Free is not a funnel. It’s a leak.
Every free user costs real money. The bet is that they’ll convert or tell someone — most do neither. You pay the bill and hear nothing back. Earnesty turns the leak into a funnel: users refill their credits by posting about your product in public.
Two of the hardest problems in software — distribution and free-tier economics — answered by one mechanic, priced in a unit you already meter.
Why now
Free used to be cheap. AI ended that.
A free user used to cost pennies. Now every prompt burns inference — real money, whether they ever pay or not. And a meaningful share of those prompts are not from prospects at all.
It’s a liability. And you’re not a charity.
On abuse figures: the Stripe numbers we cite are single-vendor, from March 2026, with no published methodology. We treat them as directional, not as proof.
Run the numbers
Add it up. What does it give back?
The idea
Free access in. Word of mouth out.
Meet the earned tier — the free tier with a price that isn’t money. Users pay by posting about your product in public, disclosed. The same access you already give away, now answered with something instead of silence.
A free tier that pays you back
Access you were handing over for nothing now comes back as public posts about your product. Same ledger — finally, something on the other side of it.
Reach with a reason to trust it
Your users post to people who already chose to follow them. That is a warmer room than any audience you could rent — and the post arrives from someone the reader knows, not from you.
You can see what it bought
Every post, and the conversation it drew, next to what it cost you. No guessing whether it worked.
It costs exactly what you decide
You pay in your own credits, not cash, and you set what a post is worth. Nothing here bids your price up.
How it works
Four steps, then it runs itself.
A claim is open
Not a paywall — a standing offer. Post about your product, get credits.
Nobody has to hit zero first, and it is worth the number you set whatever day they post it.
They post & tag
Their own words, with your branded partner tag — like #Acme_Partner.
Their first post links their account. After that, posting is all it takes.
Earnesty verifies it
We confirm the post is real, public, and properly disclosed.
No approval queue, no one reading it, nothing for you to moderate.
Credits land
The amount you set, plus a bonus if the post starts a conversation.
The bonus tracks conversation — replies from real people — not views, likes, or followers.
The dashboard
See the trade, in your own numbers.
One screen puts the posts we verified and the replies they drew next to the credits they cost.
The hard questions
Yes, we thought about that.
Isn’t this just astroturfing?
No. The reward is for the post, not the opinion. Verification never reads what was said — no tone model, no human scoring it — so criticism earns exactly what praise earns. And every post carries the deal inside it. That is disclosed advocacy, not fake reviews.
Can I control what this costs me?
Completely. You set what a post is worth and the ceiling a reply bonus can reach, so your exposure is a number you chose. Above that sits one subscription that never moves with posting volume — we do not charge per post, on any plan.
Is it compliant?
Earnesty verifies the disclosure — the branded partner tag, near the start of the post — before a single credit moves, and we don’t support review platforms at all. Where a platform adds its own layer, like X’s Paid Partnership label, the flow tells users to switch it on and nudges anyone whose post is missing it. We support compliance; your claims and applicable law remain yours.
Isn’t this just a referral tool?
Referral tools pay a bounty for a signup, once. The earned tier rewards the post itself — repeatably, in access you already give away. Clearly-labeled referral campaigns are on the roadmap as Drops, so one system will run both.
Why it beats the alternatives
Repeatable. Paid in participation. Priced in credits you set.
| Model | What it trades | Why the earned tier differs |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Free access, no obligation | Replaces the free tier — access is earned, not handed over |
| Free trial | Time-boxed, then pay or churn | No deadline — access refills with each verified post, as often as you allow |
| Referral programs | One-time reward for new signups | Continuously repeatable, paid in access you already gave away |
| "Pay with a Tweet" | One-time content unlock | Repeatable access to an ongoing product, not a one-time unlock |
| Linear per-view credit | Pays for impressions anyone can buy | Rewards a disclosed post, and the conversation it starts — not the impressions it collects |
Who it’s for
Sharpest where free access has a real cost.
Built for
- AI / credit-based SaaS with a free tier that bleeds inference cost
- Prosumer & creative tools (generators, design, content)
- Anywhere hitting a limit means “time to refill,” not “I’m down”
Not for
- Mission-critical infrastructure (monitoring, payments)
- Anything load-bearing in someone’s business
- Products where losing access is a catastrophe, not an annoyance
Pricing
Priced per earned user, not per seat.
Pay for the users you manage — never for the credits they earn. It starts small enough to be a no-brainer.
Earned
The whole mechanic, running. Post about us when you want more.
Start on the earned tier- 100 earning users — grow it to 500 by posting about us
- You set what a post earns, the cooldown, and the reply bonus
- Verified the moment your user presses check-now or pastes the link
- Grant rewards by webhook or API
- User status page included
How the seats grow
- Post about Earnesty on X, in your own words, carrying
@earnestyappand#Earnesty_Partner. What you say is up to you. - We verify it exactly the way we verify your users’ posts. Same loop, our own dials: today a post earns 10 seats, each reply from a different account adds 1 more, up to 5 a post, and you can earn again 4 days later.
- The seats land in your pool and never leave it. Post your way from 100 to 500, on any plan.
Starter
The unit. Add another whenever you outgrow one.
Get started- 1,000 earning users. Need more? Add another Starter.
- Two Starters carry 2,000; past that, one Growth is cheaper
- Everything in Earned — same dials, same verification
- The nightly sweep: a post nobody checked is found and paid anyway
- One subscription — never priced per post
Growth
For a product that has found its footing.
Get started- 5,000 earning users. Need more? Add another Growth.
- Three Growths carry 15,000; past that, one Scale is cheaper
- Everything in Starter
- Priority support
Scale
For high volume, first in line for what ships next.
Get started- 25,000 earning users. Need more? Add another Scale.
- Four Scales carry 100,000; past that, talk to us
- Everything in Growth
- X today — new platforms reach Scale first
Your free tier has taken enough. Time it gave back.
Turn it on in minutes. Your paid plans never change, and no credits move until a post is verified.
Get started