How do I create a standard free trial?
ePublishing supports two types of trials.
- Trials that end and are not converted into recurring paid subscriptions.
- Trials that do convert into recurring paid subscriptions.
This article is about scenario 1, a free trial that does not convert to a paid subscription. For this scenario, when the user's trial expires, then the user will not be a subscriber and will not have access to locked down content.If you are interested in scenario 2, then please see How do a I create a trial that converts to an active subscription?
Determine the length of the trial by editing a system setting.
To determine the length of free trials on your site, then update the system setting free.trial.term.
Note: some sites use other system settings to control the duration for a standard free trial. Talk with your Project Manager to determine which system setting is appropriate to edit for your site.
Go to Sys Admin > System Settings. Click Create & Edit.
![](https://media.screensteps.com/image_assets/assets/003/670/204/original/3905225f-925f-4598-af07-6d6db74f1d93.png)
Edit the system setting free.trial.term with a whole, positive integer. The unit is in days, so delineate the number of days. Click save when you are done.
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Note the product ID of the product you want to create a trial for.
You will create a product in the Product Manager that you want used for the free trial. See this article for how to create a subscription product.
When your product is created, then note the product ID.
![](https://media.screensteps.com/image_assets/assets/003/670/208/original/b08c1981-4393-45cb-8e30-91fbd55df58f.png)
Direct Users to /subscriptions/trial/ID
The front-end template users will complete to sign up for a free trial is /subscriptions/trial/ID. The ID is the product ID that the free trial is for.
For example, if you have product 137, which is for a subscription to a publication and you want to create a free trial to that subscription, then direct users to /subscriptions/trial/137. Users simply complete the form and the free trial is automatically created.
![](https://media.screensteps.com/image_assets/assets/003/670/210/original/743d2280-18a4-4ac5-be79-495d11e64e9e.png)