|
|
A new era of Freemius has begun. Not just a fresh coat of paint or a superficial reskin, but a complete reimagination of the platform and how we support software makers.
With polished, expressive new branding, a product-first website, and a radically refreshed dashboard, we’re putting software makers like you at the heart of everything we do. This evolution wasn’t built in isolation — it was shaped by our community and fueled by feedback.
And this is just the beginning…
Here’s what’s been revolutionized:
New Branding Ties Together a Product-Led Website and Reimagined Dashboard
What started as a visual refresh quickly became something bigger — a full-scale rebrand that reshapes how we present our product and engage with our makers.
From the website to the dashboard, every pixel aligns with our mission: Making software sales simpler and smarter to give makers full control over their products and business.
Website v2: A Maker-Centric Redesign That Spotlights the Product
While our legacy website told a compelling story about the value, features, and benefits of Freemius, it ironically kept the product itself in the background.
Obvious in hindsight, sure, but even the most glaring things can go unnoticed when you’ve been deep in the trenches for over a decade.
The redesign puts the product and makers front and center with a clean, vivid aesthetic that strikes the right balance of energy and elegance, letting the visuals, animations, and real-world stories speak for themselves.
With so much to communicate, we moved beyond static pages to incorporate custom animations and interactive elements to make the content more engaging, dynamic, and easier to digest.
The rebrand is an ongoing process, and we’re working to propagate the new design across our entire digital presence. Keep an eye out for an upcoming article where we explore the reasoning behind our design choices and reveal the message behind our new logo.
From Functional to Exceptional: The Freemius Developer Dashboard is Your Centralized Command Center
What started as a functional interface has transformed into a refined, intuitive command center. A space where software businesses can operate efficiently, without friction.
We’ve taken major steps over the last few years to prepare the way:
- 2022: Granular, real-time analytics and multi-store support were added, making it easier than ever to track business performance. Read more
- 2023: Upgraded to a sleeker, more modern design that introduced a much-requested dark mode option:
📣 A new look just in time for #WCAsia 🖌️🎨
A long-standing promise to our partners has been pushed from the pipeline & into reality 💥 We are excited to share that we’ve deployed our reskinned Developer Dashboard. Feedback is welcome (make sure to read the whole 🧵 first 😉) pic.twitter.com/c6zxecbfuB
— Freemius (@freemius) February 13, 2023
- 2024: As part of our full-scale rebrand, we completely reinvented the dashboard’s aesthetics — putting the product at the forefront and prioritizing developer experience (DX) above all else. More on this transformation
The clean new look strips away unnecessary clutter. It’s a tasteful balance of classic and contemporary, enhanced by custom fonts, icons, and brand colors that tie into our new visual identity seamlessly.
This time, we ensured it was a fully integrated part of our rebrand, telling the same cohesive visual story from top to bottom.
As excited as we were, we did not rush the process.
Every component, every screen was meticulously crafted in Figma, undergoing a full-blown redesign process with feedback from product, brand, and engineering teams before we even touched a line of code.
The Developer Dashboard is the command center of your business. It’s where makers spend the most time, so we’ve always invested heavily in expanding its capabilities.
Over time, however, we realized that great functionality isn’t enough; a frictionless, visually intuitive experience is just as important.
Think of it like your workspace. A cluttered, chaotic yet functional desk might get the job done, but a well-organized, tidy workspace makes deep focus easier and boosts overall productivity. Not to mention it just makes working and building that much more enjoyable.
The dashboard revamp delivers in all areas:
A more intuitive experience with fewer distractions:
Easier navigation:
Improved accessibility and color contrast:
Visual emphasis on key areas:
Smarter menus:
Better search functionality:
Refined microcopy:
Faster loading times:
In the Spotlight: The Dashboard’s Overhauled Navigation Menu
The navigation menu is now more adaptable than ever. You can resize it for large displays or hide it completely for a full-screen, distraction-free view:
Coming Soon (to a Dashboard Near You)
The Freemius Developer Dashboard already works well on mobile, but we’re taking it further by bringing a true mobile app experience to make navigation and actions even more seamless:
Global Create Button: Soon, you’ll be able to add new resources from anywhere with a single click. Whether it’s a new store, product, plan, license, or team member, the process will be faster and more intuitive.
Affiliate Platform Improvements: More Control, More Transparency
As we refine the dashboard experience, we’re also rolling out key improvements to the Affiliate Platform to optimize payout management and performance tracking.
✅ New event callout for pending affiliate balances
Our Affiliate Platform automatically tracks links and calculates payouts every month. Makers already receive email notifications when payouts are due, ensuring timely rewards for affiliates.
Now, we’re enhancing the system with a new webhook: affiliate.payout.pending. Each month, the webhook is triggered when payouts are calculated, allowing you to:
- Automate payment flows within your system
- Notify your accounting team for seamless processing
✅ Affiliate list export for more flexibility
As part of our Data Liberation Project, makers can now download their affiliates’ collection directly from their Developer Dashboards. The new export feature under the Affiliate Program → Affiliates tab means you can easily access and manage this data.
This update caps off our Data Liberation Project, strengthening our commitment to data portability and giving you full control over key business data.
Missed earlier updates? Check out this blog post to learn more.
Invoice Redesign Marks the Beginning of #Build-With-Us
Our Checkout redesign was a huge success thanks to the open, constructive collaboration between the Freemius team and our makers’ community. An active feedback loop helped us fine-tune every detail, resulting in a sleek, high-converting checkout experience that drives more sales. Read more about it here.
We’re taking that same community-driven approach to invoices (and beyond). Makers can soon expect a sleeker, more user-friendly invoice with improved clarity and polish, shaped by community feedback.
The Future of Freemius Is Built With You
This rebrand is our commitment to continuous evolution, maker-first experiences, and collaborative innovation.
From the Checkout redesign to the upcoming invoice refresh, we’ve seen firsthand how working with our makers leads to significant improvements. That’s why we’re making it official: with our new #Build-With-Us Slack channel, we’re giving our community a space to help shape the future of Freemius.
Join the conversation, inform the new updates, and let’s continue building something amazing together.
