Freemium is Back — The AI Edition! But You’ll Still Probably Need 50 Million Active Users for Freemium to Actually Work as a Business Model.

Saastr's discussion on the resurgence of the freemium business model in the Age of AI, highlighting ChatGPT as a prime example, marks a significant shift in how companies approach product distribution and revenue generation. This means that website owners can expect an influx of AI-powered tools and services being offered for free, with the goal of attracting a large user base and eventually converting some of those users into paid customers. For website owners, this could lead to an increase in AI bot traffic, as more users interact with freemium AI products and services. To prepare for this shift, website owners can take several actionable steps: monitor their website's traffic patterns to identify potential AI bot activity, update their llms.txt files to account for the increased presence of AI-powered tools, and consider implementing measures to differentiate between human and AI-generated traffic to ensure accurate analytics and advertising metrics.