Super Unlimited · B2C · free VPN app
Start on the cloud, then move heavy traffic to your own rented servers
Makes a free tier affordable; cloud still absorbs surges
What they did
What happened
In their words
How the World's #1 VPN App Reached 1 Billion Downloads – Tanuj Chatterjee, Super Unlimited
Jacob EitingIt's great. They can edit it out. This is just for us.
Tanuj ChatterjeeAll right. Our control plane is in the standard well-known cloud infrastructures. Our data plane is not because we lose our shirts because the bandwidth costs-
Jacob EitingRight. Yeah, 'cause it's not designed for just tunneling a ton of traffic-
Jacob EitingIt's like when you add in all the costs of the hardware sitting there and not being used, at least if you're buying tokens from Anthropic or whoever, you know they're fully utilizing their hardware. So it's a much higher utilization rate. So you might be surprised that your amortized costs aren't that different.
Tanuj ChatterjeeYeah. Now, if you're building a company or a mobile app, which is not a VPN, just go with cloud. And prove fastest way, do it, and then optimize later.
Jacob EitingEverything's portable, too. The nice thing about TCPIP, it's standard. You can do it on anything.
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More from this episode
- Read your reviews and rivals' reviews, then fix what people complain aboutCredited as the main driver to #1 for 'VPN'; no single number tied to it
- Let people use the app right away: no login, one tap to connectVisits last ~30 seconds; guest credits it for organic volume and ratings
- Ask for a rating only after the app has done its job2M+ high ratings on the App Store; no before/after given
- Test modern, prettier store screenshots against your plain old onesModern designs lost 80% of tests; winners gave no meaningful lift, so old ones stayed
- Hire an SEO agency that knows your field to publish programmatic pages~1,600 app downloads a month; poor conversion; some AI-search traffic, not top 5
- Give away an unlimited free version, paid for with an ad or twoLow paid conversion, but 1M+ mostly organic downloads a day and very profitable
- Don't show any ads the first time someone opens the app
- Keep the free service running in poor and censored countries, even at a loss15M downloads in 4 days during a Turkey Instagram ban; each spike leaves a higher baseline
- Charge for no ads, faster servers, more locations and use on every deviceCompany growing and very profitable; no conversion numbers
- Show an ad for your new eSIM app to all existing VPN usersDidn't work: no travel intent; now planning timed promos before summer
- Buy search ads in Apple and Google stores only where the return holds upSpend capped by ROAS; some cannibalization of organic installs accepted
- Have the head of support report to the head of productGuest says product hears about problems right away; no numbers
- Walk into elevators with a debug build to test dropped connections
- Compare your ratings country by country and dig into the low onesGuest says it helped a lot; no numbers
- Launch a new feature in 5 countries behind a switch, then expand
- Launch a Windows version and promote it to your mobile usersNamed biggest win of the year; people buy on the website directly, no numbers
- Build the product so free users cost almost nothing to supportLets the company keep a generous free tier; no numbers
Tags: bare-metal, cloud-burst, unit-economics, freemium-costs