Are Skillry's free Agent Skills different from paid ones?

Yes — but the difference is narrower than "free = demo, paid = real." Skillry's Free Agent Skills section states that you can "Install one, run it end to end, keep what it makes. No card, no trial timer." So a free Skill is a complete, installable workflow, not a preview. The practical difference is which Skills are free versus paid, and how many installs each has accumulated — not whether free ones actually work.

What the page actually shows

Skillry organizes Skills by output type: Web, Image, Slides, and Video. Each card shows an install count and a "+6" marker, which the page pairs with "Works with +6" and "And more supported agents" — meaning a single Skill is written to run across multiple agents (the site names Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor).

Free Skills appear across every category, not just one:

Paid Skills sit in the same categories and the same featured/trending rows — for example, "Collage Creative Portfolio" (Web), "Procreate Style OG Image" (Image), "Starlit Deck" (Slides), and "Pain-Gag Reveal Launch Film" (Video). They are not segregated into a separate tier of the catalog.

The real differences to weigh

1. Selection, not capability. Free Skills are a subset of the catalog. The featured and trending lists mix free and paid items, so the free section is a curated slice rather than a separate product line.

2. Install counts are visible on both. Free Skills show real install numbers (up to 11 in the excerpt), which lets you judge popularity the same way you would for paid ones. A free Skill with 11 installs is a stronger signal than a paid Skill with 1.

3. Commercial-use terms aren't stated on the page. The excerpt does not describe licensing, redistribution, or commercial-use rights for either free or paid Skills. If you need to ship client work, check the individual Skill page or the Pricing page before assuming free means unrestricted.

4. Pricing details aren't in the excerpt. The site has a Pricing link, but no prices, tiers, or payment platforms appear in the provided content. Don't assume free Skills come with a paid upsell requirement — and don't assume paid Skills are cheap either. Read the Pricing page directly.

How to decide

Start with free Skills if any of these apply:

• You want to test whether a Skill installs and runs cleanly in your agent (Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor) before spending anything.
• Your task matches an existing free Skill — e.g., you need a capability reel, an editable deck, or a chart-style web page.
• You want to keep the output and evaluate quality on a real project, since the page says free Skills run end to end and you keep what they make.

Move to paid Skills when:

• The specific Skill you need (a particular deck style, launch film, or landing page aesthetic) only exists in the paid set.
• You've already validated the workflow with a free Skill and want a broader or more specialized variant.

What to verify before installing

The page doesn't spell out the install command or file structure in the excerpt, but the source description references "reusable SKILL.md workflows." Before you commit:

1. Open the individual Skill page and confirm which agents it lists under "+6."
2. Check whether the Skill's output format matches your target (a Slides Skill produces a deck, not a video).
3. For anything client-facing, confirm usage terms on the Skill page or Pricing page — the free/paid split on the homepage doesn't tell you that.

The short version: free Skills on Skillry are full workflows you can run and keep, and they cover all four output categories. The paid ones aren't a different class of product — they're additional entries in the same catalog. Try a free Skill that matches your task first; if it installs cleanly and the output fits, you've answered the question without paying.