Fair free vs premium gap
A practical starting matrix so free users work but Premium clearly wins. Tune for your niche after testing.
Fair free vs premium gap
Use this as a starting point, not gospel. After install, test one guest download and one premium download end-to-end. Package seed defaults differ - this matrix is intentionally stricter on free to create upgrade pressure.
Suggested shape
| Row | Anon | Reg | Premium | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downloads enabled | on | on | on | on |
| Uploads enabled | N/A | on | on | on |
| Countdown (sec) | 45 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| Download captcha | on | on | off | off |
| Simultaneous downloads | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Download speed (KB/s) | 200 | 400 | 0 | 0 |
| Download bandwidth | low | medium | 0 | 0 |
| Show ads | on | on | off | off |
| Media previews | limited | limited | on | on |
| SFTP / archive | off | off | on | on |
Keep Mods Pre-download page on if you monetize free traffic - but do not stack a huge countdown and a long prep without testing UX.
What fair means
- Guests can finish a normal download without rage-quitting
- Registered feels better than guest
- Paying removes the pain (wait, captcha, speed, ads, parallel limits)
Common problems
Conversion is zero
Free is too generous (no reason to pay) or too hostile (everyone leaves). Move one lever at a time.