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Mobile apps›Monetization

Free-trial toggle — let users choose trial vs pay now (and price them differently)

Put a "skip free trial" toggle on the paywall so users pick trial or immediate purchase — Riz charges $9.99/week with a 7-day trial or $6.99/week without; Cal AI keeps one price; on transaction-abandonment offers give a deeper discount (90% vs 80%) for buying without a trial; ~10% pick no trial.

Updated 2026-10-24·2 sources·monetizationfree-trialpaywallpricingexperiment

Free-trial toggle pricing

TL;DR

  • Some users want to try first, others are ready to buy — a trial toggle serves both on one paywall.
  • Discounted no-trial price: Riz (AI dating-reply app): default 7-day trial at $9.99/week; toggling “skip free trial” drops it to $6.99/week. The ~30% discount roughly mirrors a 30% trial-to-paid rate, so revenue per user is similar while capturing more direct purchases.
  • Same-price toggle: Cal AI (high-intent weight loss) lets users skip the trial without a discount.
  • Rule of thumb (Vahe Bagdasarian): high-intent categories (health & fitness) → no discount needed; low-intent utilities or young/low-income audiences → discount the no-trial path. Test both.
  • On transaction-abandonment offers: e.g. 80% off with trial, 90% off without — around 10% choose no trial.
  • People want to feel in control of how they pay.

Details

Riz. A multi-step paywall: “We want you to try Riz for free” → “you’ll get a reminder 2 days before your trial ends” → offer screen with a product visual and features. The trial is on by default ($9.99/week after 7 days); “skip free trial” makes it $6.99/week. Vahe’s reasoning: users differ in buying power and intent, so give a cheaper path for those who won’t pay $10 and nudge them to purchase immediately.12 Joseph Choi points out the ~$3 discount (~30%) roughly equals a good trial-to-paid rate, so expected revenue is similar.3

Cal AI. Its transaction-abandonment paywall has the same toggle but no price change; Vahe says to test both because it depends on intent and demographics — Cal AI’s weight-loss users are highly motivated across all ages, Riz skews younger with less purchasing power.45 On Cal AI’s main paywall the price doesn’t change either; letting people buy without a trial simply puts them in control.6

On discount offers. For transaction-abandonment paywalls: offer a free trial but let users choose; if they buy with a trial make the discount ~80%, without a trial ~90%. In Vahe’s experience ~10% choose no trial, giving you direct purchases.7

Related pattern. BoldVoice serves skeptics who won’t enter a card (even for a free trial) with a limited free day-one experience, while users convinced by onboarding start the 7-day trial — two paths without removing the trial paywall.8 A two-paywall onboarding (no-trial first, trial second) is another way to serve both groups (Showing two paywalls in onboarding (and the 8-paywall-views rule)).

Disagreements / caveats

  • Vahe reports no exact lift figures for the toggle; the “~30% = trial-to-paid” equivalence is back-of-envelope.
  • Apple’s guidelines on trial toggles have shifted over time (some toggle designs were flagged as confusing) — check current App Review rules before shipping.

See also

Footnotes

  1. Our No-Code Apps Made $50M Using THIS Paywall @ 21:29 — Vahe Bagdasarian ↩

  2. Our No-Code Apps Made $50M Using THIS Paywall @ 22:48 — Vahe Bagdasarian ↩

  3. Our No-Code Apps Made $50M Using THIS Paywall @ 24:23 — Joseph Choi ↩

  4. Our No-Code Apps Made $50M Using THIS Paywall @ 25:12 — Vahe Bagdasarian ↩

  5. Our No-Code Apps Made $50M Using THIS Paywall @ 26:10 — Vahe Bagdasarian ↩

  6. Our No-Code Apps Made $50M Using THIS Paywall @ 35:48 — Vahe Bagdasarian ↩

  7. Our No-Code Apps Made $50M Using THIS Paywall @ 34:15 — Vahe Bagdasarian ↩

  8. Why BoldVoice charged from day 1 and ignored the Duolingo freemium playbook — Anada Lakra @ 27:26 — Anada Lakra ↩