“If there's a really large TAM like Duolingo you can afford to have millions and millions of free users whereas for some of our products it's more niche and so specifically in Hunt it's much more of a trial strategy because that TAM isn't like everyone out trying to learn a new language.”

TAM Size Should Determine Whether You Run Freemium or Free Trial — Not Preference

The freemium vs. free trial decision should follow addressable market size. Large-TAM apps can afford a massive free base because even a small conversion percentage yields huge subscriber counts. Niche apps like onX Hunt cannot — the trial model concentrates monetization effort on the smaller pool of highly-qualified users.