Paywalled vs. Free Articles: The Medium Experiment (Longform Version)

Paywalled vs. Free Articles: The Medium Experiment

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been conducting an experiment on Medium to determine whether paywalled articles or free articles perform better. With Medium’s earnings recently taking a nosedive, it felt like the right time to investigate if offering content for free might actually yield better results in the long run.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

Why This Experiment?

Not long ago, Medium earnings were solid. A single article could generate £100, sometimes even £200. But things have changed. Nowadays, I’m observing earnings more in the £11 range for similarly performing articles. For instance, what used to bring in £8 from a few hundred reads now earns a fraction of that—closer to £0.03 per read. Ouch.

That’s when the idea struck: what if I ceased paywalling articles altogether?

Would free content drive more engagement, more clicks to my Substack newsletter, and ultimately, more growth?

The Data So Far

I’ve been meticulously tracking performance across both paywalled and free articles. Let’s dive into the numbers:

Conversion Rates (Views to Reads):

Paywalled articles: 58-61%.

Free articles: 57-59%.

Nearly identical.

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Newsletter Clicks:

Paywalled articles: Steady but moderate growth, with weekly clicks increasing from 15 to 19.

Free articles: Outperforming paywalled content in newsletter clicks despite receiving fewer overall reads.

Subscriber Growth:

Since commencing this experiment on January 7th, I’ve added 50 new subscribers in just 9 days.

That’s approximately five new subscribers a day on average, with some days spiking as high as 22.

What’s Working?

Free articles are proving surprisingly effective at driving clicks to my newsletter.

While paywalled content still brings in a slight edge on reads, the difference isn’t dramatic.

What stands out is the engagement that free articles are generating—people are clicking through to my Substack more consistently.

The Bigger Picture

This isn’t solely about Medium earnings (although they are a significant factor). It’s about the bigger picture: building an audience. The free articles are assisting me in attracting new readers, growing my newsletter, and testing which types of content resonate most. If the goal is to draw people into a larger ecosystem (like Substack), free content might just be the way to go.

Next Steps

The experiment will continue for another two weeks, by which point I’ll have 19 articles—a mix of free and paywalled.

That will provide me with enough data to make informed decisions:

If free content continues to drive subscribers, I might shift focus entirely.

If earnings don’t improve, there’s little point in sticking to paywalls for their own sake.

Ultimately, it’s about finding what’s sustainable—whether that’s £50 for a month of coffee or (fingers crossed) returning to £300/month like the good old days.

What Do You Think?

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