Product-Led Growth (PLG)
Product-led growth (PLG) is a go-to-market motion where the product itself, through free trials, freemium plans or self-serve signup, drives customer acquisition, adoption and expansion.
Also called: PLG, PLG motion
Why it matters
In a PLG motion, users try the product before talking to sales. That lowers the cost of acquiring small customers and creates a stream of usage data: who signed up, which features they used, how many teammates they invited. Sales teams use those signals to find accounts ready for a paid or larger plan, an approach often called product-led sales.
PLG differs from a sales-led motion, where buyers usually see a demo and negotiate before using the product. Many B2B companies run both: self-serve for small teams and a sales team for larger accounts. PLG is measured by activation, conversion from free to paid, and expansion, not by meetings booked.
Example
A project management tool offers a free plan for up to five users. When three people from the same company sign up and one invites a dozen colleagues in a week, the system flags the account. An account executive then contacts the team lead to offer a company-wide plan with admin controls and single sign-on.
Turn the definition into a working system.
We build the GTM Engineering systems behind terms like this one. Tell us where your pipeline breaks and we will show you what we would fix first.
