Over the past decade “freemium”—a combination of “free” and “premium”—has become the dominant business model among internet start-ups and smartphone app developers. Users get basic features at no cost and can access richer functionality for a subscription fee. If you’ve networked on LinkedIn, shared files through Dropbox, watched TV shows through Hulu, or searched for a mate on Match, you’ve experienced the model firsthand. It works for B2B companies as well—examples include Box, Splunk, and Yammer.
A version of this article appeared in the May 2014 issue of Harvard Business Review.