# 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

# Using Expo SDK in Bare React Native Apps

Install Superwall's Expo SDK in existing React Native projects without Expo

This guide is for React Native developers who want to integrate Superwall for the first time using our Expo SDK, even though their project doesn't use Expo.

> **Note:** **This doesn't sound like you?**- **Expo project** → Use the standard [installation guide](/docs/expo/quickstart/install)
> - **React Native app with existing Superwall SDK** → See our [migration guide](/docs/expo/guides/migrating-react-native)

## What are Expo Modules?

Expo Modules allow you to use Expo SDK packages in any React Native project, even if you're not using Expo as your development framework. This means bare React Native apps can benefit from Expo's ecosystem while maintaining their existing project structure.

Superwall's Expo SDK (`expo-superwall`) is now our recommended SDK for all React Native projects. By installing Expo Modules in your bare React Native app, you can use our latest SDK with the best features and support.

## Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

* A React Native project (compatible with React Native 0.79+)
* iOS deployment target set to the greater of 15.1 and your installed Expo SDK's minimum. For Expo SDK 56 and newer, use 16.4 or higher.
* Android minimum SDK version 21 or higher
* Node.js 18 or newer

## Step 1: Install Expo Modules

First, you need to install Expo modules in your React Native project. This allows you to use any Expo SDK package, including `expo-superwall`.

> **Note:** For comprehensive installation details, refer to [Expo's official guide](https://docs.expo.dev/bare/installing-expo-modules/)

### Automatic Installation (Recommended)

Run the following command in your project root:

```bash
npx install-expo-modules@latest
```

This command automatically configures your iOS and Android projects to support Expo modules.

### Manual Installation (If Automatic Fails)

If the automatic installation doesn't work (common in highly customized projects), follow these steps:

1. Install the expo package:

```bash
npm install expo
```

2. Configure your iOS project:
   * Set the iOS deployment target in Xcode to the greater of 15.1 and your installed Expo SDK's minimum. For Expo SDK 56 and newer, use 16.4 or higher.
   * Update your `AppDelegate` files as per [Expo's manual instructions](https://docs.expo.dev/bare/installing-expo-modules/#manual-installation)
   * Run `npx pod-install` to install iOS dependencies

3. Configure your Android project:
   * Update `android/settings.gradle` and `android/app/build.gradle`
   * Follow the Android configuration steps in [Expo's guide](https://docs.expo.dev/bare/installing-expo-modules/#manual-installation)

## Step 2: Install Superwall Expo SDK

Once Expo modules are configured, install the Superwall SDK:

## Tab

```bash npm
npm install expo-superwall
```

## Tab

```bash yarn
yarn add expo-superwall
```

## Tab

```bash pnpm
pnpm add expo-superwall
```

## Tab

```bash bun
bun add expo-superwall
```

## Step 3: Platform-Specific Configuration

### iOS Configuration

After installing the SDK, run:

```bash
cd ios && pod install
```

### Android Configuration

Ensure your `android/app/build.gradle` has:

```groovy gradle
android {
    compileSdkVersion 34
    
    defaultConfig {
        minSdkVersion 21
        targetSdkVersion 34
    }
}
```

## Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues during installation, refer to [Expo's installation guide](https://docs.expo.dev/bare/installing-expo-modules/) for detailed troubleshooting steps and platform-specific configuration details.

## What's Next?

Continue with the [Superwall configuration guide](/docs/expo/quickstart/configure) to complete your setup.