Overview
Give away the basics, charge for the good stuff. It's a numbers game: convert enough free users to paying customers and you're golden.
Examples
Spotify
Slack
Zoom
Facebook (Meta)
Google (Alphabet)
Alibaba
Atlassian
Craigslist
Duolingo
PayPal
Roblox
Salesforce
The New York Times
TikTok
Uber
WhatsApp
Adobe
Afterpay
Basecamp
Calm
Charles Schwab
Chess.com
Electronic Arts
Epic Games
GitHubGoogle Maps
Intuit
Lyft
Mailchimp
Match Group
Meituan
Mercado Libre
Mojang
Nubank
Pinterest
Robinhood
WeChat (Tencent)
Zoho
Datadog
Doximity
MongoDB
Rec Room
Wix
Dropbox
LinkedIn- Dropbox
- Spotify
- Skype
- Evernote
How to cite
Faster Than Normal. “Freemium Business Model.” fasterthannormal.co/business-models/freemium. Accessed 2026.
Continue exploring
Company
Spotify
World's largest music streaming platform with 600M+ users.
Company
Slack
Workplace messaging platform that replaced email for millions.
Company
Zoom
Video conferencing platform that became a verb during COVID-19.
Company
Facebook (Meta)
Social media conglomerate: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and the metaverse (Quest VR).