[yoshyosh]

We used to do free trials but I think early on as a bootstrapper/indiehacker not having a free plan helps you get from 0 to 1 faster, which should be your goal. Understanding what set of features results in someone not only paying for the product but sticking each month as well. Offering a money back guarantee has been a good in between for us, this way users still have some sort of recourse if things don't work and it helps alleviate their purchasing decision. We also capture a bit of that revenue if they decide to continue to use the service (since they pay the whole time rather than a free 2-week/30 day trial). Lastly it helps get more serious buyers in the door and reduces support w/ free users early on.

Free trials don't create this dynamic of having skin in the game, most of the time people will forget they're on a free trial and aren't incentivized to give any feedback as to why they didn't convert. By them needing to reach out to get a refund things are much more aligned with your goal of understanding if you are delivering enough value or why not.

I think as you grow larger (or are VC backed/trying to capture market share), exploring a free plan is pretty important to help with that. But if you've grown to that point, having a free plan or not is likely the least of your worries.