First, every site will get a completely different result. Keep in mind that just dropping in a cc requirement into your a sign up process created around frictio

First, every site will get a completely different result. Keep in mind that just dropping in a cc requirement into your a sign up process created around frictionless trials will probably fail. To get a person's payment details, you need to do more work upfront. You can't have 2 second landing page->signup for people who have never heard of you before. They won't give you a CC just to find out what you do. Credit card frost has two big advantages: 1- It's easier to optimize. The conversion process is simpler and more controlled. With a fricitonless trial, improving your process of herding people into a free trial can be like pulling on a string, it gets shorter on the other end. You signed up more unengaged/uninterested people, so your trial->payment rates are lower. Obviously, this is only an advantage if you put a lot of effort into the optimization. 2- It takes advantage of some human psychological tendencies. (a) Once they make the credit card details commitment, they are much more likely to thoroughly try out the app. (2) Entering CC details is like paying for something. They get the positive psychological effect of a purchase. When people buy something they want to justify and reenforce their decision, to themselves and to others. They are yours to lose at this point. If you do a good job on #1, you will have gotten this advantage at a discount, because the friction can be much lower than actually paying. They are yours to lose at this point. There is no canon here. There are lots of advantages and disadvantages to each strategy that apply in different measures to each case.