One of the most common questions we get from new community builders is:

“Should I make my community free and upsell later? Or should I just charge from day one?”

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer — but we’ve worked with thousands of communities on Heartbeat, and we’ve seen what works best.

So here’s a breakdown of your options (and which one we recommend most).

✅ Option 1: Paid-Only Community with One Price Point (Recommended)

This is the fastest way to build sustainable, recurring revenue — especially if you’re just getting started.

Why it works:

• Forces clarity on your ideal member

• Simple to manage — one onboarding flow, one member journey

• Easier to hit your first $100K in ARR

• Reduces confusion on what’s free vs. paid

How to do it in Heartbeat:
Just create a single offer with one price point (monthly or annual), tie it to an access group, and build your experience around that.

You can always add free tiers, upgrades, or add-ons later once you’ve validated demand.

💡 Option 2: Freemium — Free Community with Paid Upgrades

This sounds appealing — offer value up front, and upsell to premium later. But it’s harder than it looks.

Works well if:

• You already have a large audience (2,000+ people)

• You have strong conversion funnels in place

• You’ve done this before and know how to build hype

Common pitfalls:

• Too few upgrades = too little revenue

• Supporting free + paid users = extra complexity

• New builders often burn out trying to do both

Our advice:
If you're just starting out, skip freemium — it's better to validate your product with paying customers first.

⚠️ Option 3: Multiple Pricing Tiers (Bronze / Silver / Gold)

More advanced — and great for mature businesses. But for new communities, this can backfire quickly.

Why it’s tricky:

• Each tier = different expectations, different support needs

• Onboarding gets more complex

• You end up running three communities instead of one

Use this when:

• You’ve been running for 2–3+ years

• You know your customer segments deeply

• You have the team capacity to support more complex ops

📌 TL;DR — What Should You Choose?