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Mobile apps›Monetization

Weekly vs monthly vs yearly plans — and which plan gets the trial

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.

Updated 2026-10-23·5 sources·monetizationpricingfree-trialplansltv

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.

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 ($1.99 first month that renews yearly)).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

Disagreements / caveats

  • Weekly plans have high churn; judge by realised LTV over months, not first-week revenue (RevenueCat charts and features worth using).
  • Web2app funnels often run without trials (see Steve’s web2app material) — this note is about in-app paywalls.

See also

Footnotes

  1. We’ve Tested 100s of Paywalls. Here’s What Actually Converts. @ 11:45 — Steve P. Young ↩

  2. App Monetization Tactics No One Is Talking About @ 05:45 — Steve P. Young ↩

  3. Are You Ignoring These RevenueCat Features? (Stop Losing Money) @ 02:50 — Steve P. Young ↩

  4. We’ve Tested 100s of Paywalls. Here’s What Actually Converts. @ 12:39 — Steve P. Young ↩

  5. What Happens When You Show 2 Paywalls? (Result) @ 01:52 — Steve P. Young ↩

  6. Before You Spend $1 on Meta Ads, Watch This @ 03:09 — Steve P. Young ↩

  7. We’ve Tested 100s of Paywalls. Here’s What Actually Converts. @ 13:27 — Steve P. Young ↩