“A lot of premium apps fall into this premium trap where like the easiest win you can always do is like oh yeah let me take some free just make it paid and immediately all your metrics are green and that does kind of work for 6 months or maybe a year but eventually it stops working.”

The Premium Trap: Locking Free Features Buys 6 Months, Then Kills Growth

Jim Canu names the pattern he saw from the inside at Duolingo: restricting the free experience looks like a win for two quarters, then plateau-then-decline hits as users churn and a competitor fills the vacuum with a generous free tier. The short-term revenue lift is real; the long-term brand erosion is harder to see until it is too late.