How free accounts and free tiers work, and how to use them to grow your community
On top of paid memberships, you can offer a free account option for fans who are not yet ready to commit to a recurring monthly charge but still want to stay connected and receive updates from their favorite creator.
Free account users:
Receive updates on newly released public posts (posts marked as viewable by Everyone)
Can interact with public posts through likes and comments
See members-only posts in a locked state on their feed to encourage them to upgrade to a paid membership
Benefits of offering free membership accounts
- Community growth – You can dramatically increase the pace of community growth by offering a free option for fans who want a sneak peek or are not yet ready to commit to paid membership. Using tools like members-only posts and direct messages, you can nurture and convert them into paying members.
- Greater reach and engagement – With more supporters signed up, your public posts reach a wider audience, enabling stronger engagement and more direct interaction within your own community space.
- Win former members back – When a paid member cancels their subscription, they automatically become a free account. You can continue engaging them with public posts and preview gated content to re-engage and convert them back into paid members.
How do I offer free accounts?
Free accounts exist as part of Fourthwall’s universal account system. For example:
Former paid members automatically become free accounts
Supporters who begin checkout but do not complete payment end up with a free account
This makes free account creation really easy for supporters.
Promote free account sign-ups
To control how free accounts are promoted:
Go to Memberships > Settings.
Enable "Show free account signup link" under Free account visibility.
Note: If you enabled Memberships:
- After April 23, 2024 – This option is enabled automatically
- Before April 23, 2024 – You must toggle it manually
Once enabled, a “Start with a free account” link appears above your tiers across multiple locations, including:
Tiers section
Become a member page
When supporters click Start with a free account, they are taken directly to a free account signup form.
How do I create a free tier?
If you want to promote free access even more prominently, you can create a free membership tier.
Note: Creating a free tier automatically disables the free account signup link.
Steps
Go to Memberships > Perks & tiers.
Click Create a new tier and set the price to $0.00.
After setting a tier to $0, you’ll see this message:
All free accounts will be automatically assigned to this free tier.
This happens because free-tier members and free accounts are the same group of supporters.
Assigning perks
Once created, you can assign perks just like any other tier.
Currently, only custom perks are supported for free tiers. Advanced perks (Discord access, exclusive discounts, etc.) are reserved for paid tiers.
After setup, your free tier will appear alongside your paid tiers on pricing and membership pages.
Note: When a free tier is active, the "Start with a free account" sign-up link is hidden since only one free entry point can be displayed at a time. If you delete your free tier, the sign-up link can be re-enabled.
Benefits of free accounts
Free account holders receive:
Access to public posts – They can fully access posts marked as viewable by Everyone and receive both email and push notifications when new public posts are published.
Likes and comments – They can interact with public posts by leaving comments and reacting with likes.
Upgrade prompts – They can upgrade to a paid membership anytime via locked posts or the "Upgrade now" button in their feed.
Free accounts don’t have access to members-only posts or direct messages that are reserved for paid members only.
What kind of content can I post for free?
Your imagination is the limit! Since public posts allow you to engage with free accounts, you can use them to post simple updates in the form of a newsletter, share information about your new merch drop and promos, ask for new products or content ideas with a poll post, or many other types of posts!
Free accounts analytics
To view your free account metrics, go to Analytics and click the Memberships tab. You’ll see the dedicated "Free accounts" chart.
You can click Full report to access a detailed view. From there, you can click the dropdown on the chart to filter it by:
- Free sign-ups
- Upgraded to paid
- Downgraded to free
- Change (in the number of free accounts)
These insights will help you understand fluctuations better. For instance, drops indicate that free accounts have been upgraded to paid memberships.
Can I disable free accounts?
You can hide the promotion of free accounts, but existing free accounts will continue to exist since former members automatically convert into free accounts.
To disable promotion:
Go to Memberships > Settings.
Select Hide free account signup link.
FAQs
Can free accounts access my members-only posts?
No. They will see locked previews and be prompted to upgrade to access the content.
Can I assign perks to free accounts?
Yes. See How do I create a free tier? above.
Can free accounts unsubscribe from notifications?
Yes. Free accounts can unsubscribe via:
Their Profile settings
The Unsubscribe link in notification emails
I disabled the promotion of free accounts, but new ones still appear. Why?
This can happen when:
Someone accesses a direct free signup link
Someone stops at checkout at the account creation step
Former members cancel paid subscriptions