---
title: Showing two paywalls in onboarding (and the 8-paywall-views rule)
slug: multiple-paywalls-in-onboarding
summary: A no-trial paywall early plus a trial paywall later in onboarding lifted start rate from ~3% to 7.7% and monthly sales ~3x; paywall views keep paying off until roughly 8 views.
domain: mobile-apps
tags: [monetization, paywall, onboarding, free-trial, experiment]
related: [paywall-in-onboarding, three-screen-pre-paywall-sequence, weekly-vs-yearly-plans-and-trial-placement, paywall-before-signup]
sources: [yt:hs_hZS__hvA, yt:vZXn_BSi5AE]
updated: 2026-10-23
---

# Showing two paywalls in onboarding

## TL;DR
- More paywall views = more money; benchmark from Jake at Superwall (via Steve): diminishing returns start around **8 paywall views**.
- Pattern tested in a teammate's app: paywall #1 right after language choice — **no trial**, soft, X delayed 3 s; paywall #2 after the three-screen trial explainer — **3-day trial on weekly**, with social proof.
- Start rate went 3% (May) → 4.4% (June) → 7.7% (July); trial-to-paid held steady; monthly sales ~$1k → ~$3k with fewer downloads.
- Why: some users are ready to pay now, others need a trial — serve both.

## Details
**Setup** (app by Aman, on Steve's team):[^1][^2]
1. Choose language.
2. **Paywall 1** — no trial, soft paywall with the close X delayed 3 seconds; weekly plan slightly *cheaper* than on paywall 2, yearly the same.
3. Rest of onboarding.
4. The three reminder/explainer screens ([[three-screen-pre-paywall-sequence]]).
5. **Paywall 2** — standard paywall with a 3-day trial on the weekly plan, plus social proof (which Steve has seen beat no social proof).

For this app weekly outperforms yearly, so the trial sits on weekly; some users simply take the cheap-enough yearly, others try a week and churn after a few cycles.[^3]

**Results:** before (single trial paywall) start rate ~3%; June 4.4%; July 7.7%. The start rate counts trial and non-trial purchases; trial-to-paid barely changed.[^3][^4] Both paywalls produce revenue; the trial plan pulled ahead in July. Sales rose from ~$1,000 in May to almost $3,000 in July while downloads were lower than in April/May.[^5]

**Psychology:** a Medium post on "free trial toggles" (shared by John in the App Founders community) argues both user types coexist; two paywalls give each its path.[^6]

**The 8-views rule:** Jake from Superwall told Steve on his podcast that paywall views keep adding revenue until about eight views, after which returns diminish.[^6][^7] Practical takeaway: show the paywall more than once (onboarding twice, locked features, home screen), and maximise paywall-view rate ([[paywall-before-signup]]).

## Disagreements / caveats
- One small app, month-over-month comparison (not a split test); seasonality and a dev bug in tracking (mentioned by Steve) muddy the data.
- The 8-view number is an anecdotal benchmark from a paywall-tool vendor.

## See also
- [[paywall-in-onboarding]]
- [[weekly-vs-yearly-plans-and-trial-placement]]

[^1]: yt:hs_hZS__hvA @ 01:00 — Steve P. Young
[^2]: yt:hs_hZS__hvA @ 05:42 — Steve P. Young
[^3]: yt:hs_hZS__hvA @ 01:52 — Steve P. Young
[^4]: yt:hs_hZS__hvA @ 02:58 — Steve P. Young
[^5]: yt:hs_hZS__hvA @ 04:07 — Steve P. Young
[^6]: yt:hs_hZS__hvA @ 05:42 — Steve P. Young
[^7]: yt:vZXn_BSi5AE @ 14:24 — Steve P. Young