Product-led growth (PLG) is a go-to-market strategy where the product itself drives acquisition, conversion, and retention, rather than a sales or marketing team. Users try the product, get value from it, and upgrade on their own, often without ever talking to anyone on your team.
The three mechanics behind PLG are freemium (let people use the core product for free), self-serve onboarding (no demo required to get started), and viral loops (collaboration or sharing built into the product so users bring in others naturally).
PLG shifts what your whole company optimizes for. Marketing focuses on signups and activation. Engineering cares about time-to-value. Support keeps free users around long enough to convert.
It only works if the free experience demonstrates real value. A free tier that's too limited isn't PLG, it's a frustrating trial.
PLG also changes your growth economics. You're betting on product quality and signup volume instead of outbound sales. That's a deliberate tradeoff. If you're exploring a free plan for your product, you're already thinking in PLG terms.