You’re heard of “fremium” pricing models for web-based applications, but what about desktop applications? Even worse: What about desktop applications that retail at $1,000 or more? Long before the fremium fad swept the browser-based world, traditional desktop software makers had two primary ways to provide a low-friction way for customers to subtly get addicted to their product:<\/p>\n Free Trial<\/strong> — a timed-limited trial in which you can use the entire product for only a few weeks, or a feature-limited trial in which you can use a subset of the software, just enough to see how it works but not do anything vital, e.g. you can’t save, you can’t print, or you can’t export without a hideous watermark.<\/p>\n Lite Version<\/strong> — a lower-cost edition of the software where many features are missing or hobbled. This is fully-functional software which many people can use as-is.<\/p>\n Which path is wisest? Ferrua Mavituna raised the question<\/a> recently on\u00a0Answers OnStartups<\/a>.<\/p>\n The answer is more complicated than it may seem – and it often depends on the type of customers you’re seeking and the nature of your software. The debate (which is ongoing) has been intense \u2013 and brought out proponents of both sides of the issue.<\/p>\n Here’s a summary of some of the advice he got:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.stoth.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/79c82_trial-version-300x254.jpg\")
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