First time posting on this topic. I know there's a lot of experience here so hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.
The freemium question is genuinely complicated. 'Free' means something different on almost every platform and the gap between what's advertised and what's actually available without paying can be enormous. I'm trying to figure out which platforms are genuinely usable without spending anything versus which ones are essentially demo versions designed to frustrate you into upgrading.
A free trial is almost always worth taking even if you have no intention of paying — it gives you real data about user density.
The specific things I'm trying to nail down:
- Practical difference between free and paid tiers
- Mobile app reliability and battery usage
- Support response time for real issues
- How active and visible the moderation team is
Would really value hearing from people with actual hands-on experience rather than just what the platform claims about itself.