++++ Plate 00 · Free-to-paid conversionCalculator
Ecosystem Strategy · Free calculator, no signup to see your band

Is your free-to-paid conversion good, or leaving MRR on the table?

Free-to-paid is benchmarked very differently depending on your model. A freemium tier converts in the single digits; a billed free trial (how most Shopify apps work, since billing runs through the merchant's Shopify checkout) converts far higher. Pick your model and see where you stand and what closing the gap is worth.

5 inputs~60 secondsNo email to see your band
✓ See your band and the MRR you unlock instantly. No signup to view your result.
By Taylor Sicard · early Shopify employee, app founder and advisor · the pricing and conversion math behind apps that compound
The method behind the number
Why model decides the benchmark, and where the MRR hides.
Ecosystem Strategy
Shopify app free-to-paid benchmarks
The real conversion bands for billed trials vs freemium, and why the blended median misleads you.
Read post →
Ecosystem Strategy
Shopify app onboarding benchmarks
Get users to first value fast: the activation milestones that move free-to-paid the most.
Read post →
Ecosystem Strategy
Pricing your Shopify app
Where to gate, what to charge, and how the upgrade moment shapes your conversion rate.
Read post →
Method

How free-to-paid conversion is benchmarked

The benchmark depends on your model, so the calculator asks first. A billed free trial, where the merchant approves the charge up front and billing runs through Shopify, converts at a different order of magnitude than a no-card freemium tier. The result prices the MRR you unlock by closing the gap to good and great for your model.

Billed trial: 25 to 35%Good. 50 to 60% is great, and the upper band usually means onboarding nails time-to-value in the first session.
Freemium: 3 to 5%Good for a no-card free tier. 8 to 12% is great. Do not judge a freemium app by trial numbers.
Below your model bandThe gap is usually onboarding, not pricing: merchants who never reach the first win never convert.

Once merchants convert, the question becomes what each one costs to land and how fast they pay back. The app CAC payback calculator answers it, and the churn-cost calculator shows what leaks out the other end. All the free Shopify app calculators carry your MRR and ARPA forward.

Questions

Common questions

What's a good free-to-paid rate for a Shopify app?
It depends on the model. A billed free trial is good at 25 to 35% and great at 50% or more. A classic no-card freemium tier is good at 3 to 5% and great at 8 to 12%. Most Shopify apps bill through the merchant's Shopify checkout, so they sit in the higher billed-trial band.
Why do Shopify apps convert higher than typical freemium?
Billing runs through the merchant's Shopify checkout, so a free trial behaves like a credit-card-required trial rather than classic no-card freemium. The merchant already has billing on file, which is why billed trials convert at 25 to 35% while freemium sits in the single digits.
What's the median free-to-paid conversion rate?
Roughly 8% across all products, but that blends both models and is not the number to judge yourself against. Compare a billed trial to the 25 to 35% band and a freemium tier to the 3 to 5% band. Benchmarking a billed trial against an 8% blended median hides how much MRR you are leaving on the table.
How do I lift my free-to-paid conversion?
Get users to first value fast, then ask for the upgrade at the activation moment instead of at install. Tighten onboarding so the merchant sees a real result inside the trial, gate the feature that creates that value, and make the prompt land when intent is highest. For most Shopify apps a billed trial outconverts freemium.
Should my Shopify app use a free trial or freemium?
Default to a billed trial unless free users genuinely make your product better or feed a paid tier reliably. Billed trials convert at an order of magnitude higher, and approval friction is low because the charge runs through the merchant billing they already trust.
How long should the trial be?
As short as your time-to-value allows. If a merchant sees the first win in a day, 7 days beats 14, because urgency converts. Long trials mostly hide an onboarding problem that the gap in this calculator is already pointing at.