# Free trials

URL: /products/offers/trials · Id: `page:products/offers/trials`

> When to offer a trial, how long, card up front or not, how a trial turns into a paying customer, and how one customer is kept to one trial.

A trial gives a new [Customer](/business/nouns/customer) the whole plan free for a set number of days. Set it once on the [Offer](/business/nouns/offer) for every sign-up, or start one by hand for a single Customer.

## Two kinds of trial
| | On the Offer | For one Customer |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Set by | The Offer's `trial`: `days`, and `card` | [`Offer.trial`](/business/nouns/offer/trial), with `customer`, `days` and `card` |
| Who gets it | Every new sign-up on that plan | The one Customer named |
| Use it for | Self-serve plans | A prospect in a sales conversation, or an extension |
| Guide | [Add a free trial to a plan](/products/offers/add-a-free-trial-to-a-plan) | [Give a customer a free trial](/products/offers/give-a-free-trial) |

A trialing Customer holds every [Entitlement](/business/nouns/entitlement) the Offer grants, from the first minute. A trial of a plan with less in it tests the wrong product.

## Card up front, or not
| `card` | At sign-up | When the trial ends | Expect |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `true` | The buyer adds a card before starting | The first charge runs on its own | Fewer trials, most of them convert |
| `false` | Only an email | The trial ends; the [Success Manager](/agents/customer/success-manager) follows up for a card | Many trials, few convert on their own |

Ask for a card when buyers already know what they want, such as an API a developer has read about. Skip it when the product has to show its value first, and make the first session count.

## How long
Fourteen days is the default, and the right length is the time a buyer needs to reach the moment it pays off once. Leaseline's trial is 14 days because the first renewal reminder goes out within a week of import.

Longer is rarely better: a 30-day trial gives the buyer 30 days to forget. Three days before a trial converts, [Convert a trial](/workflows/processes/plan-changes/convert-trial) sends one reminder: the date, the [Price](/business/nouns/price) and a one-step cancel link. Nobody is charged by surprise.

## One trial per customer
A Customer gets one trial per Offer. A second sign-up from the same account, the same card or the same [Organization](/business/nouns/organization) starts on the paid plan, with the trial already used.

New sign-ups also pass the [fraud screen](/workflows/processes/trust-and-safety/fraud-screen) before any trial starts. A disposable address with a foreign card waits for verification instead of getting free use.

## Next
- [Recurring billing](/systems/finance/recurring-billing): the `trialing` status and what follows it.
- [Plans inside your app](/products/app/plans-in-your-app): what a trialing customer sees.