The 2 week trial is decent, but eventually you'll want to upgrade to a full account (trial account has certain, minor, limitations).

However, you can't jump straight from a trial account to a 3/6/12 month account. You have to purchase the first month for $20, wait a day, then switch your subscription type to the 3/6/12 month option. After which, you'll be billed on a 3-month / 6-month / 12-month schedule once the first month's fee runs out.

So, depending on how you look at it. The retail cost for the Eve client is around $6. That's compared to EQ/EQ2 where you'd pay $40 for the game then another $30 for each expansion. Eve's expansions are all free (so far), so the only cost is the recurring subscription fee.