A few years ago, everybody was giving business software away for 'free' — here's why that’s no longer the case

Once considered a fix-all solution to building a wider customer base at little cost, freemium hasn’t caught on in the business software space as it has in the consumer world. While some of the most successful enterprise software — think Slack, Box, and Yammer — all have some type of freemium products, many other business software makers have become more conservative with the way they think about the free business model.

In fact, according to GetApp, a company that tracks over 3,000 business apps, only 22% of the total follow the freemium model. That number dips below 20% in some categories like sales, finance, and marketing apps. Even in the collaboration space, where most of the popular freemium business apps are, only 35% offer free products.

Freemium also doesn’t work if the product itself isn’t inherently easy to use for the mass market. Qualaroo, a customer survey platform, ditched the freemium model after realizing its product was a bit complicated to understand for people not familiar with its industry.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/freemium-losing-favor-in-enterprise-software-2015-8