The Rise of Free SaaS Tools as Lead Magnets (& How Marketers Can Take Advantage)

As Wiz’s head of marketing Tom Orbach says, “Mini tools are 10 times more powerful than free trials.“

For the past 20 years, technology retailers have been giving away eBooks and PDFs. I think Orbach would agree that this era is coming to an end.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, no coding, and no outsourcing, the smartest tech marketers are now giving away mini software tools… absolutely free.

This is something I like to call “free tools marketing”.

Here’s how it works.

What is a free marketing tool?

In MBA parlance, free tools are called “loser leaders.” Loss is a free mini product that encourages customers to buy a larger product.

For a perfume company, it could be a free perfume sample at the mall. For my hometown gas station, Wawa, it was free coffee every Tuesday in 2024. Now, in tech, the norm is to give away free tools to get paid ones.

But how do you figure out which mini tool(s) to create?

There are two main ways:

1. Look for low weight, high volume keywords.

The goal is to drive some traffic that might be interested in your paid software.

You won’t rank for the top keyword in your niche overnight, but mini tools are like small bets. Each mini tool gives you a better chance to rank higher for your most important keywords.

Use tools like Ahrefs find keywords that are low weight keywords with KD around 0-5 with as much volume as possible. Even just 1000 searches per month is a good start.

For example, the keyword ‘social media manager jobs‘ has keyword difficulty of 0 and 7200 searches per month. If you’re an AI resume writer or a recruiting platform like Indeed, you could make a free AI resume writer especially for social media managers looking for work.

Here’s another example: the keyword ‘Instagram giveaway template‘ is struggling with a 5 keyword and 500 searches per month.

If you’re an image creation platform like Canva or an ad agency that helps brands with Instagram giveaways, you can create a free AI template generator for Instagram giveaways using something like OpenAI’s DALL-E model or The middle of the trip.

2. Look for features in your product that could be free tools.

Do you have existing features that could be free tools?

For example, if you’re a personal finance app, maybe it’s a compound interest calculator. Or if you’re into video editing software, maybe it’s a free video resizer. The possibilities are endless.

For advice: Obviously, don’t give away all the secrets of your software. But in most cases, you’ll be able to find at least one feature that you can offer free of charge.

How does this look in practice?

Let’s take me as an example.

I run a meme marketing software called Memelord Technologies.

Late one night, I couldn’t sleep. So I did a little keyword research on Ahrefs and saw that the keyword “memes png‘ was light weight and high volume (0 keyword difficulty and 4000 searches per month!).

I already made an AI background remover for memes, so I took that feature and ran a Free Meme PNG Maker It’s the exact same feature – just given away for free.

And of course, I pay some API fees every time someone uses the tool, but I’m already seeing free signups (and no promotion!).

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Here is another personal example.

I also saw that keyword ‘marketing meme’ it was low in keyword difficulty and relatively high in search volume (2 keyword difficulties and 1200 searches per month).

So what did I do? I’ve created a tool for marketers to get meme inspiration: a basic, no-code, searchable and filterable gallery marketing memes examples.

Like the creator of the PNG meme, I’m already seeing submissions through this free tool using just pure SEO — no promotion needed.

But I’m not the only example out there.

Newsletter platform Beehiiv launched a free LTV calculator to calculate the long-term value of your subscribers. HubSpot has a free AI search ranking tool which helps you evaluate your brand’s performance in AI search results. Wiz is running free QR code generator.

And I have good news: You don’t have to be a VC-backed company or a big brand to make free tools.

How marketers can get started

I’m a beginner, no-nonsense founder building free tools, and I first learned about this marketing tactic when I was a growth manager at Product Hunt.

I saw these crazy solo founders and realized that you don’t need a million dollar budget to make free software anymore. (In fact, it may even be easier for solo hackers and startups because there’s less oversight, little to no red tape, and minimal need to prove a definitive ROI.)

Marc Lou is one such solo software founder and a big proponent of free tools.

“I’m a developer and I love making apps,” he explains. “But I also need marketing to pay the bills. Free marketing tools are a symbiosis. It consists of launching free and viral mini-apps to promote your main launch.”

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Lou recommends the following guidelines for best results:

1. The tool must be free — that’s how you create a viral loop.
2. One characteristic is enough. It has to be super simple.
3. The name should tell exactly what the tool does. This is how people remember and search on Google.
4. The experience must start on the home page. Visitors should not log in or click on links.

Matt Merrick is another solo hacker who builds free tools.

“I’ve made over 100 free tools over the years. And every time I’m surprised at how well they do,” Matt told me via DM on Xu.

“The process is simple: I start with a keyword related to the page I’m working on (like ‘color’) and ask ChatGPT for ideas for free tools around that. I only target keywords with low competition and high search volume to rank quickly and drive traffic.

Free tools naturally attract views, backlinks and domain authority. My page Niche tools it has 20+ free tools on it and is starting to rank bringing in free sales.”

Merrick has dedicated his entire career to free tool marketing.

Why?

Because we are entering the era of free marketing tools.

Free e-books are so in 2010. The 2020s and beyond are all about free software.

So let me ask you: what free tools can you build?

Think about that for a moment. Take a minute to review your product for free feature ideas. Go to Ahrefs keyword generator (another free tool) for search optimization.

Then, grab a Red Bull, build some free tools, and get started!