Trial, Tier, or Actually Free
A trial offers full access that expires. A free tier provides reduced access that continues. A free product has no paid version to serve as a baseline. All three look identical on day one but diverge sharply afterward; the pricing page reveals which one you have.
The term covers three arrangements with different futures. Confusing them is why people build habits around a service that was always going to end.
On this page
A trial is the best version, briefly
Full capability, no meaningful limits, and an end date. The product is showing you what paying gets you. Judging a service during a trial measures the paid product, which is exactly what the trial was designed to do.
A free tier is the inferior version, indefinitely
Reduced in some deliberate way: fewer messages, a smaller model, or a queue behind paying users. It continues, and it is designed to stay slightly frustrating because a free tier that fully satisfies you sells nothing.
Actually free has no paid version
Nothing to upgrade to, so no reason to place a limit where it hurts. This is the rarest arrangement and depends entirely on how the service is funded, which brings you back to the previous question. A page with no pricing link at all is the first sign.
The test that takes 1 minute
Look for a pricing page. If one exists, you are in a trial or a tier, and the difference between those two is whether your access ends on a specific date. If none exists, ask where the money comes from, because it comes from somewhere.
The questions free things deserve
Is a free tier dishonest?
Not at all. It is a legitimate and stable arrangement, and knowing it is a tier stops you from expecting the trial experience.
Do free products stay free?
Some do for years, and some change. The funding source predicts this better than any promise on the page.
What about open models I run myself?
That shifts the cost to your own hardware rather than removing it. It is a fourth arrangement with a different trade-off.
Look for the pricing page here, then decide what free means.
Open the free chat