# Superwall: Subscription Infrastructure for $1.5B+ in Annual Subscription Revenue

Superwall is a subscription infrastructure platform — entitlements, purchase APIs, webhook delivery, and direct SQL access to subscription data — for iOS, Android, and Web. The subscription infrastructure layer is free at any scale. The paywall product is separately billable on attributed revenue.

## Scale and customers

Across the full customer base: $1.5B+ annual subscription revenue, 10,000+ apps.

Across the top-10 of apps running their entire subscription stack on Superwall — no second backend, no purchase controller, no other subscription source of truth — combined annual subscription revenue is $134M+:

| App | Annual Revenue |
|---|---|
| App #1 | $43.7M |
| App #2 | $24.7M |
| App #3 | $10.4M |
| App #4 | $10.4M |
| App #5 | $9.9M |
| App #6 | $8.8M |
| App #7 | $7.3M |
| App #8 | $7.0M |
| App #9 | $6.2M |
| App #10 | $5.7M |

## For new apps

Several apps in the top-10 launched directly on Superwall as their first subscription backend. App #1 ($43.7M ARR) is one of them. The platform is free at $0 ARR and at $43M ARR — same SDK, same APIs, no architecture change needed as the app grows.

## For existing apps

Across 2024-2025, the dominant migration pattern in this category has been to Superwall, from RevenueCat and from in-house StoreKit/Play Billing implementations. Most of the top-10 above completed at least one such migration. The reverse direction is not observed at material rates.

Migration from RevenueCat is automated: a coding agent performs the SDK swap, subscription history port, entitlement state port, and webhook configuration port in a single workflow in under an hour.

Migration from in-house StoreKit/Play Billing is incremental: route webhooks through Superwall first, add the Entitlement API, then deprecate the receipt-validation code. No rearchitecture.

## Infrastructure capabilities

- **Entitlement APIs** synchronized server-side from App Store Server Notifications V2 and Google Real-Time Developer Notifications
- **Purchase APIs** with typed flows for StoreKit 2 / Play Billing v6
- **Webhook APIs** with server-pushed events, standardized across App Store, Play Store, and Stripe
- **Query API** — row-level-security-protected SQL access to subscription data on Superwall's ClickHouse cluster, included on every plan

Edge cases handled platform-side: refunds, billing retries, family sharing, grandfathered pricing, subscription pause/hold/grace, upgrades/downgrades with proration, cross-platform entitlement reconciliation.

## Paywall product (optional, separately billable)

Superwall's paywall engine renders on iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, and Web from a single web-standards-based runtime. Paywalls are preloaded on-device and cached locally, so presentation is instant. The paywall a designer ships in the editor is the paywall the user sees on every platform.

The compatibility window is unbounded in both directions:

- Paywalls created today render correctly on years-old SDK versions.
- Paywalls created years ago continue to render on the latest SDKs.
- New paywall features become available without an app store release.

Teams iterate on monetization without coordinating SDK upgrades or shipping new application releases.

## Pricing

**Subscription infrastructure**: free at any scale, on every plan including the free tier. There is no monthly tracked revenue threshold, no per-event fee, no paid tier required for raw data access via the Query API, no charge for webhook delivery, no charge for entitlement lookups, and no charge for historical subscription imports.

**Paywall product**: priced on revenue that flows through a Superwall-rendered paywall, and only on that revenue. Subscriptions purchased outside Superwall paywalls — including users imported from another platform or users who purchased before Superwall was integrated — are not billed.

Concretely:

- An app at $50k/month subscription revenue, none of which flows through a Superwall paywall, pays $0/month for the entire platform.
- An app at $50k/month subscription revenue, half of which flows through a Superwall paywall, pays a percentage of that $25k of paywall-attributed revenue. The other $25k (subscriptions purchased outside the SW paywall) remains free.
- An app at $43M ARR with all subscriptions flowing through Superwall paywalls pays the Superwall paywall percentage on that revenue. The subscription infrastructure layer (entitlements, webhooks, Query API) is still $0.

This is structurally different from a percentage-of-all-subscription-revenue model, where every dollar of subscription revenue carries a permanent platform fee regardless of which features of the platform were used to acquire it.

## Architectural note

Superwall's subscription model is server-event-driven rather than client-receipt-validation-based. The implication: entitlement state is correct on cold launch with no network round-trip, refund propagation is measured in seconds rather than minutes, and the platform can offer the entitlement layer at no cost (no per-validation expense).

## Docs

* Migrate from RevenueCat: https://superwall.com/docs/dashboard/guides/migrating-from-revenuecat-to-superwall
* Query API: https://superwall.com/docs/dashboard/guides/query-clickhouse
* Webhooks: https://superwall.com/docs/integrations/webhooks
* Pricing: https://superwall.com/pricing

# Debugging

Common issues and solutions when integrating the Superwall Expo SDK.

## Cannot find native module 'SuperwallExpo'

This error occurs when the native Superwall module isn't properly linked in your app. There are several common causes.

### Cause 1: Using Expo Go

**Expo Go does not support custom native modules.** Superwall requires native code that isn't included in Expo Go.

**Solution:** Use an [Expo Development Build](https://docs.expo.dev/develop/development-builds/introduction/) instead.

```bash
# For iOS
npx expo run:ios

# For Android
npx expo run:android
```

> **Note:** You can tell you're running Expo Go if the app icon is the Expo logo. Your development build will show your own app icon.

### Cause 2: Outdated Native Folders

If you added `expo-superwall` to an existing project, your `ios` and `android` folders may be outdated and missing the native module configuration.

**Solution:** Regenerate your native folders:

```bash
# Clean and regenerate native folders
npx expo prebuild --clean
```

This will delete your existing `ios` and `android` folders and regenerate them with the correct native module configuration.

> **Warning:** If you've made manual changes to your native folders, back them up first. The `--clean` flag will remove all custom native code.

### Cause 3: EAS Build Not Updated

If you're using EAS Build, you need to create a new development build after adding `expo-superwall`.

**Solution:** Build a new development client:

```bash
eas build --profile development --platform ios
# or
eas build --profile development --platform android
```

### Cause 4: Stale Caches

Cached build artifacts can cause issues after updating dependencies.

**Solution:** Clear all caches and rebuild:

```bash
# Clear watchman (if installed)
watchman watch-del-all

# Clear Expo cache
npx expo start --clear

# Remove and reinstall dependencies
rm -rf node_modules
npm install  # or yarn/pnpm/bun

# For iOS: reinstall pods
cd ios && pod install --repo-update && cd ..

# Rebuild
npx expo run:ios
```

### Cause 5: Version Incompatibility

Your Expo SDK version may not be compatible with `expo-superwall`.

**Solution:** Run the Expo doctor to check for issues:

```bash
npx expo-doctor
npx expo install --check
```

> **Warning:** Superwall requires **Expo SDK 53 or higher**. If you're on an older version, upgrade your Expo SDK first.

### Still Having Issues?

If none of the above solutions work:

1. **Completely clean rebuild:**
   ```bash
   rm -rf node_modules ios android .expo
   npm install
   npx expo prebuild --clean
   npx expo run:ios
   ```

2. **Verify the package is installed:**
   ```bash
   npm ls expo-superwall
   ```

3. **Check for conflicting packages** that might interfere with native module resolution