# Paywall timing: where the paywall appears in the flow Source: Lazyweb Research 18 data-backed questions on Paywall timing: where the paywall appears in the flow. HTML: https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/category/paywall-timing-where-the-paywall-appears-in-the-flow Markdown: https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/category/paywall-timing-where-the-paywall-appears-in-the-flow.md ## Questions - [What Percent of Onboarding Flows Include a Paywall Step?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/what-percent-of-onboarding-flows-include-a-paywall) Across 129 canonical onboarding flows tracked by Lazyweb Research, at least 31% (40 of 129) contain an in-flow paywall step. Because the paywall label is sparse (present on only 1,583 of 23,407 canon… - [How Far Into Onboarding Do Apps Place the Paywall?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/how-far-into-onboarding-do-apps-place-the-paywall) Across the 40 onboarding flows with a paywall tracked by Lazyweb Research, the first paywall lands at a mean relative position of 0.82 and a median of 0.89 of the flow — in absolute terms, a median o… - [Should the Paywall Come Before or After Onboarding?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/should-the-paywall-come-before-or-after-onboarding) Across 40 onboarding flows with a paywall tracked by Lazyweb Research, 77.5% (31 of 40) place the first paywall in the final third of the flow and 0 place it on the first step. The revealed-preferenc… - [Do Apps Paywall Before or After Account Creation?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/do-apps-paywall-before-or-after-account-creation) Among 17 onboarding flows tracked by Lazyweb Research that contain both a paywall and a detected account-creation screen, 16 place the paywall after account creation and only 1 before. The strong maj… - [What Percent of Sign-Up Flows Include a Paywall?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/what-percent-of-signup-flows-include-a-paywall) Across 146 sign-up flows tracked by Lazyweb Research, only 9.6% (14 of 146) contain a paywall step. Paywalls rarely interrupt account creation itself; when they do appear, the average relative positi… - [Do Market Leaders Paywall Earlier or Later Than the Rest?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/do-market-leaders-paywall-earlier-or-later) Among 66 onboarding flows tracked by Lazyweb Research that map to a market-leader label, leaders paywall at a similar rate but noticeably earlier: 12 of 35 leader flows carry a paywall at an average… - [What Percent of Apps Put the Paywall on the Last Onboarding Step?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/what-percent-of-apps-put-the-paywall-on-the-last-onboarding-step) Among 40 onboarding flows with a paywall tracked by Lazyweb Research, 27.5% (11 of 40) place the first paywall on the literal last step of onboarding. Terminal paywalls are the single most common exa… - [How Many Steps Come Before the Paywall in Onboarding?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/how-many-steps-before-the-paywall-in-onboarding) Across 40 onboarding flows with a paywall tracked by Lazyweb Research, the first paywall arrives at a median of step 11 and a mean of step 14.3, in flows averaging 17.2 steps. In other words, users t… - [Are Onboarding Flows With a Paywall Longer Than Those Without?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/are-onboarding-flows-with-a-paywall-longer) Across 129 onboarding flows tracked by Lazyweb Research, flows that include a paywall average 17.2 steps (median 14) versus 12.4 steps (median 10) for flows without one. Paywalled onboarding is meani… - [Do Health and Fitness Apps Paywall During Onboarding?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/do-health-and-fitness-apps-paywall-in-onboarding) Among 26 Health & Fitness onboarding flows tracked by Lazyweb Research, 14 (54%) contain a paywall — the highest rate of any tracked vertical. The first paywall lands at an average relative position… - [Do Education Apps Paywall During Onboarding?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/do-education-apps-paywall-in-onboarding) Among 13 Education onboarding flows tracked by Lazyweb Research, 7 (54%) contain a paywall, with the first paywall at an average relative position of 0.82. Education matches Health & Fitness as one o… - [Do Photo and Video Apps Paywall Earlier in Onboarding?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/do-photo-and-video-apps-paywall-early-in-onboarding) Among 12 Photo & Video onboarding flows tracked by Lazyweb Research, 4 (33%) contain a paywall, and the first paywall lands at an average relative position of 0.67 — the earliest of the three named v… - [Which App Categories Paywall Most During Onboarding?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/which-app-categories-paywall-most-in-onboarding) Across tracked verticals with at least 8 onboarding flows, Health & Fitness (54%, 14 of 26) and Education (54%, 7 of 13) paywall most in onboarding, while Productivity (1 of 11), Social Networking (0… - [Which App Categories Rarely Paywall During Onboarding?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/which-app-categories-rarely-paywall-in-onboarding) Among tracked verticals with at least 8 onboarding flows, Social Networking (0 of 10), Productivity (1 of 11), and News (1 of 8) almost never paywall in onboarding. Utility and social apps overwhelmi… - [How Common Are In-Flow Paywalls Across All App Flows, Not Just Onboarding?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/how-common-are-in-flow-paywalls-across-all-flows) Across all 2,467 canonical flows tracked by Lazyweb Research, 318 (13%) contain a paywall step, and those paywalls sit at an average relative position of 0.85. The late-flow pattern holds corpus-wide… - [How Many Apps Ship the Paywall as Its Own Standalone Flow?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/how-many-apps-ship-a-standalone-paywall-flow) Across the flows tracked by Lazyweb Research, 193 dedicated paywall flows exist across 163 companies. Many apps ship the paywall as its own standalone flow — with names like 'Paywall', 'Paywall 2', a… - [What Screen Usually Comes Right Before the Onboarding Paywall?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/what-screen-comes-right-before-the-onboarding-paywall) Across 40 onboarding flows with a paywall tracked by Lazyweb Research, the screen immediately before the first paywall is a generic onboarding screen in 28 of 40 flows. Named exceptions are value-rev… - [What Is the Earliest Apps Typically Paywall in Onboarding?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/what-is-the-earliest-apps-paywall-in-onboarding) Across 40 onboarding flows with a paywall tracked by Lazyweb Research, only 1 places the first paywall in the opening third of the flow, and 0 open on a paywall. The earliest real example is Adobe at…