5 Paywall Strategies That Actually Convert

Your paywall is the single most important screen in your app for revenue. Yet most developers spend weeks on onboarding flows and minutes on their paywall. That imbalance costs real money.

After analyzing thousands of paywall experiments, patterns emerge. The apps that convert best share common strategies — and none of them require manipulative dark patterns.

Strategy 1: Lead with value, not price. The most effective paywalls spend 60% of their screen real estate showing what the user gets, not what it costs. Show features, show outcomes, show testimonials. Price should feel like an afterthought once the user already wants what you're offering.

Strategy 2: Offer fewer choices. Three plans might seem like you're giving users options, but research consistently shows that two choices convert better. A simple monthly vs. annual toggle reduces cognitive load and speeds up the decision.

Strategy 3: Anchor with annual pricing. Display the annual plan first and show the monthly equivalent. When users see '$4.99/month (billed annually)' next to '$9.99/month', the annual plan feels like an obvious win. Most top-grossing apps use this exact pattern.

Strategy 4: Use social proof on the paywall itself. A simple line like 'Trusted by 50,000+ users' or '4.8 star rating' near the purchase button can lift conversion by 10-15%. People want reassurance right at the moment of decision.

Strategy 5: Test everything with A/B experiments. The real secret is that no one can predict which paywall design will win. The apps that grow fastest are the ones running continuous experiments. Test headlines, pricing, layout, colors, CTAs — and let data decide.

Experiwall makes it easy to implement all five of these strategies. Design variants in the visual builder, set up experiments, and let the data tell you what works for your specific audience.