Software
In software development, where the cost of mass production is relatively small, it is common for developers to publish software under free of charge licenses.
One of the early and basic forms of this model is called freeware. Under a freeware license, software is licensed free of charge for regular use and the developer does not gain any monetary compensation.
With the development of the software industry, other license schemes arose similar to limited free products in standard marketing. These licenses offer users limited use, while attempting to recuperate development cost through the full product. Two common examples are shareware and trialware.
With the advent of the free software movement, license schemes were created to give developers more freedom in terms of code sharing. A distinction has to be drawn between "freedom" and "free of charge", where the latter sometimes also can be referred to as "free as in free beer". This distinction is often called Gratis versus Libre.
Free-to-play is a growing business model for video games which offers players the ability to play the game for free, but generates revenue through microtransactions, the purchase of virtual goods with real money.
Read more about this topic: Gratis