Paywall best practices for indie apps
October 1, 2026 · 7 min read
The paywall is the screen that decides most of a subscription app's revenue, and the screen most often named in one-star reviews. A good one is clear about what the user gets, when they pay, and how much — and it appears when the user already wants what is behind it.
In short
- A hard paywall turns more installs into trials; a soft one brings more users, ratings and word of mouth.
- Show it after onboarding or at the moment of need — never before the user knows what the app does.
- State the price, billing period and first charge date plainly.
- Hidden prices and surprise charges become one-star reviews.
On this page5 sections
01Hard or soft
A hard paywall blocks the app until the user pays or starts a trial. A soft paywall lets people use part of the app for free and asks later. Hard paywalls convert a higher share of installs to trials; soft paywalls bring more users, more ratings and more word of mouth.
A hard paywall suits apps whose value is clear from the store page — a scanner, a tool for a professional task. A soft one suits apps whose value takes a few uses to show, such as habit or journaling apps.
Hard paywall
Utilities whose value is clear from the store page.
Works for you
- More installs become trials
- Simple to build and to measure
Costs you
- Loses people who wanted to try first
- Fewer ratings and less word of mouth
Soft paywall
Apps whose value takes a few uses to show.
Works for you
- More users, ratings and sharing
- Users reach the value before the ask
Costs you
- A smaller share ever pays
- The free and paid line is hard to draw
02Where to place it
- During onboarding, right after the user has said what they want to achieve, is the most common placement in subscription apps.
- At the moment of need: when the user tries a premium feature.
- Never as the very first screen before the user knows what the app does.
03What to put on it
Your paywall shows0/7
04Free trials
Trials increase how many people start and reduce how many pay; the product of the two is what matters, so test both. Remind users before the trial ends if you can — a charge the user did not expect is among the most common one-star complaints, and it leads to refunds.
- of 247,263 low-star reviews mention subscriptions or price
- 27.1%
- of 247,263 low-star reviews mention subscriptions or price
- genres where that is the top complaint
- 20 of 25
- genres where that is the top complaint
05Mistakes that cost ratings
- Hiding the price or the billing period in small text.
- Showing the paywall on every launch after someone declined.
- Removing features existing users already had and putting them behind a new paywall.
- Making cancellation hard to find.
Questions people ask
- Do hard paywalls work?
- For many utility apps they convert well, because users arrive with a specific job in mind. They lose the users who wanted to try first, so test both if your app's value takes time to show.
- How long should a free trial be?
- Three to seven days is common for consumer apps. Longer trials suit apps whose value builds over weeks; shorter ones suit apps that prove themselves in one use.
- Should I show the yearly or monthly plan first?
- Most subscription apps highlight the yearly plan as the default, with the monthly plan beside it as the price anchor.
Subscription and price complaints are the most common theme in low-star reviews across almost every category — SideRadar's research shows the share by genre, and the free LTV calculator shows what a trial and a price change are worth. How we score