It's always a nice gesture to let users see paid plans before any money is exchanged.
There are many reasons for this, but the most important one is letting the user test drive your software with no limitations so they can evaluate if their needs will be fulfilled.
Whenever I bump into the financial info hostage model it reminds me of the BS "free 30 day" credit monitoring services or hardship insurance plans the credit card companies always try to trick you into when you activate a credit card. You don't want to be associated with that model. Because the next mental association from there is rape. No, means NO.
There may have been other factors at work, people could have seen this as the catalyst to finally take the plunge after the site had already been active for nearly a year, but the results were fairly compelling. That said, I'm not sure what this would translate to if we made the trial our default offering. Only one way for us to find out...
Having said that, asking for payment info upfront is generally not a good idea when you have a trail period. But then again, if you do not pick it up, you might get some abusers who won't cough up the dough after the trail period is over.
If you would like to do a 'first month free' kind of deal, collect payment/payment information up front, but drop off the cost of one month from the total. Or, allow people to cancel within 30 days for a full refund.
Essentially, I agree with avoiding 'free trials' that want credit card information - I am always afraid that it's going to be a nightmare. But if I know I am signing up to pay, that's a different story. The "being able to cancel within 30 days for a full refund" rings much better to my ears than "30 day free trial with payment details collected up front".
In fact, I hate "trial versions" altogether. I much prefer that either it's free, or it's not.