# 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

# Device Tier Targeting

Target users based on their device performance capabilities to optimize paywall experiences across different hardware tiers.

The `deviceTier` variable allows you to create targeted audiences based on device performance capabilities. This helps optimize paywall experiences by showing resource-appropriate content to different device types. You can reference this in campaign filters, dynamic values, or in paywall text via the `device.deviceTier` variable.

> **Note:** Device tier targeting is available starting in Android SDK version `2.2.3`. Make sure you're using this version or later to access this feature.

## How device tier works

Device tier classification is based on several hardware factors:

* CPU performance
* Available RAM
* 4K/2K codec support
* Display quality

This automatic classification helps you deliver paywalls that perform well across the full spectrum of Android devices.

### Matching device ranges

When creating device tier filters, you can use `contains` or `equals` for narrower matching:

* **`contains`** - Broader matching that includes partial matches. For example, `deviceTier contains high` matches both `high` and `ultra_high` devices.
* **`equals`** - Exact matching for precise targeting. For example, `deviceTier equals high` matches only `high` tier devices, not `ultra_high`.

Use `contains` when you want to target a range of similar device capabilities, and `equals` when you need precise control over which specific tier to target.

## Device tier values

The `device.deviceTier` attribute returns one of these values:

* **`ultraLow`** - Entry-level devices with limited resources.
* **`low`** - Budget devices with basic performance capabilities.
* **`mid`** - Mid-range devices with moderate performance.
* **`high`** - Premium devices with strong performance.
* **`ultra_high`** - Flagship devices with top-tier specifications.
* **`unknown`** - Device tier couldn't be determined.

## Creating device tier audiences

To target users by device tier, create an audience using the `device.deviceTier` attribute:

1. Navigate to **Campaigns** in your dashboard.
2. Click on the campaign you want to target.
3. Edit, or create, a new audience.
4. Add a filter where `device.deviceTier` contains your target tier(s).
5. Save your audience.

> **Tip:** You can target multiple tiers in a single audience. For example, use `deviceTier contains LOW` to target both `ultraLow` and `low` tier devices.

### Optimizing for lower-end devices

Create lightweight paywalls for devices that may struggle with resource-intensive content:

```
device.deviceTier contains ultraLow OR device.deviceTier contains low
```

Show these users paywalls with:

* Static images instead of videos.
* Compressed media files.
* Simplified animations.