The danger in the freemium business model is understanding just what features are worth paying for and which ones are not.
About 12 years ago there was a circuit-board layout program (PADS-PCB) that followed this model. The paid version started at about $900 (and went up to about $5,000 IIRC depending on features you wanted) and the free version was limited to small circuit boards and 70 components. I downloaded the free version to use in my "basement business" and never needed to upgrade: 70 components was plenty for me. Talking to a salesperson a few years later, I found out that the company lost money hand-over-foot because only relatively few companies needed to build boards larger than the freeware version could handle: the market was changing and electronic component integration was increasing so a single part could now do what a couple years before would have required 5-10 parts. Most of the companies that were happy with the free version would have had no problem paying the $900 had the free version not been available. The software was excellent and even the free version would have been worth the $900, but obviously if it did what you needed, there was no reason to pay.
About 12 years ago there was a circuit-board layout program (PADS-PCB) that followed this model. The paid version started at about $900 (and went up to about $5,000 IIRC depending on features you wanted) and the free version was limited to small circuit boards and 70 components. I downloaded the free version to use in my "basement business" and never needed to upgrade: 70 components was plenty for me. Talking to a salesperson a few years later, I found out that the company lost money hand-over-foot because only relatively few companies needed to build boards larger than the freeware version could handle: the market was changing and electronic component integration was increasing so a single part could now do what a couple years before would have required 5-10 parts. Most of the companies that were happy with the free version would have had no problem paying the $900 had the free version not been available. The software was excellent and even the free version would have been worth the $900, but obviously if it did what you needed, there was no reason to pay.