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Trial-to-paid conversion rate

The share of people who start a trial and go on to pay — the metric that tells you whether your product earns the sale once someone is actually inside it.

In plain English

Getting someone to start a trial is only half the job. The trial-to-paid conversion rate measures the other half: of everyone who signed up to try your product, how many pulled out a card and became paying customers. It's the clearest signal of whether your product delivers enough value during the trial to be worth paying for — and whether your onboarding gets people to that "aha" moment in time. A low rate usually means people sign up, poke around, never reach value, and drift away. The number is only fair if you compare within a cohort, so every trial in the denominator has had the same chance to convert.

The formula

Trial-to-paid % = paying customers converted ÷ trials started (same cohort)

Always measure the same cohort: count conversions only from the batch of trials that started, and give them time to finish before you read the result.

A worked example

In one cohort, 500 people start a trial. By the time the trial window closes, 90 of them have become paying customers.

Trial-to-paid % = 90 ÷ 500 = 18%

An 18% conversion rate is a solid result for an opt-in free trial that doesn't ask for a card upfront — roughly one in five triers becomes a customer.

What's a good trial-to-paid conversion rate?

Benchmarks swing hugely depending on how the trial is structured:

Trial typeTypical rateVerdict
Opt-in (no card)~15–25%Healthy for low-friction
Opt-out (card upfront)~40–60%High — committed users only
Freemium~2–5%Normal for low-bar entry

A higher percentage isn't automatically better — opt-out trials convert more but attract fewer people. What matters is total paying customers and their lifetime value against what each trial costs to generate.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good trial-to-paid conversion rate?
It depends entirely on the trial type. An opt-in free trial with no credit card typically converts 15 to 25 percent. An opt-out trial that takes a card upfront converts much higher, around 40 to 60 percent, because only committed users sign up. Freemium products usually convert just 2 to 5 percent of free users into paid because the bar to start is so low.
How do you calculate trial-to-paid conversion rate?
Divide the number of customers who converted to paid by the number of trials started in the same cohort, then multiply by 100. For example, 90 paying customers out of 500 trials started is 90 divided by 500, which equals 18 percent.
Why does requiring a credit card raise conversion?
Asking for a card upfront filters out casual sign-ups, so the people who do start a trial are already serious about buying. That smaller, more committed pool converts at a far higher rate — but it also means fewer total trials, so the absolute number of new customers may not be higher.

CAC · MRR · Customer lifetime value (LTV) · Cost per lead

Learn more

The complete guide to value-based bidding · Value-based bidding without a data team

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