In-app subscription platforms sit between a mobile app and its paying users, keeping access rights current, showing paywalls and reporting revenue.
This guide puts small independent vendors first and asks four things: how the fee scales with revenue, which paywall and refund tools come included, what the vendor states about itself, and whether the product is built for apps.
Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
In short
What in-app subscription platforms do
An in-app subscription platform keeps subscriber access in sync across devices, builds and tests paywalls, and reports revenue measures such as MRR and churn for subscription apps.
Every in-app subscription platform was judged on five points in a fixed order: setup effort, cost in practice, how data is exported, how easily you can leave, and the buyer it was designed for. The ranking then gives places 1 to 3 to challengers outside the best-known brands, if the category has such vendors, and the incumbents follow. The reasoning behind the five tests, and behind having no score out of ten, is set out on the how we work page.
Revenue-percentage paywall tooling with experiments, analytics and refund recovery for subscription apps
Ranked #1 of 11 in Best In-App Subscription Platforms in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere
The pricing page does something many rivals skip: it prints two sample bills, USD 64 a month at USD 8K tracked revenue and USD 400 at USD 50K.
The no-code builder, revenue-weighted A/B tests, cohort analytics and one-click links to AppsFlyer, Adjust, Amplitude, Mixpanel, Segment, Braze and Firebase come with the percentage. The weak spots are an unstated hosting model and an enterprise tier whose price sits behind a contract.
What stands out
No-code paywall builder
Revenue-based experiments
Refund Keeper
Where it costs you
Enterprise terms, uptime SLA included, are only available through a custom contract.
The vendor pages do not say whether the platform is cloud only or can be hosted elsewhere.
Right for
Small subscription apps wanting worked fee examples and unlimited seats from day one
Wrong for
Teams needing a published hosting model before they sign
Not stated by the vendorFree below a monthly tracked-revenue line, then one flat percentage of tracked revenue; enterprise contract unpublished
Subscription SDK, paywall builder and refund saver priced by revenue share
Ranked #2 of 11 in Best In-App Subscription Platforms in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere
The SDK keeps access levels in sync across platforms, and a paywall builder updates screens without an app release. Live reporting covers revenue, MRR, churn and trials, with attribution from a marketing-measurement partner or from Adapty itself.
Residency in the US or EU is listed, and enterprise adds custom service levels. What goes wrong is arithmetic: Refund Saver, Ads Manager and Finance each carry their own percentage once usage grows.
What stands out
Paywalls without app releases
Refund Saver
US or EU data residency
Where it costs you
Add-ons are priced apart from the platform fee, so the final bill needs three rates added up.
The no-cost line sits at the lowest revenue level among the revenue-tiered vendors read.
Right for
Apps that want paywall changes shipped without a store release
Wrong for
Apps already earning above the entry line and wanting one flat rate
Not stated by the vendorFree to start under a revenue threshold, then a small percentage; add-ons carry separate rates; enterprise on contact
Entitlements, paywall testing and refund protection billed only on paywall revenue
Ranked #3 of 11 in Best In-App Subscription Platforms in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere
Fees attach to the paywall rather than to the whole subscription estate, which suits teams that already built their own purchase flow. Named pieces are one-call access checks synced from the server, paywall tests run without a release, a Customer Center covering store and web purchases, and webhooks.
The SDKs sit on GitHub, though no self-hosted platform is described. Uncertainty comes from the legal entity: no country is given, and the Tangent announcement is not unpacked.
What stands out
Paywall A/B testing
Refund Protection
Customer Center
Where it costs you
A percentage still applies once paywall-attributed revenue passes the monthly line.
The ownership effect of the Tangent announcement on the home page is not explained.
Right for
Teams that mainly want to test paywalls and keep plumbing costs flat
Wrong for
Buyers who need a self-hosted platform or a named trial
Not stated by the vendorFree infrastructure at any scale; paywall product free below a revenue ceiling, then a percentage of paywall-attributed revenue only
Paywalls from Figma, observer mode and refund shield on revenue-based tiers
Ranked #4 of 11 in Best In-App Subscription Platforms in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere
Observer mode is the unusual idea: it records revenue in parallel without altering current purchase logic, so a team can adopt reporting before it touches paywalls.
Paywalls can be imported from Figma, Refund Shield is named, and ad events sync to Meta, Google Ads and TikTok Ads. The Expert plan adds an Analytics API, webhooks and a Public MCP. The cost is opacity about the company: no country, no parent and no reachable privacy page.
What stands out
Figma-built paywalls
Observer mode
Ad network event sync
Where it costs you
A missing privacy page means data handling cannot be checked from the pages read.
Higher uptime and API features sit on the dearer Expert tier.
Right for
Apps that want to add tracking beside existing purchase code first
Wrong for
Buyers who need a stated country before contracting
Not stated by the vendorFree to a set monthly revenue; paid tiers are a percentage with a monthly minimum and growing seat counts; enterprise priced on contact
French subscription SDK with onboarding flows and AI-guided paywall experiments
Ranked #5 of 11 in Best In-App Subscription Platforms in 2026.
Pricing on requestEurope
Where rivals stop at the paywall, Purchasely adds Flows that design onboarding and other in-app journeys, plus Server Events and integrations with CRM, analytics and data tools. Pulse AI scans experiment results and proposes the next test.
The registry entry in Romainville gives a verifiable address. The drawback is commercial: the only call to action is a demo, so a small app cannot learn the fee, and hosting is left unsaid.
What stands out
Pulse AI
Onboarding Flows
Server Events
Where it costs you
Without published prices, budgeting starts only after a meeting is booked.
The hosting model, cloud or self-hosted, is not described on the home page.
Right for
Product teams wanting onboarding journeys and paywalls managed from one tool
Wrong for
Founders who want to see a price before any call
FranceQuoted on request after a demo booking; no plans or prices shown
Paywall templates, targeting and web-to-app funnels on a revenue-tiered plan
Ranked #6 of 11 in Best In-App Subscription Platforms in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Templates, A/B experiments, targeting and web-to-app funnels are named on the home page, and Expert at 1.19% with a USD 59 minimum serves high-volume apps. Enterprise starts above USD 100K a month and uses manual invoicing.
In this ranking it trails vendors with the same free line and more seats or fewer restrictions, because one seat and email-only support are the price of the free plan. The contact address is American; no parent company is named.
What stands out
Paywall templates
A/B experiments
Web-to-app funnels
Where it costs you
The Free plan is limited to one seat and email support.
Revenue above the free line is charged at a percentage with a monthly minimum.
Right for
Apps wanting the best-known option with templates and web funnels included
Wrong for
Teams of several people who need more than one seat free
United StatesFree plan below a revenue threshold with no card; Pro and Expert are percentages with minimum fees; enterprise invoiced by hand
Subscription billing with an in-app purchase option and a RevenueCat integration link
Ranked #7 of 11 in Best In-App Subscription Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
Paddle is a general billing company that has added an in-app purchase route, plus Retain for churn reduction and a Metrics product for subscription analytics. A link to RevenueCat sits on the home page, which hints at pairing rather than replacing.
The per-checkout fee is public and the UK entity is named. Mobile specifics are thin: nothing on the pages read prices the app route, and cheap items need a custom quote.
What stands out
In-app purchase
Retain churn reduction
Subscription Metrics
Where it costs you
Small-basket sellers must ask sales, because products under USD 10 are priced custom.
No app-specific price list appears, so mobile costs cannot be projected from the page.
Right for
Teams selling subscriptions across web and app through one billing company
Wrong for
Apps with low-priced items and no appetite for sales calls
United KingdomPublished pay-as-you-go fee per Checkout transaction; app-specific items linked without fees; high volume quoted by sales
Subscription billing and webhooks sold on a commission before payout
Ranked #8 of 11 in Best In-App Subscription Platforms in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
The model is a commission taken from each sale before the money reaches the seller, with subscription management, recurring billing and webhooks that trigger actions in an app or business system.
REST APIs and JavaScript libraries are hosted by the vendor. Entities in California, England, the Netherlands and Nova Scotia are listed. For an app publisher the gap is evidence: no in-app feature is named, so fit has to be proven in a quote call.
What stands out
Recurring billing
Configurable webhooks
Custom quotes
Where it costs you
No fee percentage appears anywhere on the pricing page.
Nothing on the pages read describes mobile or in-app purchase handling.
Right for
Sellers who prefer one commission deducted before payout over software fees
Wrong for
App publishers who need store-purchase tooling named on the vendor site
United StatesRevenue share withheld before payout; rates quoted through sales; trial button shown without length
Subscription lifecycle management with payment retries and hosted checkout
Ranked #9 of 11 in Best In-App Subscription Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
Two Billing Flow tiers are printed with a break-even point, which makes the maths easy: a zero-base 0.80% option or a USD 99 base at 0.65%. Named features include subscription lifecycle management, machine-learning payment retries, hosted checkout, PayEmbed and Laravel Cashier support.
It is a billing engine first. Nothing on the pages read mentions paywalls, store receipts or app experiments, so a mobile team would likely need another tool beside it.
What stands out
ML payment retries
Hosted checkout
PayEmbed
Where it costs you
The trial length is not stated on the pricing page.
The pages read describe invoicing, not Apple or Google store purchases.
Right for
Companies whose app subscriptions are one line inside a wider billing set-up
Wrong for
Indie apps looking for paywall design or store-purchase tooling
Not stated by the vendorPublished Billing Flow tiers: no base fee plus a percentage of invoicing volume, or a paid base with a lower percentage; enterprise on contact
Payment orchestration with routing, card vault and billing behind one integration
Ranked #10 of 11 in Best In-App Subscription Platforms in 2026.
Pricing on requestElsewhere
Solidgate pushes payments through one integration to many providers, with routing, a vault that is not tied to one provider, an antifraud engine and chargeback representment. Hundreds of connectors are claimed.
Governing law points to Cyprus. As a pick for in-app subscriptions it is an adjunct: no paywall or entitlement feature is named, and pricing is volume-based with figures withheld, so judge it in a quote.
What stands out
Provider routing
Card vault
Chargeback representment
Where it costs you
No price is published; the page only directs visitors to talk to the team.
Where the main servers sit is not stated.
Right for
Subscription sellers adding card routing and fraud handling to web payments
Wrong for
Teams that want in-app paywalls or store receipt tracking
Not stated by the vendorQuoted per transaction volume with no flat monthly fee; demo offered
Subscription billing with new tools for payments outside the app stores
Ranked #11 of 11 in Best In-App Subscription Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
The home page cites over 200 million subscriptions managed in Stripe Billing and gives in-app payments outside app stores its own use case. Pay-as-you-go is one percentage with no recurring cost; annual contracts add volume tiers.
Fees stack: Billing percentage, then card fees, then USD 10 a month for a custom portal domain. Its size and the absence of named store-purchase tooling place it last.
What stands out
In-app payments use case
Usage-based billing
Customer portal domain
Where it costs you
Card fees sit on top of the Billing percentage, so two rates apply.
A customer portal on a custom domain adds a monthly charge.
Right for
Apps already taking card payments that want to add subscriptions outside stores
Wrong for
Apps whose purchases must run through the Apple and Google stores
United StatesPublished pay-as-you-go percentage of Billing volume with no recurring cost; annual contract tiers; custom through sales
An in-app subscription platform keeps subscriber access in sync across devices, builds and tests paywalls, and reports revenue measures such as MRR and churn for subscription apps. Compare on the following points, in this order, before you compare features.
01
Start with pricing transparency
The split is 8 published against 3 quoted. If you want to compare numbers first, start with Qonversion, Adapty, Superwall, Apphud, RevenueCat, Paddle, Chargebee, Stripe.
02
Ask which country the contract runs through
Headquarters range over 4 countries and 3 regions: Elsewhere 6, North America 3, Europe 2. Legal exposure follows the vendor, not only the data centre, so read the contracting entity before you sign.
How in-app subscription platforms charge: revenue lines and percentages
Most vendors here do not sell seats. They give the platform away below a monthly tracked-revenue line and then take a percentage, so the first question is where each line sits. Adapty starts charging 1% above USD 5K, Qonversion takes 0.8% above USD 7,000, and Superwall, Apphud and RevenueCat set the line at USD 10K.
Above it the rates split: Apphud and RevenueCat charge 0.99% on Pro with a USD 49 monthly minimum, while Superwall applies 1% only to revenue converted through its own paywall. Seats matter too, because RevenueCat's Free plan allows one and Apphud's Pro includes five. Write each vendor's line and rate beside your own monthly revenue and compare the bills at today's income and at three times it.
Does the percentage apply to all tracked revenue or only to paywall revenue?
How many seats are included below the free line?
What monthly minimum applies once the line is passed?
Paywalls, experiments and refund tools: what Adapty, Superwall and Apphud bundle
The headline percentage rarely covers everything a team ends up using. Adapty bills three extras apart from its platform fee, each at its own rate. Qonversion lists Refund Keeper and revenue-based experiments with the platform, Apphud names Refund Shield and paywalls built from Figma, and Superwall lists Refund Protection and Customer Center for store and web purchases.
Observer mode at Apphud is worth a pilot when existing purchase code must stay untouched, because it records revenue in parallel. List the three features you would switch on in the first quarter, find where each sits on every pricing page, and add any extra percentage to the base fee before you compare vendors.
Is refund handling part of the base percentage or an add-on?
Can paywalls change without an app release?
Can the tool observe revenue without replacing purchase code?
Billing companies beside app platforms: Paddle, Chargebee and Stripe
Some entries here are billing companies first and app tools second, and the pages read show the difference. Paddle publishes a per-checkout fee and links in-app purchase without fees, yet prices no app-specific items. Chargebee prints two Billing Flow tiers with a USD 66K break-even, and names no paywalls or store receipts.
Stripe cites in-app payments outside the app stores as a use case and stacks card fees on top of its Billing percentage. FastSpring takes a commission before payout and publishes no percentage. Treat these as a second layer for web checkout or invoicing, and ask each one in writing which mobile features exist today rather than assuming the app side is covered.
Which mobile features does the vendor name on its own pages?
Do card fees stack on top of the subscription percentage?
Is the commission or fee published before a sales call?
Reading the vendor behind a platform: Purchasely, Superwall and others
A subscription platform sees every purchase event, so the entity behind it deserves a minute. Purchasely names an SAS in Romainville, France, with a registry number, and pairs that with a demo-only pricing page. Superwall names Nest 22, Inc. in its legal pages but no country, and its home page refers to a July 2026 post about Tangent joining it without explaining the effect.
Adapty shows Adapty Tech Inc, Qonversion shows a San Francisco address, and Apphud gives neither a country nor a reachable privacy page. None of this disqualifies a vendor. It decides what to ask for: a contracting entity, a data processing agreement, and the hosting location, in writing, before any SDK ships in a release.
Does the legal page name an entity and a country?
Is a privacy page or data processing agreement published?
Does any ownership announcement leave the corporate position unclear?
What goes wrong most often when buying in-app subscription platforms
Choosing on the headline percentage without adding the separate refund, ads or finance rates that Adapty publishes beside it.
Assuming a general billing tool such as Chargebee or FastSpring includes store receipts, paywall tests and entitlement checks, when the vendor pages name none.
Counting seats late, then finding that a free plan with one seat cannot cover a product manager, an engineer and a marketer.
Shipping an SDK into a release before confirming which legal entity receives the purchase events and where the data is held.
07
Frequently asked questions
6 answers
What are the best in-app subscription platforms in 2026?
Qonversion takes first place among the 11 we reviewed. Qonversion charges 0.8% of tracked revenue once monthly revenue passes USD 7,000, with unlimited apps and seats and no card needed below that line.
At USD 50K a month the page works that out at USD 400. Enterprise terms are unpublished and no trial period exists. Qonversion Inc shows a San Francisco address but no country, and hosting goes unstated.
Which in-app subscription platforms publish their pricing?
The ones that do, with the model each states:
Qonversion: Free below a monthly tracked-revenue line, then one flat percentage of tracked revenue; enterprise contract unpublished.
Adapty: Free to start under a revenue threshold, then a small percentage; add-ons carry separate rates; enterprise on contact.
Superwall: Free infrastructure at any scale; paywall product free below a revenue ceiling, then a percentage of paywall-attributed revenue only.
Apphud: Free to a set monthly revenue; paid tiers are a percentage with a monthly minimum and growing seat counts; enterprise priced on contact.
RevenueCat: Free plan below a revenue threshold with no card; Pro and Expert are percentages with minimum fees; enterprise invoiced by hand.
Paddle: Published pay-as-you-go fee per Checkout transaction; app-specific items linked without fees; high volume quoted by sales.
Chargebee: Published Billing Flow tiers: no base fee plus a percentage of invoicing volume, or a paid base with a lower percentage; enterprise on contact.
Stripe: Published pay-as-you-go percentage of Billing volume with no recurring cost; annual contract tiers; custom through sales.
The remaining 3 sell by quote.
Is there a free in-app subscription platform?
Qonversion, Adapty, Superwall, Apphud, RevenueCat have a free plan or free self-hosted edition.
Where are these in-app subscription platform vendors established?
Across 4 countries (Elsewhere 6, North America 3, Europe 2):
Qonversion: Not stated by the vendor.
Adapty: Not stated by the vendor.
Superwall: Not stated by the vendor.
Apphud: Not stated by the vendor.
Purchasely: France.
RevenueCat: United States.
Paddle: United Kingdom.
FastSpring: United States.
Chargebee: Not stated by the vendor.
Solidgate: Not stated by the vendor.
Stripe: United States.
What should you use instead of Qonversion?
Second is Adapty, which suits Apps that want paywall changes shipped without a store release. Third is Superwall, which suits teams that mainly want to test paywalls and keep plumbing costs flat.
Who should not buy Qonversion?
Teams needing a published hosting model before they sign. Enterprise terms, uptime SLA included, are only available through a custom contract..
This list covers 11 in-app subscription platforms products. A product we left out can be put to us by its maker, with a short note on its purpose and its customers; we decide on inclusion ourselves. The rules are under software advice.
