# 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 RevenueCat

If you want to use RevenueCat to handle your subscription-related logic with Superwall, follow this guide.

> **Note:** Not using RevenueCat? No problem! Superwall works out of the box without any additional SDKs.

> **Warning:** You only need to use a `PurchaseController` if you want end-to-end control of the purchasing pipeline. The recommended way to use RevenueCat with Superwall is by putting it in observer mode.

You can integrate RevenueCat with Superwall in one of two ways:

* [`CustomPurchaseControllerProvider` component (recommended)](#custompurchasecontrollerprovider-component)
* [`PurchaseController` (legacy)](#purchasecontroller-legacy)

## `CustomPurchaseControllerProvider` component

The easiest way to integrate RevenueCat with Superwall is using the `CustomPurchaseControllerProvider` component. This approach uses modern React patterns and requires much less code.

### 1\. Configure RevenueCat and Superwall

```tsx
import { useEffect } from "react"
import { Platform } from "react-native"
import Purchases, {
  PRODUCT_CATEGORY,
  PURCHASES_ERROR_CODE,
} from "react-native-purchases"
import {
  CustomPurchaseControllerProvider,
  SuperwallProvider,
  SuperwallLoaded,
  SuperwallLoading,
} from "expo-superwall"

const REVENUECAT_API_KEYS = {
  ios: "appl_YOUR_IOS_KEY_HERE",
  android: "goog_YOUR_ANDROID_KEY_HERE",
}

const SUPERWALL_API_KEYS = {
  ios: "YOUR_SUPERWALL_IOS_KEY",
  android: "YOUR_SUPERWALL_ANDROID_KEY",
}

function App() {
  useEffect(() => {
    const apiKey = Platform.OS === "ios"
      ? REVENUECAT_API_KEYS.ios
      : REVENUECAT_API_KEYS.android
    Purchases.configure({ apiKey })
  }, [])

  return (
    <CustomPurchaseControllerProvider
      controller={{
        onPurchase: async (params) => {
          try {
            const products = await Promise.all([
              Purchases.getProducts([params.productId], PRODUCT_CATEGORY.SUBSCRIPTION),
              Purchases.getProducts([params.productId], PRODUCT_CATEGORY.NON_SUBSCRIPTION),
            ]).then((results) => results.flat())

            const product =
              products.find((product) => product.identifier === params.productId) ??
              (params.platform === "android"
                ? products.find(
                    (product) => product.identifier === `${params.productId}:${params.basePlanId}`
                  )
                : undefined) ??
              products[0]

            if (!product) {
              return { type: "failed", error: "Product not found" }
            }

            if (params.platform === "android" && product.subscriptionOptions?.length) {
              const optionId = params.offerId
                ? `${params.basePlanId}:${params.offerId}`
                : params.basePlanId
              const option = product.subscriptionOptions.find((option) => option.id === optionId)

              if (!option) {
                return { type: "failed", error: "Subscription option not found" }
              }

              await Purchases.purchaseSubscriptionOption(option)
              return
            }

            await Purchases.purchaseStoreProduct(product)
          } catch (error: any) {
            if (error.code === PURCHASES_ERROR_CODE.PURCHASE_CANCELLED_ERROR) {
              return { type: "cancelled" }
            }
            return { type: "failed", error: error.message }
          }
        },

        onPurchaseRestore: async () => {
          try {
            await Purchases.restorePurchases()
          } catch (error: any) {
            return { type: "failed", error: error.message }
          }
        },
      }}
    >
      <SuperwallProvider apiKeys={SUPERWALL_API_KEYS}>
        <SuperwallLoading>
          {/* Loading UI */}
        </SuperwallLoading>
        <SuperwallLoaded>
          {/* Your app */}
        </SuperwallLoaded>
      </SuperwallProvider>
    </CustomPurchaseControllerProvider>
  )
}
```

On Android, `onPurchase` includes a `basePlanId` and may include an `offerId`. Use those values to find the matching RevenueCat subscription option and call `Purchases.purchaseSubscriptionOption(option)`. Calling `Purchases.purchaseStoreProduct(product)` for a Google Play subscription lets RevenueCat choose the product's default offer, which may not be the offer selected on the Superwall paywall.

### 2\. Sync Subscription Status

Listen for RevenueCat subscription changes and update Superwall:

```tsx
import { useSuperwallEvents, useUser } from 'expo-superwall'

function SubscriptionSync() {
  const { setSubscriptionStatus } = useUser()

  useEffect(() => {
    // Listen for RevenueCat customer info updates
    const listener = Purchases.addCustomerInfoUpdateListener((customerInfo) => {
      const entitlementIds = Object.keys(customerInfo.entitlements.active)
      
      setSubscriptionStatus({
        status: entitlementIds.length === 0 ? "INACTIVE" : "ACTIVE",
        entitlements: entitlementIds.map(id => ({ 
          id, 
          type: "SERVICE_LEVEL" 
        }))
      })
    })

    // Get initial customer info
    const syncInitialStatus = async () => {
      try {
        const customerInfo = await Purchases.getCustomerInfo()
        const entitlementIds = Object.keys(customerInfo.entitlements.active)
        
        setSubscriptionStatus({
          status: entitlementIds.length === 0 ? "INACTIVE" : "ACTIVE",
          entitlements: entitlementIds.map(id => ({ 
            id, 
            type: "SERVICE_LEVEL" 
          }))
        })
      } catch (error) {
        console.error("Failed to sync initial subscription status:", error)
      }
    }

    syncInitialStatus()

    return () => {
      listener?.remove()
    }
  }, [setSubscriptionStatus])

  return null // This component just handles the sync
}
```

That's it! This approach is much simpler than the class-based implementation and uses modern React patterns.

Check out our sample app for a working example: [Expo Example](https://github.com/superwall/expo-superwall/tree/main/example)

***

## `PurchaseController` (legacy)

> **Note:** This approach is for apps using the legacy `expo-superwall/compat` import. For new projects, use the hooks-based integration above.

You can integrate RevenueCat with Superwall using purchase controllers:

1. **Using a purchase controller:** Use this route if you want to maintain control over purchasing logic and code.
2. **Using PurchasesAreCompletedBy:** Here, you don't use a purchase controller and you tell RevenueCat that purchases are completed by your app using StoreKit. In this mode, RevenueCat will observe the purchases that the Superwall SDK makes. For more info [see here](https://www.revenuecat.com/docs/migrating-to-revenuecat/sdk-or-not/finishing-transactions).

### 1\. Create a PurchaseController

Create a new file called `RCPurchaseController`, then copy and paste the following:

```typescript
import { Platform } from "react-native"
import Superwall, {
  PurchaseController,
  PurchaseResult,
  RestorationResult,
  SubscriptionStatus,
  PurchaseResultCancelled,
  PurchaseResultFailed,
  PurchaseResultPending,
  PurchaseResultPurchased,
} from 'expo-superwall/compat';
import Purchases, {
  type CustomerInfo,
  PRODUCT_CATEGORY,
  type PurchasesStoreProduct,
  type SubscriptionOption,
  PURCHASES_ERROR_CODE,
  type MakePurchaseResult,
} from "react-native-purchases"

export class RCPurchaseController extends PurchaseController {
  constructor() {
    super()

    Purchases.setLogLevel(Purchases.LOG_LEVEL.DEBUG);
    const apiKey = Platform.OS === 'ios' ? 'ios_rc_key' : 'android_rc_key';
    Purchases.configure({ apiKey });
  }

  syncSubscriptionStatus() {
    // Listen for changes
    Purchases.addCustomerInfoUpdateListener((customerInfo) => {
      const entitlementIds = Object.keys(customerInfo.entitlements.active)
      Superwall.shared.setSubscriptionStatus(
        entitlementIds.length === 0
          ? SubscriptionStatus.Inactive()
          : SubscriptionStatus.Active(entitlementIds)
      )
    })
  }

  async purchaseFromAppStore(productId: string): Promise<PurchaseResult> {
    const products = await Promise.all([
      Purchases.getProducts([productId], PRODUCT_CATEGORY.SUBSCRIPTION),
      Purchases.getProducts([productId], PRODUCT_CATEGORY.NON_SUBSCRIPTION),
    ]).then((results) => results.flat())

    // Assuming an equivalent for Dart's firstOrNull is not directly available in TypeScript,
    // so using a simple conditional check
    const storeProduct = products.length > 0 ? products[0] : null

    if (!storeProduct) {
      return new PurchaseResultFailed("Failed to find store product for $productId")
    }

    return await this._purchaseStoreProduct(storeProduct)
  }

  async purchaseFromGooglePlay(
    productId: string,
    basePlanId?: string,
    offerId?: string
  ): Promise<PurchaseResult> {
    // Find products matching productId from RevenueCat
    const products = await Promise.all([
      Purchases.getProducts([productId], PRODUCT_CATEGORY.SUBSCRIPTION),
      Purchases.getProducts([productId], PRODUCT_CATEGORY.NON_SUBSCRIPTION),
    ]).then((results) => results.flat())

    // Choose the product which matches the given base plan.
    // If no base plan set, select first product or fail.
    const storeProductId = `${productId}:${basePlanId}`

    // Initialize matchingProduct as null explicitly
    let matchingProduct: PurchasesStoreProduct | null = null

    // Loop through each product in the products array
    for (const product of products) {
      // Check if the current product's identifier matches the given storeProductId
      if (product.identifier === storeProductId) {
        // If a match is found, assign this product to matchingProduct
        matchingProduct = product
        // Break the loop as we found our matching product
        break
      }
    }

    let storeProduct: PurchasesStoreProduct | null =
      matchingProduct ??
      (products.length > 0 && typeof products[0] !== "undefined" ? products[0] : null)

    // If no product is found (either matching or the first one), return a failed purchase result.
    if (storeProduct === null) {
      return new PurchaseResultFailed("Product not found")
    }

    switch (storeProduct.productCategory) {
      case PRODUCT_CATEGORY.SUBSCRIPTION:
        const subscriptionOption = await this._fetchGooglePlaySubscriptionOption(
          storeProduct,
          basePlanId,
          offerId
        )
        if (subscriptionOption === null) {
          return new PurchaseResultFailed("Valid subscription option not found for product.")
        }
        return await this._purchaseSubscriptionOption(subscriptionOption)
      case PRODUCT_CATEGORY.NON_SUBSCRIPTION:
        return await this._purchaseStoreProduct(storeProduct)
      default:
        return new PurchaseResultFailed("Unable to determine product category")
    }
  }

  private async _purchaseStoreProduct(
    storeProduct: PurchasesStoreProduct
  ): Promise<PurchaseResult> {
    const performPurchase = async (): Promise<MakePurchaseResult> => {
      // Attempt to purchase product
      const makePurchaseResult = await Purchases.purchaseStoreProduct(storeProduct)
      return makePurchaseResult
    }
    return await this.handleSharedPurchase(performPurchase)
  }

  private async _fetchGooglePlaySubscriptionOption(
    storeProduct: PurchasesStoreProduct,
    basePlanId?: string,
    offerId?: string
  ): Promise<SubscriptionOption | null> {
    const subscriptionOptions = storeProduct.subscriptionOptions

    if (subscriptionOptions && subscriptionOptions.length > 0) {
      // Concatenate base + offer ID
      const subscriptionOptionId = this.buildSubscriptionOptionId(basePlanId, offerId)

      // Find first subscription option that matches the subscription option ID or use the default offer
      let subscriptionOption: SubscriptionOption | null = null

      // Search for the subscription option with the matching ID
      for (const option of subscriptionOptions) {
        if (option.id === subscriptionOptionId) {
          subscriptionOption = option
          break
        }
      }

      // If no matching subscription option is found, use the default option
      subscriptionOption = subscriptionOption ?? storeProduct.defaultOption

      // Return the subscription option
      return subscriptionOption
    }

    return null
  }

  private buildSubscriptionOptionId(basePlanId?: string, offerId?: string): string {
    let result = ""

    if (basePlanId !== null) {
      result += basePlanId
    }

    if (offerId !== null) {
      if (basePlanId !== null) {
        result += ":"
      }
      result += offerId
    }

    return result
  }

  private async _purchaseSubscriptionOption(
    subscriptionOption: SubscriptionOption
  ): Promise<PurchaseResult> {
    // Define the async perform purchase function
    const performPurchase = async (): Promise<MakePurchaseResult> => {
      // Attempt to purchase product
      const purchaseResult = await Purchases.purchaseSubscriptionOption(subscriptionOption)
      return purchaseResult
    }

    const purchaseResult: PurchaseResult = await this.handleSharedPurchase(performPurchase)
    return purchaseResult
  }

  private async handleSharedPurchase(
    performPurchase: () => Promise<MakePurchaseResult>
  ): Promise<PurchaseResult> {
    try {
      // Perform the purchase using the function provided
      const makePurchaseResult = await performPurchase()

      // Handle the results
      if (this.hasActiveEntitlementOrSubscription(makePurchaseResult.customerInfo)) {
        return new PurchaseResultPurchased()
      } else {
        return new PurchaseResultFailed("No active subscriptions found.")
      }
    } catch (e: any) {
      // Catch block to handle exceptions, adjusted for TypeScript
      if (e.userCancelled) {
        return new PurchaseResultCancelled()
      }
      if (e.code === PURCHASES_ERROR_CODE.PAYMENT_PENDING_ERROR) {
        return new PurchaseResultPending()
      } else {
        return new PurchaseResultFailed(e.message)
      }
    }
  }

  async restorePurchases(): Promise<RestorationResult> {
    try {
      await Purchases.restorePurchases()
      return RestorationResult.restored()
    } catch (e: any) {
      return RestorationResult.failed(e.message)
    }
  }

  private hasActiveEntitlementOrSubscription(customerInfo: CustomerInfo): Boolean {
    return (
      customerInfo.activeSubscriptions.length > 0 &&
      Object.keys(customerInfo.entitlements.active).length > 0
    )
  }
}
```

As discussed in [Purchases and Subscription Status](/docs/expo/guides/advanced-configuration), this `PurchaseController` is responsible for handling the subscription-related logic. Take a few moments to look through the code to understand how it does this.

### 2\. Configure Superwall

Initialize an instance of `RCPurchaseController` and pass it in to `Superwall.configure(apiKey:purchaseController)`:

```typescript
React.useEffect(() => {
  const apiKey = Platform.OS === "ios" ? "MY_SUPERWALL_IOS_API_KEY" : "MY_SUPERWALL_ANDROID_API_KEY"

  const purchaseController = new RCPurchaseController()

  Superwall.configure(apiKey, null, purchaseController)
  purchaseController.syncSubscriptionStatus()
}, [])
```

### 3\. Sync the subscription status

Then, call `purchaseController.syncSubscriptionStatus()` to keep Superwall's subscription status up to date with RevenueCat.

That's it! Check out our sample app for working examples:

* [Expo](https://github.com/superwall/expo-superwall/tree/main/example)
* [React Native (deprecated)](https://github.com/superwall/react-native-superwall/blob/main/example/src/RCPurchaseController.tsx)

### Using PurchasesAreCompletedBy

If you're using RevenueCat's [PurchasesAreCompletedBy](https://www.revenuecat.com/docs/migrating-to-revenuecat/sdk-or-not/finishing-transactions), you don't need to create a purchase controller. Register your placements, present a paywall — and Superwall will take care of completing any purchase the user starts. However, there are a few things to note if you use this setup:

1. Here, you aren't using RevenueCat's [entitlements](https://www.revenuecat.com/docs/getting-started/entitlements#entitlements) as a source of truth. If your app is multiplatform, you'll need to consider how to link up pro features or purchased products for users.
2. If you require custom logic when purchases occur, then you'll want to add a purchase controller. In that case, Superwall handles purchasing flows and RevenueCat will still observe transactions to power their analytics and charts.
3. Be sure that user identifiers are set the same way across Superwall and RevenueCat.

For more information on observer mode, visit [RevenueCat's docs](https://www.revenuecat.com/docs/migrating-to-revenuecat/sdk-or-not/finishing-transactions).