Flodesk Free Trial (2026): Length, Card Rules and Real Costs

The Flodesk free trial lasts 14 days and needs no credit card, as listed in October 2026. It gives you access to Flodesk's paid features, including email sending and workflow automations. If you do nothing when it ends, you are not charged: the account drops to the Free plan, your subscriber data stays, and email sending stops. To keep sending, the cheapest paid plan is $25 a month, or $19 a month billed annually, for up to 1,000 active subscribers.

That is a fair, low-risk trial, and for an email tool it is one of the easier ones to try. The harder question for a coach is what comes after it. Flodesk sends beautiful email and sells simple products, but it does not book sessions, hold client records or run a program. This guide covers the trial terms, every plan, the fees, what a coach pays at three sizes, and when something else makes more sense. We make Coachful, so we have a stake in that last part, and we will show you the numbers so you can judge it yourself.

Quick version:

• Length: 14 days.
• Card: not required to start.
• Auto-charge: no card on file, and Flodesk says an account that picks no plan moves to Free.
• After the trial: Lite, Pro or Everything to keep sending, priced by active subscribers.
• Not in any plan: scheduling, client records, a courses portal, community or check-ins.

How long is the Flodesk free trial, and does it need a card?

The trial is 14 days, and no credit card is required. Flodesk states both on its own site ("14 days free, no credit card required"), and its pricing FAQ repeats the card point in several answers.

Flodesk's FAQ says you get the trial "when you sign up", so treat sign-up as the moment the clock starts. That matters more than it sounds. If you create the account on a Tuesday night to look around and your list, your welcome email and your lead magnet are not ready for another ten days, you will have four days of real testing left. Prepare first, then sign up.

A few things are not published on the pages we checked in October 2026, so we will not guess at them:

• Whether Flodesk will extend a trial on request.
• Whether the trial caps the number of subscribers or sends.
• Whether a second trial is possible with a new account.
• Exactly which checkout and sales-page functions can be used live during the trial. The FAQ says "all of Flodesk's paid features" and names email sending, workflow automations and designer templates.

If any of those would change your decision, ask Flodesk support before you start the clock.

What is included in the trial, and how is it different from the Free plan?

The trial is temporary access to the paid features, including sending. The Free plan is permanent access to list-building tools, with no sending. People mix these up because Flodesk offers both, and they do very different jobs.

The Free plan is a real offer, but be clear about what it is. A coach can collect email addresses on it for as long as they like and pay nothing. They cannot email a single one of those people until they pay. MailerLite and Mailchimp work the other way round: a small list, with the ability to send. If you want to compare what is truly free across coaching tools, see our guide to free coaching software.

What happens when the Flodesk free trial ends?

You choose a paid plan, or your account moves to the Free plan automatically. Flodesk says that on the Free plan you keep your forms, landing pages and link-in-bio pages, all subscriber data is preserved, and you can upgrade later to resume sending.

The last row is the one a coach should plan around. Suppose you built a five-email welcome sequence during the trial and new leads are still coming in through a form on your site on day 15. The form keeps collecting, since forms stay on the Free plan, but the sequence is a paid feature and sending has stopped. Those leads may sign up and hear nothing. Flodesk does not describe that exact case, so if you decide not to continue, change the promise on your form ("the guide is on its way") or take the form down before day 14.

What does Flodesk cost once the trial is over?

Paid plans start at $25 a month, or $19 a month billed annually, for up to 1,000 active subscribers, and the price rises with your list. Flodesk retired its old flat-rate plan for new members on December 2, 2025, so anyone starting a trial now is on subscriber-based pricing. Members who subscribed before that date keep the legacy plan for as long as they stay subscribed. All figures below are as listed in October 2026, in US dollars, and Flodesk says pricing is the same worldwide.

The starting price is what the headline shows, but the slider is what you will pay. These are the tiers Flodesk's pricing page listed in October 2026, shown as monthly billing, then annual billing per month:

Pro keeps climbing past that, reaching $1,589 a month on monthly billing at the top of the slider, 255,000 subscribers. Very few coaches will ever see that number, but it shows that the old idea of Flodesk as flat-rate email no longer applies to new members. For the full breakdown, read our Flodesk pricing guide.

What does each paid plan add?

Lite adds sending, Pro adds automation, and Everything adds selling. Here is how that breaks down, and how it should shape what you test in the 14 days.

Lite: email sending with analytics

Lite includes unlimited email sends, designer templates, segmentation and email analytics, for one seat, with a 25,000 subscriber ceiling. Flodesk listed one workflow as a limited-time bonus in October 2026. Do not build your plan around a bonus labelled that way, since it may not be there later.

Look at the gap to Pro before choosing Lite. At the listed tiers Pro costs $3 more on monthly billing at 1,000 subscribers and $7 more at 2,500, 5,000, 10,000 and 25,000. For that you get unlimited workflows. A coach who wants even a welcome sequence and a post-call follow-up has already justified the difference.

Pro: unlimited workflows and a removable footer

Pro adds unlimited workflow automations, advanced analytics, the option to hide the Flodesk footer and a second seat. Flodesk calls it its most popular plan. One checkout was listed as a limited-time bonus in October 2026, which is enough to sell a single offer. For most coaches using Flodesk purely for email, this is the plan to compare against everything else.

Everything: checkouts, sales pages and funnels

Everything adds unlimited checkouts, sales pages and funnels, subscriptions and payment plans, abandoned-cart automations and discount codes, with three seats. This is the plan a coach needs to sell a package on instalments through Flodesk. It is also where the price jumps: $26 more than Pro at 1,000 subscribers, $48 more at 2,500 and $58 more at 10,000, on monthly billing.

Your trial should test the plan you expect to buy. If you test unlimited workflows and then buy Lite, you will be over the limit. Flodesk's pages do not say what happens to extra workflows in that situation, so build only what your intended plan allows, or ask support first.

What fees and add-ons does Flodesk charge beyond the plan price?

Flodesk says it adds no transaction fee on top of Stripe's processing cost, so the main extra cost is processing on what you sell. It is a clean setup compared with platforms that take a percentage, and it deserves credit for that.

• Platform transaction fee: none stated. Flodesk says Checkout carries "no additional platform fee".
• Processing through Stripe Express: 3% + $0.30 in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; 3% + £0.30 in the UK; 3% + €0.30 in Europe. Stripe Standard users pay their own regional Stripe rate.
• Add-ons: a dedicated IP is available on Pro and Everything. The price was not shown on the pages we checked.
• Overages: no sending stop. If your active count passes your tier, Flodesk moves you up a tier at your next billing date, after notices at 90%, 95% and 100% of the limit.
• Seats: 1 on Lite, 2 on Pro, 3 on Everything. A price for extra seats was not published on the pages we checked.
• Integrations and API: included on every paid plan, according to Flodesk.

As an example of processing cost, a $1,000 coaching package paid by card through Stripe Express in the US costs $30.30 in processing. Twelve of those a year is $363.60. Almost any platform that uses a card processor carries a cost of this kind, so count it as a cost of selling rather than a Flodesk cost.

What does a coach actually pay at three sizes?

The plan price is only part of the bill, because Flodesk covers email and simple selling but not delivery. The table below uses three example coaches, with monthly billing for Flodesk, and lists what each would still have to add. List size and client count are illustrative, so swap in your own.

No e-signature or contract feature appears on Flodesk's pricing page, which is why a contract tool is on the list. We have not put a total on the "still needed" column because those tools vary widely, and we would be inventing a number. Do this instead: write down what you currently pay, or what you have been quoted, for scheduling, e-signature, a client portal, course hosting and community. Add those to the Flodesk figure at your list size. That sum is the real comparison.

One more thing the table shows is that Flodesk's bill follows your list, while a coaching business's value follows its clients. A coach with 10,000 subscribers and 15 clients and a coach with 10,000 subscribers and 150 clients pay Flodesk the same. If your list is growing faster than your income, a subscriber-priced tool gets more expensive without the business earning more.

What are the hidden costs and gotchas?

Nothing here is deceptive, and Flodesk publishes its tiers and its overage rule on its pricing page. These are simply the points a coach is most likely to miss during a two-week trial.

• Tier jumps come quickly at the lower end. Lite goes from $32 to $52 once you pass 2,500 subscribers, so one successful lead magnet can add $20 a month from your next bill.
• The move up is automatic. Flodesk moves you up at your next billing date, after notices. You can come back down if your list later drops below the previous tier, but watch those emails.
• Checkout is limited by country. Flodesk Checkout supports businesses in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Euro Area countries. A coach based elsewhere can use Flodesk for email but not for taking payment.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay depend on your Stripe setup. They are listed for Stripe Standard connections. If your buyers expect them, check this when you connect Stripe.
• Bonuses are labelled limited-time. The one workflow on Lite and the one checkout on Pro carry that label on the plan cards in October 2026.
• Downgrades wait for the end of the billing cycle. Upgrades apply immediately. On annual billing, a downgrade could be a long way off, so choose annual only once you are sure of the plan.
• Data export is not documented on the pages we checked. Ask how you would take your subscribers and your history with you before you build on it. We could not confirm the details from those pages.
• Your other tools keep billing. A trial can feel cheap because it covers one job. Your scheduling, contracts and course tools are still on the card.

How should a coach use the 14 days?

Run a real test against real work rather than clicking around the templates. The plan below gets you to a decision by day 14, and you can do the first part before you create the account.

1. Before sign-up: count your active subscribers, write one welcome email, and pick the single offer you want to sell. Note which plan and tier you expect to end up on.
2. Days 1 to 2: create the account, bring in your list, and build one form and one landing page. Check whether the design holds up on your phone.
3. Days 3 to 5: build one welcome workflow and run it on yourself from start to finish. Send one real campaign. Flodesk's design is its main selling point, so judge it on real content rather than a template.
4. Days 6 to 9: if you plan to sell through Flodesk, connect Stripe and run a low-priced test purchase, then refund it. Check the buyer's experience and the receipt. Check that your country is supported first.
5. Days 10 to 12: map the whole client journey on paper, from a lead joining your list through booking, contract, payment, sessions and follow-up. Mark each step Flodesk handles, and each step needing another tool.
6. Days 13 to 14: add up the monthly total, including the other tools, and decide. If you are leaving, update any live form so nobody signs up and hears nothing.

Step five is the most useful one, and it usually decides the question. If most of your steps are email, Flodesk is probably a good fit. If most of them are delivery, you are shopping for a different kind of tool. The same exercise works on any trial, and our guide to coaching software with a free trial lists other tools to try it on.

Is Flodesk worth paying for after the trial?

It is worth paying for if email is the main thing you need and design matters to you. It is less suited to a coach who needs one place to run clients. Public reviewers are broadly positive: Flodesk showed 4.8 on Trustpilot from 321 reviews when last checked on October 25, 2026. For a fuller view, read our Flodesk review.

• Newsletter-led coach with clients handled elsewhere: a good fit. Pro is the natural plan, and unlimited sends mean a frequent newsletter costs no more than a monthly one.
• Coach selling a few low-priced digital products: a reasonable fit on Everything, if you are in a supported country and your list is small. The price gap to Pro grows as the list grows, so keep checking it.
• New coach with no list and no clients: the Free plan can collect names, but you cannot follow up without paying. Your first problem is booking and being paid by your first few clients, so see our page for new coaches before you spend time on list design.
• 1:1 coach running on sessions: Flodesk does not schedule, so you would add a separate tool. Compare it with booking built into the platform.
• Program or group coach: a poor fit as the main system. There are no check-ins, client records or community. See group coaching software.
• Fitness, nutrition or health coach: Flodesk works for marketing email, but it has no way to deliver workouts or log progress. Coachful's Fitness & Nutrition pack covers that delivery. Coaching is not medical treatment, so refer clients with medical concerns to a qualified clinician, and keep clinical records in a clinical system.
• Established coach with a team: three seats is the Flodesk maximum listed, with no price shown for more. See our page for established coaches and team plans.

How does the Flodesk trial compare with the alternatives?

The email tools below all offer a 14-day trial, so the real differences are the card rules and what you can do once it ends. We rank Coachful first here on one measure: how much of the client journey sits behind one login. Prices were as listed in October 2026, at about 1,000 contacts unless noted. For a longer list, see our Flodesk alternatives roundup, and our comparison pages.

MailerLite

MailerLite is the closest like-for-like option with a useful free plan. It offers 14 days of premium features, after which premium features switch off and nothing is deleted, as it says. Unlike Flodesk's Free plan, its Free plan can send: 2,500 emails a month to up to 250 active subscribers. It also includes built-in bookings for 1:1 and group sessions, which Flodesk lacks. See Flodesk vs MailerLite. Pick it over Coachful if you mostly need low-cost email with light booking and you do not run multi-week programs.

Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Kit offers a 14-day trial on Creator and Pro with no card, and its free Newsletter plan goes up to 10,000 subscribers. Creator starts at $39 a month for 1,000 subscribers, which is more than Flodesk Pro at the same size. It is built for newsletter creators, and automations and sequences need a paid plan. See Flodesk vs ConvertKit. Pick it over Coachful if your business is a newsletter and digital products rather than clients.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp's trial is the one with a real catch here, because payment details are required at enrollment and it is offered in select countries. Its Free plan can send, with limits of 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, and it has no automation flows. See our Mailchimp free trial guide and Flodesk vs Mailchimp. Pick it over Coachful if you want a widely known email tool for a very small list and nothing else.

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign has a 14-day trial with no card, plus a 30-day full-refund guarantee on paid plans. It is strongest for segmented email and multi-step automation, though Starter caps each automation at 5 actions, and landing pages start on Plus at $59 a month ($49 billed annually). It has no free plan to fall back on after the trial. See ActiveCampaign vs Flodesk. Pick it over Coachful if complex email automation is the center of your marketing and you are happy to add delivery tools.

Kajabi

Kajabi is a bigger purchase, not a like-for-like email tool, which is why it sits outside the table: Basic is $179 a month or $143 billed annually. Its standard trial is 14 days, a card is optional, and entering one means an authorization hold and a charge on the day the trial ends. Kajabi covers courses, community, website and email, but not habits or daily client check-ins. See Flodesk vs Kajabi. Pick it over Coachful if selling recorded courses is your main business rather than per-client coaching.

Systeme.io also deserves a mention if cost is the only concern. It has no trial clock, since its free plan does not expire, and it covers 2,000 contacts with basic funnels and one course. It has no native 1:1 scheduling with client records, according to our September 2026 profile. See Flodesk vs Systeme.io.

Where does Coachful fit if you outgrow Flodesk?

Coachful fits when email has become one small part of running clients. It is a coaching platform in which one subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant, with one login for you and one branded app for your client.

Who it is for: coaches who deliver programs and not just sessions, solo coaches growing into a small team, and coaches replacing 4 to 6 tools. See our coaching software overview.

What it covers that Flodesk does not:

Each client has one record holding goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, tags, payments and sessions, along with an AI briefing and a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk.

Booking pages include availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection, with two-way Google, Apple and Outlook calendar sync. Sessions can use built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams links. Coaching agreements with e-signature go out before the first call, as described on our contracts page. Payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, with a 0% Coachful platform fee, so you pay only the processor's charges.

Between sessions, clients work through multi-week programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, and morning and evening check-ins, inside your branded home and app.

Email in Coachful, for someone coming from Flodesk

You get email lists, broadcasts and multi-step sequences with triggers, delays, branching and A/B splits, all included in your Coachful membership. The difference is that the email tool sits beside your client records, not in a separate account. Here is a short walkthrough:

Be honest with yourself about design, though. If hand-crafted, editorial-looking email is the heart of your brand, Flodesk's focus on that is real, and you may prefer to keep using it for that job.

Funnels cover booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout paths, with pixels and UTM tracking, and the website builder includes a blog, custom domain and 30 designed homepage templates.

What Coachful does not do: it is not HIPAA-certified and has no BAA, so it is not for clinical record-keeping or insurance billing. It has no PayPal and no permanent free plan. The client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not under your own App Store account. It is not a general website builder for non-coaching sites, and there is no Salesforce or HubSpot integration.

What it costs: flat monthly plans, where lower plans cap the number of clients, the Pro plan has unlimited clients, and team plans add seats. Monthly plans cancel in one click. Current plans: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. On every plan, you can describe what you want built from Create > We'll build it for you: a website, funnel, offer or sales page, program, email sequence, link in bio and more. You can attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files. The Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. Nothing gets invented, so there are no fake credentials, testimonials or prices, and gaps are left for you to fill. It does not include recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing. For example, a leadership coach with a Squarespace renewal days away got one clean homepage with a repeated "talk with me" button. Read more about the free white-glove service.

How to start: begin a free trial, send your build request for the free white-glove service, and have your clients, programs and content imported for you during onboarding. Then run the same client-journey exercise you ran on Flodesk.

How can you save money on Flodesk after the trial?

The biggest savings come from keeping your active list clean and choosing the right plan. Annual billing helps too, but it should come after both of those. Here are the savings from annual billing at the listed monthly rates:

These are worked from the rounded monthly figures on the pricing page. Flodesk's own FAQ quotes a saving of $33 for Pro at 1,000 subscribers and describes annual billing as one month free, so confirm the exact amount at checkout.

• Clean your list before each tier boundary. Flodesk counts only active subscribers. Unsubscribed, bounced and cleaned contacts do not count, and your plan can come back down if your list drops below the previous tier.
• Skip Lite if you want any automation. The gap to Pro is small, as listed, and Pro removes the workflow limit.
• Do not buy Everything for one offer. Pro lists one checkout as a limited-time bonus. If you only need a booking fee or one package, price that option, or a separate payment link, against the Everything jump.
• Stay monthly until you are sure. You can switch between monthly and annual later. Paying annually for a tool you may leave in six months is a poor saving.
• Keep the legacy plan if you have it. If you subscribed before December 2, 2025, Flodesk says you keep flat-rate pricing as long as you stay subscribed. Cancelling would give that up.
• Use the Free plan as a holding pattern. If you are between launches, your forms and landing pages keep working on Free and your data stays. Just remember that nothing can send.
• Count the whole stack. The largest saving may be cancelling three other tools. Check that against Coachful's plans before you commit to an annual email bill.

Flodesk free trial FAQ

How long is the Flodesk free trial?

It lasts 14 days, as listed by Flodesk in October 2026. Flodesk's FAQ says you get it when you sign up, so have your list and first emails ready first. An extension policy is not published on the pages we checked.

Does the Flodesk free trial require a credit card?

No. Flodesk states that no credit card is required to start. Since no card is on file, there is nothing to charge on day 15 unless you choose a plan.

Will Flodesk charge me automatically when the trial ends?

Not according to its own description. If you do not pick a paid plan, the account automatically moves to the Free plan. You pay only if you later choose Lite, Pro or Everything.

Do I lose my subscribers when the trial ends?

Flodesk says all subscriber data is preserved on the Free plan, and that you keep your forms, landing pages and link-in-bio pages. What you lose is the ability to send. How you would export that data is not documented on the pages we checked, so ask Flodesk if you might leave.

Can I send emails on the Flodesk Free plan?

No. The Free plan is for list building, with unlimited forms, landing pages and link-in-bio pages and no subscriber limit. Sending requires a paid plan or the free trial. MailerLite and Mailchimp both have free plans that can send to small lists.

What is the cheapest way to keep Flodesk after the trial?

Lite at up to 1,000 subscribers, at $19 a month billed annually or $25 a month billed monthly. Pro is only slightly more on monthly billing, at $28, and it removes the workflow limit. For most coaches who want any automation, Pro is the better value.

Does Flodesk take a cut of my sales?

Flodesk says it adds no transaction fee on top of Stripe's processing. Through Stripe Express that processing is 3% + $0.30 in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Checkout is available only for businesses in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Euro Area countries.

Can Flodesk replace my coaching software?

No, and it does not claim to. It handles email, forms, landing pages and simple checkout and sales pages. It has no scheduling, client records, courses portal, community or check-ins, so a working coach needs other tools beside it.

Does Coachful have a free trial or a free plan?

Coachful has a free trial but no permanent free plan. Flat monthly plans follow the trial, and you can see them on the plans page. Features are included in your Coachful membership and do not need separate tools.

What is Coachful's free white-glove service?

It is a done-for-you build, available on every plan. You describe what you want, such as a website, funnel, program or email sequence, and attach references, and the Coachful team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. It does not include video recording, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing. Read the full explanation.