Everyone treats "free" as one funnel. Trial and freemium pay you completely differently.
Free trial: the user must convert to paid within days, usually inside the refund window, so your commission is born already at risk of clawback.
Freemium: the user can sit on the free tier forever. Conversion is slower, but when they DO upgrade they're committed, past the refund reflex, and far stickier.
The tradeoff:
— Trial: faster commissions, higher refund/clawback exposure, attribution often expires before they upgrade.
— Freemium: slower commissions, but check the cookie window, if it's 30 days and they upgrade in month three, you get nothing.
Verdict: trial pays fast and fragile, freemium pays slow and solid, IF the cookie lives long enough. Most don't. Read the window.
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Promoting free-trial tools vs freemium tools
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