (personal)
- Conversion Rate: ~5-8% business adoption
- Strategy: Business features and support
- Annual Revenue: $10B+ (estimated)
33. Evernote
- Free Tier: 60MB monthly uploads, 2 devices
- Conversion Rate: ~3-5%
- Strategy: Device and storage limits
- Annual Revenue: $100M+ (estimated)
34. Grammarly
- Free Tier: Basic writing suggestions
- Conversion Rate: ~5-8%
- Strategy: Advanced features for professionals
- Annual Revenue: $200M+ (estimated)
35. 1Password
- Free Tier: Limited (now trial-based)
- Conversion Rate: ~10-15% from trials
- Strategy: Family and team plans
- Annual Revenue: $200M+ (estimated)
36. Todoist
- Free Tier: 5 projects, basic features
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Project and feature limits
- Annual Revenue: $50M+ (estimated)
37. Trello
- Free Tier: Unlimited boards, 10 MB attachments
- Conversion Rate: ~3-5%
- Strategy: Power-up and attachment limits
- Annual Revenue: (Atlassian subsidiary)
Design & Creative (5 Companies)
38. Figma (covered above)
39. Sketch (Mac only, trial-based now)
40. InVision
- Free Tier: 1 prototype
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Prototype limits
- Annual Revenue: $100M+ (declining)
41. Piktochart
- Free Tier: 5 projects, watermark
- Conversion Rate: ~5-7%
- Strategy: Project limits and branding
- Annual Revenue: $20M+ (estimated)
42. Visme
- Free Tier: 5 projects, limited templates
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Project and template limits
- Annual Revenue: $30M+ (estimated)
Security & IT (5 Companies)
43. 1Password (covered above)
44. LastPass
- Free Tier: 1 device type
- Conversion Rate: ~3-5%
- Strategy: Device type restriction
- Annual Revenue: $200M+ (estimated)
45. Bitwarden
- Free Tier: Unlimited passwords, 2 users
- Conversion Rate: ~5-8%
- Strategy: Premium features and sharing
- Annual Revenue: $50M+ (estimated)
46. Cloudflare
- Free Tier: Unlimited bandwidth, basic security
- Conversion Rate: ~5-8%
- Strategy: Advanced security features
- Annual Revenue: $1.3B+
47. Snyk
- Free Tier: 200 tests/month
- Conversion Rate: ~4-6%
- Strategy: Usage and feature limits
- Annual Revenue: $200M+ (estimated)
Freemium Model Patterns
Pattern 1: Feature-Gated
Examples: Slack, HubSpot, Grammarly
- Free tier has core functionality
- Premium features unlock advanced capabilities
- Best for: Products with clear feature differentiation
Pattern 2: Usage-Limited
Examples: Mailchimp, Zoom, MongoDB
- Free tier has usage caps
- Upgrades unlock more volume
- Best for: Products with measurable consumption
Pattern 3: Seat-Limited
Examples: Monday.com, Asana, Notion
- Free tier limits team size
- Upgrades unlock collaboration at scale
- Best for: Team collaboration tools
Pattern 4: Time-Limited History
Examples: Slack, Figma
- Free tier limits access to historical data
- Upgrades unlock full history
- Best for: Data-centric products
When Does Freemium Work?
Freemium succeeds when these conditions exist:
Good Fit Indicators
- Low marginal cost per user
- Viral or network effects
- Self-serve product
- Large addressable market
- Clear upgrade triggers
- Product-led growth motion
Poor Fit Indicators
- High cost to serve
- Complex implementation
- Enterprise-only sales
- Small total market
- No natural upgrade triggers
- Requires sales involvement
Freemium Conversion Optimization
To improve free-to-paid conversion:
1. Strategic Limitations
- Choose limits that create pain at the right moment
- Avoid limiting core value too early
- Create natural upgrade triggers
2. In-Product Prompts
- Show premium features contextually
- Highlight what users are missing
- Make upgrading frictionless
3. Usage-Based Triggers
- Notify users approaching limits
- Offer trials of premium features
- Celebrate milestones with upgrade offers
4. Social Proof
- Show how similar users benefit from paid plans
- Highlight ROI of premium features
- Feature customer success stories
Freemium Economics
Understanding the math behind freemium:
Average Freemium Metrics
| Metric | Typical Range |
|---|---|
| Free-to-Paid Conversion | 2-7% |
| Time to Convert | 30-180 days |
| Free User CAC | $0-5 |
| Paid User CAC | $50-500 |
| Free-to-Paid LTV Multiple | 20-100x |
CAC Payback Calculation
With freemium, your blended CAC is:
Blended CAC = (Marketing Spend + Free User Costs) / Paid Conversions
A 5% conversion rate with $1/month free user cost:
- 1,000 free users = $1,000/month cost
- 50 convert to $100/month plan = $5,000 MRR
- Effective CAC = ~$20 per paid customer (excluding marketing)
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