Trial abuse · 5 min read ·
Trial abuse in SaaS: how people restart free trials forever
Trial abuse is signing up again and again to keep a free trial running. Learn the common tricks and how to stop them without hurting real users.
What trial abuse looks like
A user finishes a 14-day trial, then signs up again with a new email. Repeat that a few times and the product is free forever.
In AI products the trial is often a pack of credits, so every restarted trial costs real model spend.
Common tricks
Gmail dots and plus tags, numbered addresses (marko91, marko92), disposable inboxes, incognito windows or cleared cookies on the same laptop, and VPNs to change the IP.
How to stop it
Normalize the mailbox before checking if it exists. Recognize the device even after cookies are cleared. Limit one free trial per device in a time window. Send borderline cases to review instead of blocking automatically.
Do not make new users enter a card just to stop abuse unless you must; it lowers honest signups too. Silent signals catch most repeat trials with less friction.
See how much farming costs you
Upload past signup emails and Unfarm groups the repeat accounts with a clear reason for each.
Try Unfarm