RevenueCat · B2B · in-app subscription software
Build the product so free users cost almost nothing to support
Lets the company keep a generous free tier; no numbers
Workedpricingcost-structure
What they did
Architected from the start so costs scale with paying end users; non-paying small developers use the product free.
What happened
Allowed RevenueCat to maintain its freemium tier (claim).
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How the World's #1 VPN App Reached 1 Billion Downloads – Tanuj Chatterjee, Super Unlimited“RevenueCat's had a free experience and we designed it to be supportable from the beginning. All of our cost scaling is such that if somebody's not paying, if an end user's not paying, it doesn't really cost us much to support”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from RevenueCat
All 9 RevenueCat tactics- Check 5-10 key numbers every morning, with 30- and 90-day averages30-day above 90-day means healthy; no outcome reported
- Email batchmates, then install your SDK in their app yourself at a coffee shopLanded early customers like Podcast App; no numbers
- Publish a yearly benchmark report built from your customers' anonymized data
- Launch a mobile app with a home screen people want to screenshotAbout 100x more sightings on X overnight; mobile usage near dashboard usage
- Ask users how they heard about you, with a free-text boxRevealed ChatGPT and Claude were sending people; read daily
- Start on Amplitude; add a data pipeline once product changes break your definitionsCo-host says it smoothed definition changes for data users; no numbers
More from this episode
- Super Unlimited: 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
- Super Unlimited: Let people use the app right away: no login, one tap to connectVisits last ~30 seconds; guest credits it for organic volume and ratings
- Super Unlimited: Ask for a rating only after the app has done its job2M+ high ratings on the App Store; no before/after given
- Super Unlimited: Test modern, prettier store screenshots against your plain old onesModern designs lost 80% of tests; winners gave no meaningful lift, so old ones stayed
- Super Unlimited: 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
- Super Unlimited: 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
- Super Unlimited: Don't show any ads the first time someone opens the app
- Super Unlimited: 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
- Super Unlimited: Charge for no ads, faster servers, more locations and use on every deviceCompany growing and very profitable; no conversion numbers
- Super Unlimited: Show an ad for your new eSIM app to all existing VPN usersDidn't work: no travel intent; now planning timed promos before summer
- Super Unlimited: Buy search ads in Apple and Google stores only where the return holds upSpend capped by ROAS; some cannibalization of organic installs accepted
- Super Unlimited: Have the head of support report to the head of productGuest says product hears about problems right away; no numbers
- Super Unlimited: Walk into elevators with a debug build to test dropped connections
- Super Unlimited: Compare your ratings country by country and dig into the low onesGuest says it helped a lot; no numbers
- Super Unlimited: Launch a new feature in 5 countries behind a switch, then expand
- Super Unlimited: Start on the cloud, then move heavy traffic to your own rented serversMakes a free tier affordable; cloud still absorbs surges
- Super Unlimited: Launch a Windows version and promote it to your mobile usersNamed biggest win of the year; people buy on the website directly, no numbers