Memberships
Free trial membership for your films.
How long, what they see, and what happens at the end.
A free trial lets a stranger watch before they pay. Done well, it turns a curious visitor into a paying member who already knows the library is worth it. Done badly, it gives away your best film to people who never come back. This guide covers the decisions that separate the two.
Video hosting for filmmakers · 5 GB free · Paid plans from USD 9/month
By uncompressed.io · Updated October 2026
Short answer
How should a creator run a free trial on a video membership?
Offer a short trial, usually 7 days, on your entry tier, and ask for a card at checkout so the membership turns paid automatically when the trial ends. The trial should be long enough to finish one film and start another, not long enough to watch the whole library. On uncompressed.io trials are set per tier and every payment goes to your own payment account with 0% commission.
- Set the trial per tier, in days
- Card at checkout, first charge when the trial ends
- Members can cancel during the trial and pay nothing
- 7 days suits a film library; 14 days a weekly series
- Put the trial on the entry tier, not the top one
- Measure trial starts against paid conversions
Why trials work
The trial answers one question
before anyone pays
A free trial membership is a period, set in days, during which a new member has full access to a tier without being charged. Its only job is to prove that the library is worth the monthly price.
It removes the risk
A stranger cannot judge a members-only library from a trailer. A trial lets them watch the real thing, on their own TV, before deciding.
It starts a habit
Someone who watches two films in a week has a reason to stay. Continue watching and series order make the second film the obvious next click.
It filters for intent
Asking for a card at checkout keeps out people who were never going to pay, so your conversion rate means something.
A trial does not create demand. If nobody clicks the tier page, a trial will not change that; fix the storefront, the trailer and where you share the link first. A trial helps the people who are already interested but unsure, and those are the people who decide whether your membership grows.
Length
How long to make it
by what you publish
Match the trial to the time it takes to watch one complete thing. These are starting points, not rules; test one change at a time.
Suggestions based on viewing time, not on a published study. Your own trial-to-paid rate in the analytics hub is the number to trust.
The last day
What happens next
when the trial ends
Checkout
The member picks a tier, monthly or yearly, and adds a card on your own payment account. Nothing is charged yet.
During the trial
They watch every collection the tier opens, with continue watching and their watchlist, on the web or your branded apps.
Cancel any time
If they cancel before the last day, access ends with the trial and no charge is made.
Trial ends
The membership becomes paid at the tier price. The first charge lands in your account; uncompressed.io takes no share.
After that
Renewals continue monthly or yearly until the member cancels. Refunds and free access are handled from your earnings page.
Be plain about the charge
The arithmetic
What a conversion rate is worth
from 200 trial starts
A worked example with a USD 8 a month tier and 200 trial starts in a month. The rates are illustrations, not benchmarks.
USD 320
New monthly revenue at 20% conversion
40 paying members, 0% commission
USD 560
New monthly revenue at 35% conversion
70 paying members, 0% commission
USD 800
New monthly revenue at 50% conversion
100 paying members, 0% commission
Every point of conversion is worth the same as a point of new traffic, and it is usually cheaper to win. Read the journey funnel in the analytics hub: shop visits, tier page views, trial starts, paid conversions. If many people start a trial and few convert, the library or the first film is the problem. If few start, the tier page or the price is.
Members watch within your plan's monthly viewing hours (Lite 1,000, Pro 5,000, Max 15,000, Studio 25,000). A generous trial adds viewing; above the allowance playback never pauses and an extra block is added.
Trials sit inside the whole membership toolkit
Read from the live price list. Verified 2026-10.
| Commission on sales | 0 percent, at any volume. Buyers pay into your own payment account; your card processor's fee applies. |
|---|---|
| What you can sell | Purchases (stream forever), downloads, rentals with a viewing window, memberships with monthly or yearly tiers, bundles and series. |
| Member tools | Free trials per tier, coupon codes, gift memberships, refunds and free access from your earnings page. |
| Your storefront | A shop under your name at yourname.uncompressed.io/on-demand, or on your own domain. Buyers need no account. |
| Picture quality | Films stream as you exported them: no re-encode of video or audio, with an optional lighter copy for slow connections. |
| Viewing hours included | Lite 1,000, Pro 5,000, Max 15,000, Studio 25,000 hours a month, then USD 29 per extra 20,000-hour block. Playback never pauses. |
| Plans | Starter free (5 GB, one film at a time); Lite USD 9, Pro USD 39, Max USD 99, Studio USD 219 a month; yearly is one month free. |
| Leak Shield (optional) | Every buyer gets their own invisibly marked copy; the open web and torrent indexes are searched; a confirmed leak names and blocks the buyer and sends the takedown. USD 99 a month or USD 1,188 a year, any paid plan. |
| Inclusion window | The streaming platform is included with every paid plan for members who switch it on before 31 December 2026, and stays included for them afterwards; after that date new activations add USD 39 a month. |
Plans and add-ons: pricing. The whole cluster starts at the creator platform guide.
When not to
When a trial is the wrong tool
and what to do instead
Your library is one film
A trial on a single feature gives the whole thing away. Sell it as a purchase or rental with a free preview cut instead.
Your audience already pays you elsewhere
Moving existing supporters? A coupon for the first month or a gift from you to your longest supporters works better than a trial they do not need.
The streaming platform is included with every paid plan for members who switch it on before 31 December 2026, and stays included for them afterwards; after that date new activations add USD 39 a month.
Questions
Frequently asked
How long should a free trial membership be?
Long enough to watch one complete thing and start a second. For a library of feature films, 7 days is a common choice; for short episodes, 3 to 7 days is enough; for a slow-release series, 14 days lets a viewer see a new episode arrive. Longer trials rarely convert better, they only delay the first payment.
Do members need a card to start a free trial?
On uncompressed.io, yes. The member adds a card at checkout on your own payment account, is not charged during the trial, and is charged the tier price when the trial ends unless they cancel first.
What happens when the free trial ends?
The membership turns into a paid one at the tier's price, monthly or yearly as the member chose. If they cancelled during the trial, access ends with the trial and nothing is charged.
Can I offer a free trial on one tier only?
Yes. Trials are set per tier. Many creators put a trial on the entry tier and none on the top tier, so the top tier stays a considered purchase.
Is a free trial better than a first-month coupon?
A trial removes the risk entirely and works best for viewers who do not know you yet. A coupon for a lower first month works better for an audience that already follows you, because everyone who uses it has paid something. You can run both: a trial on the shop, and a coupon in your newsletter or social posts.
Does Patreon or YouTube offer free trials?
This page does not compare competitor trial rules, because those details live on help pages we could not verify today. Check each platform's own help center before you decide.
Add a free trial to any membership tier.
Trials, coupons and gift memberships come with the streaming platform on every paid plan (Lite USD 9, Pro USD 39, Max USD 99, Studio USD 219 a month), with 0% commission on what members pay.
Sources
- 1.Free trials, coupons and gift memberships, uncompressed.io pricing (read 12 October 2026)