People sign up to my app but nobody pays. Why?

Written by Dante, who built Prep66, PrepAMT and Ancestorii

Because a signup only shows that someone clicked a free button. Until money follows it, a signup is a cost. On Prep66, not one of 31 free accounts ever went from the free plan to the checkout page, so the free plan was removed on 5 September 2026. Eight hours after the email announcing that, someone who had abandoned checkout that morning came back and paid. Ancestorii reached 125 signups during its rebuild, on about £4 a day of ads. It has 177 signups today, and has never had a paying customer.

Count the two numbers that matter

Only two numbers tell you anything: the first step that shows a stranger wants the product, and the money. Put what each one cost you next to it. On a product people sign up for, the first step is the signup, and it only counts if a payment follows it within a reasonable time.

Ancestorii's founder kept spending because signups kept coming. After the rebuild the site had 125 of them, from about £4 a day of Meta ads bringing around four signups a day, and still no paying customer. That was not progress. It was 125 people who had cost money and paid nothing.

What Prep66's free plan showed

Prep66's first three paying customers all paid within minutes of landing on the page, before they had touched the product. The free accounts told a different story. Of 31 free users, not one ever went from using the free plan to the checkout page. The daily limit on free use never led to a single purchase. It just ended the session.

So on 5 September 2026 the free plan was removed. Signing up stayed free, so people could look inside, but nothing could be used until they paid. The plans were split by how much you get, not by features: one module for £9.99 a month, or all of them for £19.99. An email announcing the change went to every account. Eight hours later, the first one module sale came from someone who had abandoned checkout at £19.99 that morning.

The lesson is not that free never works. It is to decide your free plan from what your free users actually do, and to test it rather than assume it.

Painkiller or vitamin

People pay for a painkiller: something they need today. A vitamin is nice to have. On Ancestorii, people said the product was meaningful, important and beautiful. Nobody said they needed it right now. "This is nice, I'll come back to it later" means later never comes.

Ask not only whether the problem hurts, but when it bites. A nice to have can still sell at the moment it bites: a birthday, a death, a move, an audit. Will it sell has the six things that decide it.

What to measure from today

Signups and payments, each by where the person came from.
What each source cost you, next to both.
How long it took from signup to payment, for the people who did pay.
What free users actually do before they stop coming back.

From 27 August 2026, Prep66 recorded where every signup came from. That record, not a feeling, is what showed which channels were worth the time.

Questions people ask

Should I remove my free plan?

Decide from your numbers, not from a rule of thumb. Look at what a free user costs you and what free users actually do. If signups climb and nobody pays, the free plan is not doing its job. Prep66 removed its free plan on 5 September 2026, after not one of 31 free users had ever paid, and kept signing up free so people could look inside.

What percentage of signups should become paying customers?

There is no honest general number. By 18 September 2026, Prep66 had 8 paying subscribers out of 78 users, on one product where every buyer had an exam date. Your own numbers, by source, are the only answer.

Is a free trial better than a free plan?

Nothing in Prep66's records settles it. It tested a free plan and never ran a trial. Neither is right by default. Test it, and compare paying customers and money per visitor, not the conversion rate alone. Some products have to be used before people believe in them. Others are bought on the page before anyone touches them, as Prep66 was.

Why do people sign up and never come back?

Usually because nothing made them need it that day. A product people are glad exists but can live without gets signups and no payments. Find the moment the need bites, and be there then.