# 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

# Web Checkout Links

Learn how to use campaigns and placements to present web paywalls using Superwall's web checkout links.

Once you've [created a Stripe app](/docs/web-checkout/web-checkout-creating-an-app), [configured Stripe with Superwall](/docs/web-checkout/web-checkout-configuring-stripe-keys-and-settings) via the [Superwall Stripe app](https://marketplace.stripe.com/apps/superwall) and have [created Stripe products](/docs/web-checkout/web-checkout-adding-a-stripe-product) — you're ready to configure a campaign to show a web paywall.

> **Note:** Before you proceed, recall that web checkout has all of the advantages of the Superwall platform. If you are unfamiliar with how to create campaigns or what a placement is — we recommend you read through the [introduction](/docs/using-the-dashboard) documentation and [campaigns doc](/docs/dashboard/dashboard-campaigns/campaigns) first.

### Understanding placements in web checkout

There are two primary differences between web checkout and the typical Superwall campaign flow:

1. **Placements become unique URLs** which, in turn, show your paywall. These are called *web checkout links*.
2. **User variables** are not available in audience filtering.

Other than that, everything operates as a normal Superwall campaign would. For example:

![](https://963b3ab1-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/web2app_make_campaign.png)

Here, the placement `black-friday-promo` presents a paywall. If the app's URL in [settings](/docs/web-checkout/web-checkout-configuring-stripe-keys-and-settings) is `caffeinepal`, then the URL for this placement would be `https://caffeinepal.superwall.app/black-friday-promo`. Visiting that web checkout link presents a paywall:

![](https://963b3ab1-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/web2app_showing_paywall.png)

Conceptually, you can think of these web checkout links performing a similar function as registering a placement does in our mobile SDK:

```swift
Superwall.shared.register(placement:"black-friday-promo") { _ in }
```

This means that you now can use web checkout with all of the same powerful features that Superwall offers, such as A/B testing, paywall targeting and more. Again, these work just like any other campaign would in Superwall. The interface is the same, so now you create placements, start creating audience filters and more:

![](https://963b3ab1-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/web2app_campaigns.png)

Also, remember to create responsive paywalls. Users can view your checkout page on a laptop, phone and other varying sized viewports. For some quick tips, check out this blog post over adapting paywalls to look great on [iPad](https://superwall.com/blog/how-to-create-adaptable-paywalls-for-iphone-and-ipad-using-superwall).

### A note on the `$home` placement

Every campaign has a `$home` placement out of the box. This placement acts a "default" link, and isn't required to be part of the URL as other placements are. For example:

```plaintext
// This works 
https://caffeinepal.superwall.app/$home

// And this also works, even though `$home` isn't in the URL
https://caffeinepal.superwall.app/
```

This is useful so that even if a user visits your web checkout link, and there isn't a placement in the URL — they'll still see a paywall.

### How query string parameters work

You can attach query string parameters to any web checkout link by appending them to the URL:

```html
https://caffeinepal.superwall.app/black-friday-promo?name=jordan
```

This will pass the `name` parameter to the placement, and you can use it in your audience filters. For example, you could create a filter that only shows the paywall if the `name` parameter is equal to `jordan`:

![](https://963b3ab1-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/web2app_qsp_jordan.png)

Or, you could access them in your paywall using the same flow as you would for [placement parameters](/docs/using-placement-parameters):

1. In the paywall editor, add a variable.
2. Make it a `parameter` type. Match the `name` to the query string parameter key (here, that would be `name`).
3. Set the value type, then click **Create**.
4. Now, you can use that variable in your paywall:

This makes it easy to show in your paywall:

![](https://963b3ab1-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/web2app_qsp_var.png)

Then, if the URL is visited, the audience filter matches from above — and we can see the value on the paywall, too:

![](https://963b3ab1-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/web2app_qsp_paywall.png)

Of course, this is a simplistic example — but this is useful for personalization, seasonal events, influencer campaigns and more. Any query string parameter you pass can be used in the paywall, and in audience filters.

### Localized checkout prices

Web checkout links support [Stripe Adaptive Pricing](/docs/web-checkout/web-checkout-adaptive-pricing). When Adaptive Pricing is enabled in Stripe, customers can see localized currency in the Stripe checkout flow based on their location.

This does not change how you build campaigns or placements in Superwall. Create the web checkout link as usual, then let Stripe localize the checkout price when the customer starts payment.

### Automatically populating user emails in checkout flows

> **Tip:** This section is Web2App only (starting from a web link). For App2Web (starting from an iOS paywall), see [App2Web](/docs/web-checkout/web-checkout-direct-stripe-checkout#prefill-email).

There is a special query string parameter you can use to automatically populate the user's email in the checkout flow. This is useful for pre-filling the email field in the checkout form, so that users don't have to enter it manually. Simply add `email` and set the value to the user's email address:

```html
https://caffeinepal.superwall.app/black-friday-promo?email=myemail@yahoo.com
```

When the Stripe checkout flow launches, the email is now filled out automatically:

![](https://963b3ab1-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/web2app_email.jpeg)

### Automatically populating appUserId in checkout flows

There is a set of special query string parameters which will set the appUserId for the subscription. This overrides the default behavior where Superwall will automatically assign an anonymous identifier. You may pass `uid`, `user`, or `app_user_id` to override the default.

```html
https://caffeinepal.superwall.app/black-friday-promo?app_user_id=my-custom-id
```

This identifier will show up in Stripe metadata & webhooks. The app\_user\_id will be put into the `client_reference_id` field on a Stripe Checkout Session and will be included on the subscription metadata under `_sw_app_user_id`