Paywalls and pricing
Price testing tactics
Price tests and increases app founders ran, and how revenue and conversion responded. 63 tactics from 44 founder interviews.
Most founders tested higher prices, and many reported that conversion held or even rose while revenue per user went up. For some, the gains faded later as higher-price cohorts churned, so teams began checking cancellations and renewals before rolling a price out. Lower prices helped in some markets and lost revenue in others.
- FaithFull raised monthly to $19.99 and quarterly to $39.99 and saw ARPPU rise from $32 to $38 with higher conversion; Coconote's rise from $99 to $129 a year brought more users and revenue.FaithFullCoconote
- Skylight raised its yearly plan from $39 to $79 with what it called minimal loss of retention, and Lose It! retested a doubled yearly price after years at $39.99 and broke even with stable retention.SkylightLose It!
- Early wins sometimes faded: Pok Pok doubled its price and more than doubled revenue, but those cohorts churned much faster; Reading.com saw higher prices' early LTV gains fade, and Mojo dropped a winning higher price after checking 7-day cancellations.Pok PokReading.comMojo
- Momego's lower prices outside the US, UK and Canada lifted trial conversions 17% and revenue 23%, while Headspace's test of eight lower monthly prices did not raise conversion enough and lost revenue.MomegoHeadspace
- Existing subscribers were handled differently: TalkingParents doubled the price for everyone from $4.99 to $9.99 with a new feature and lost maybe a quarter, while Skylight and Lose It! kept current subscribers on old prices.TalkingParentsSkylightLose It!
- Across Mosaic Group apps, a price rise of about 10% cost only a couple percent of retention, so LTV usually went up when conversion held.Mosaic Group
Summary written 2026-09-30 from the tactics below. Figures are as founders stated them.
What worked, most detailed first
What didn't work, or only partly
- Mosaic Group: Before rolling out a price test winner, check it still wins if retention drops 10-50%Annual-heavy price calls sometimes proved wrong a year later; this guards against it
- Reframe: Test prices with big jumps, not small stepsA two-thirds price cut got users but less engagement; original price worked best
- Tiimo: Add a 3x-priced tier with expert courses and body doublingHurt growth numbers; parked to refocus on the planner
- Mojo: Raise prices above other video apps to aim at small businessesRevenue per user up about 50%; lighter users churn more
- Headspace: Test 8 lower monthly prices to pull in less committed usersLost revenue: more people chose monthly without enough extra conversions; not rolled out
- Pok Pok: Double the subscription price, then check whether those subscribers stick aroundRevenue more than doubled and conversions rose, but the higher-price cohorts' retention quickly tanked
- Pok Pok: Double the monthly subscription priceMore than doubled revenue, but the higher-price cohort churned much faster
- V1 Sports: Tell existing users about the change with one short, honest reasonUsers only heard the first point; they complained anyway
Companies in this topic
Benchmarks
- What subscription apps charge · 304 figures
More tactics (43)
- App Masters: Price utility apps at $5 a week, $20 a year, or $30 once
- If you charge under $10 a month, test $20 on 10-20% of users
- FaithFull: Test the yearly price at $89 instead of $59
- Mojo: Check 7-day cancellations before keeping a higher price that won on early revenueRejected a winning higher price after a yearlong model showed lost long-term revenue
- Yousician: Set calendar reminders to recheck price tests at 3 and 6 monthsCatches price 'wins' that flip once renewals come in; no numbers
- Skylight: Raise the yearly plan from $39 to $79, not the $99 tests favoredMinimal loss of subscribers or retention; ARR curve 'transformative'; no exact numbers
- Skylight: Keep old customers on the old price, and honor it for anyone who asksGave up an estimated couple million dollars for goodwill; no measured effect
- Momego: Replace the monthly plan with a weekly plan sold as 'pay as you go'Trial start rate almost doubled in an A/B test; revenue up significantly
- Zumba: Drop the free trial on the monthly plan and cut it from $19.99 to $14.99Great results per the guest; annual mix rose from ~30% to ~60% (other changes too)
- Zumba: Give only a 7-day free trial on the annual plan, priced at $99Trial-to-paid rose from the 30s to ~56%; no drop in trial starts
- Reading.com: Test monthly prices from $4.99 to $19.99 and keep checking LTV for years$12.49 won (vs $6.99 launch); still winning after multi-year look-backs
- Puff Count: Test prices from $4 to $12; keep the one earning most per user
- Apollo: Raise the lifetime price from $19.99 to $30-40Take rate didn't change at all
- Raise a niche utility's price from $5 to $20 a monthNo change in downloads after a 4x price rise
- MySwimPro: Keep raising the yearly price, from $100 to $180, while conversion holdsConversion barely changed at each step (the app kept improving too)
- TalkingParents: Double the price for current subscribers, but add a feature they asked forLost about a quarter of subscribers vs. half expected; some came back
- Raise your yearly price from $29.99 to $49.99Good so far, per a viewer; no numbers
- Excel Exercises: Double your monthly price and keep the annual price the sameGrowth took off afterwards; no numbers given
- Shot Pattern: Raise your yearly price to about $75 so paid ads can pay offFounder says it set up profitable paid ads; no before/after numbers
- Liinks: Raise a $4/month plan to $5Nearly $5K more MRR, still trending up
- Test lower prices in countries where you rank well but get few downloadsStarting to see more traction in the Netherlands; no numbers yet
- Use round prices like $19.99 or $29.99, not $22.99Round prices won in a community member's A/B test; no numbers
- Coconote: Raise the annual price from $99 to $129More users and more revenue at the same time
- Lose It!: Raise the price only for new users; keep current subscribers on their old priceAvoided an untestable churn risk; no numbers on the effect
- Mojo: Price below the US-equivalent in Brazil and Mexico instead of just converting currencyLower prices won; part of the 60% ARPU lift, no separate number
- Price at $39.99 rather than $41.99$39.99 beat $41.99 in a community member's price test
- Mosaic Group: Raise prices about 10%; retention usually drops only a couple of percentNet LTV wins most of the time across the portfolio, if conversion holds
- Email loyal subscribers before a price rise and explain what they get for itGuest says best-of-breed apps keep users through it; one of the main paths to positive NRR
- Mojo: Double the price in Turkey to keep up with inflationTested and rolled out; founder says the effect was positive, no numbers
- Formula Bot: Charge for unlimited use and raise the price from $2.99 to $9~5,000 paying users and ~$26K MRR; ~5% churn
- Opal: Charge about $100 a year from the start, after launching at $69Credited with reaching 100% 8-day ad return quickly
- Substack: If your retention beats your peers by a lot, raise your priceSome writers keep 90% of subscribers after a year yet never change price
- Crunchyroll: Raise the price $1-2 for existing subscribers too, not just new onesLittle churn from existing subscribers; new signups dip somewhat
- Disney+: Announce a price rise weeks before big new releases, effective after they startPress backlash at announcement; no subscriber numbers given
- Value Study: Test higher prices in the US firstSettled on a price about halfway up; no numbers
- Reframe: Raise your priceConversion went up slightly instead of dropping
- GlamUp: Raise prices by 20-40% and check whether more people payOften converts better, founder says; no exact numbers
- Re-test the paywall and prices every couple of months
- Tinder: Raise the price of the standalone feature so it stops stealing subscriptionsFewer lost subscriptions, slightly lower conversion, higher total revenue
- Clear 30: Test $30, $40 and $50 yearly pricesSettled on $30/year; no test numbers shared
- Shot Pattern: Add features users already want, then double the price to $75 a yearPrice now ~$75/year; no separate conversion impact reported
- Crunchyroll: Hold the price for years while you grow subscribers every other wayGrew from 200K to 12M+ paid subscribers; first price rise after 6-7 years
- Natal: Raise subscription pricesARR still grew 20% that quarter
New tactics every Monday
The week's founder interviews, boiled down to what they did and what happened.