---
title: Weekly vs monthly vs yearly plans — and which plan gets the trial
slug: weekly-vs-yearly-plans-and-trial-placement
summary: Monthly plans usually underperform; test weekly vs yearly per category, and put the free trial on the plan with the highest LTV — moving it from yearly to a 3-day weekly tripled sales in one app.
domain: mobile-apps
tags: [monetization, pricing, free-trial, plans, ltv]
related: [free-trial-length-by-plan, paywall-price-display-and-plan-count, paid-intro-offers, multiple-paywalls-in-onboarding, setting-initial-subscription-price, removing-the-free-trial]
sources: [yt:vZXn_BSi5AE, yt:hs_hZS__hvA, yt:FWF_AbsR0qc, yt:2oq2OlqfTro, yt:2jH64ziB7uM, yt:-5zgc14t2gc, yt:AilakPuHdf4, yt:lkwX_kc0NS8]
updated: 2026-10-24
---

# Weekly vs yearly plans and trial placement

## TL;DR
- Some categories win with weekly, others with yearly; **monthly is usually weak** (LTV ~$3–3.5 in Steve's experience).
- Put the trial on whichever plan has the highest LTV (yearly or weekly).
- Case: $50/year vs $6.99/week — moving the trial from a 7-day yearly to a **3-day weekly** gave **3x sales** with similar downloads.
- Most apps convert better *with* a free trial, though it isn't mandatory.
- Weekly + trial alongside a cheap-enough yearly serves both "try first" and "just buy" users.
- **Lead with annual for cash payback:** BoldVoice defaults to ~$150/year so CAC is repaid right after the trial and channel quality is visible immediately; Skylight: turn a $5/month sub into a $60–70 upfront payment.
- Weekly rose with "churn and burn" AI wrappers; Parra sees social/multiplayer apps shifting to weekly/monthly.

## Details
**Plan mix.** Steve: certain categories do better with weekly, others with yearly; monthly is "not as good as you'd imagine".[^1] He puts monthly LTV at roughly $3–3.5 for most apps, versus much higher for yearly — which is why he replaces plain monthly with a paid intro offer ([[paid-intro-offers]]).[^2] RevenueCat's revenue-by-product chart shows which plan earns most; for Steve's 37k-MRR health app it's yearly.[^3]

**Moving the trial.** In one of Steve's apps users downloaded and started trials but didn't convert. Prices unchanged ($50/yr, $6.99/wk), the trial moved from a 7-day yearly to a 3-day weekly — sales tripled with similar downloads.[^4] In the two-paywall test, weekly performs better for that app, so the trial goes on weekly, not yearly; some users still pick the yearly because it's cheap enough.[^5]

**Rule of thumb** for Meta-ready funnels: trial on yearly or weekly, whichever has the higher LTV.[^6] Free trials aren't required, but most apps convert better with one.[^7]

**Annual for payback.** Anada Lakra: defaulting most users to annual means cash arrives after the 7-day trial, so per channel you know subscribers, spend and at least first-year LTV/CAC right away — monthly hides whether users stay 1 or 24 months; TikTok users were flimsier on duration. Instant payback lets you reinvest immediately.[^8] Michael Segal (Skylight, bootstrapped): pay back on day zero; if your sub is ~$5/month, make it a $60–70 annual upfront.[^9]

**Why weekly exists (Jonathan Parra).** Weekly grew with AI-wrapper apps: it gets users in without a yearly commitment, many forget to cancel and end up paying more than annual, and it's a cheap way to price-test. He sees less of that in social/multiplayer apps, where weekly and monthly are popular; annual + weekly sometimes beats annual + monthly. Many monthly/weekly buyers can signal onboarding didn't sell the product well enough.[^10][^11][^12]

## Disagreements / caveats
- Weekly plans have high churn; judge by realised LTV over months, not first-week revenue ([[revenuecat-charts-and-experiments]]).
- Web2app funnels often run *without* trials (see Steve's web2app material) — this note is about in-app paywalls.

## See also
- [[free-trial-length-by-plan]]
- [[paywall-price-display-and-plan-count]]

[^1]: yt:vZXn_BSi5AE @ 11:45 — Steve P. Young
[^2]: yt:FWF_AbsR0qc @ 05:45 — Steve P. Young
[^3]: yt:2oq2OlqfTro @ 02:50 — Steve P. Young
[^4]: yt:vZXn_BSi5AE @ 12:39 — Steve P. Young
[^5]: yt:hs_hZS__hvA @ 01:52 — Steve P. Young
[^6]: yt:2jH64ziB7uM @ 03:09 — Steve P. Young
[^7]: yt:vZXn_BSi5AE @ 13:27 — Steve P. Young
[^8]: yt:-5zgc14t2gc @ 49:11 — Anada Lakra
[^9]: yt:AilakPuHdf4 @ 29:13 — Michael Segal
[^10]: yt:lkwX_kc0NS8 @ 11:38 — Jonathan Parra
[^11]: yt:lkwX_kc0NS8 @ 13:12 — Jonathan Parra
[^12]: yt:lkwX_kc0NS8 @ 16:06 — Jonathan Parra