Why “freemium” is failing—and what might replace it

Freemium was supposed to be the perfect compromise. Some content free, some behind a paywall. Hook the audience with open access, convert them with quality, and grow recurring revenue without sacrificing reach.

For a while, it worked. Freemium became the go-to strategy for publishers wary of going fully paid, especially after the “pivot to scale” era of ad-supported content began to unravel. The logic was simple: maintain visibility and SEO performance while nudging loyal readers toward subscription.

But in 2025, the cracks are increasingly visible. Conversion rates are stagnating. Paywall strategies are cannibalising newsroom resources. And worst of all, many freemium models now exist in a kind of editorial purgatory—too leaky to sustain revenue growth, too rigid to drive engagement.

The freemium model, once seen as pragmatic, is now revealing its limitations. And publishers looking ahead are beginning to ask: what comes next?

The freemium contradiction

At the heart of freemium is a tension: the best content must either be free enough to attract readers or exclusive enough to justify payment. Publishers often try to do both. But in doing so, they risk undermining the entire proposition.

If too much is free, readers may never see the value in subscribing. If too little is, the funnel collapses. If the paywalled content is niche, while the free content is generalist, the product becomes incoherent. And if both are strong but poorly segmented, users struggle to understand what they’re paying for.

What was meant to be a balanced model often becomes a muddled one—driven more by editorial convenience than strategic logic.

The audience has changed

Freemium also assumes a user behaviour that is less common today: the loyal, semi-regular reader who samples freely and, over time, converts. But contemporary digital habits don’t always follow this pattern.

Audiences now behave more sporadically. They follow links from social media, arrive via niche newsletters, or land on articles shared by peer networks. They’re not browsing your homepage daily—they’re dipping in and out. In that context, the freemium funnel rarely gets enough time to do its work.

Meanwhile, subscription fatigue is real. Readers who once subscribed out of principle or brand affinity are now far more selective. They want distinct value—not just access, but identity, utility, and clarity of purpose. Freemium models that rely on volume rather than specificity often fail to meet that bar.

Internal cost, external confusion

From a publisher’s perspective, freemium is rarely clean to operate. Editorial teams must constantly decide what’s free and what’s not—sometimes based on traffic goals, sometimes on hunches. Marketing teams struggle to articulate the subscription proposition clearly. Product teams wrestle with mixed user journeys and complex access rules.

The model is simple in concept, messy in execution. And the effort often outweighs the return—especially when only 0.5–2% of readers convert under a freemium setup.

Even when the model technically “works,” it may not scale.

So what might replace it?

Rather than converging on a single successor to freemium, publishers are increasingly experimenting with composite models—tailoring access and monetisation to fit audience behaviour, editorial strengths, and product constraints. Several options are emerging:

1. Value-led hard paywalls

Some publishers are moving away from freemium altogether, embracing a full paywall strategy but justifying it through deeper editorial focus and strong brand positioning. This works best when content is genuinely differentiated and irreplaceable—think The Information, Politico Pro, or The Ken.

2. Micro-payments and small paywalls

Instead of demanding a monthly commitment, some outlets offer lightweight, one-off payments for individual pieces or specific access tiers. This approach reduces friction and caters to readers unwilling to commit—but willing to support. The success of models like Steady, LaterPay, and Buy Me a Coffee shows this can work, particularly in niche markets.

3. Membership and identity-led models

Rather than selling access to content, some publishers are selling access to community, influence, or mission. Outlets like Tortoise or The Daily Maverick ask readers to support a cause, not just unlock content. This model is less about metering and more about alignment.

4. Content segmentation and productisation

Another route is to clearly divide content into different product lines: one for mass reach (e.g., free newsletter), one for conversion (premium briefings, deep analysis), and one for loyalty (member-only events, behind-the-scenes reporting). Rather than splitting every article across a paywall, this model splits the value proposition.

5. Partnership bundles

Some publishers are opting to bundle with others—either through platforms like Apple News+ or via direct partnerships—to distribute risk, expand reach, and tap into shared subscriber bases. While not without trade-offs, this offers an alternative to building a standalone proposition from scratch.

A new era of revenue pluralism

What’s emerging is not a post-paywall world, but a more plural one. Publishers are beginning to move past binary models—free vs. paid, open vs. closed—and toward more dynamic, layered strategies that reflect the reality of modern reader behaviour.

Freemium, once considered the safe middle ground, now risks becoming the grey zone: too broad to convert, too vague to retain.

Its failure isn’t a signal to panic. It’s a cue to rethink.

The next wave of reader revenue won’t be about a single perfect model. It will be about matching value to audience, product to purpose, and revenue to relationship—with greater creativity and greater conviction than the freemium era ever required.