What Is the Most Common Paywall CTA Button Text?
- By Ali Abouelatta
- n = 1,886
- Published
- Updated
- 3 min read
- paywall · monetization · mobile · ux-patterns · saas
Short answer
Across 1,886 role-labeled primary paywall CTAs from ~800 tracked mobile apps, the single most common button text is a bare 'Continue' — 350 instances, used by 66 of the 222 companies with a labeled primary CTA (29.7%) source[1]. No other exact phrase comes close: 'subscribe' (89) and 'start free trial' (84) are the next two source[2]. If you group by intent rather than exact string, trial-promise buttons collectively edge ahead, but 'Continue' remains the most repeated single word.
'Continue' is the most common primary paywall CTA — 350 of 1,886 primary CTAs, used by 66 of 222 companies (Lazyweb Research, 4,406-CTA corpus, July 2026).
Bar chart · CTA instances
CTA instances — Top primary CTA leaderboard
One block is about 12.5 CTA instances
- 01continue
- 350
- 02subscribe
- 89
- 03start free trial
- 84
- 04try for free
- 74
- 05subscribe now
- 54
- 06try 3 days free
- 34
- 07start your free trial
- 28
- 08start trial
- 26
- 09upgrade
- 25
- 10try free
- 23
The finding
Of the 1,886 primary paywall CTAs Lazyweb Research role-labeled from ~800 tracked apps, the exact lowercased string continue appears 350 times source[1]. That is by far the most-repeated button text — more than 'subscribe' (89) and 'start free trial' (84) combined source[2]. Bare 'Continue' is used by 66 distinct companies (29.7% of the 222 with a labeled primary CTA) source[1], so this is a broad convention, not one over-screenshotted app.
Top primary CTA leaderboard
| Rank | Button text | CTA instances | Companies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | continue | 350 | 66 |
| 2 | subscribe | 89 | 21 |
| 3 | start free trial | 84 | 22 |
| 4 | try for free | 74 | 16 |
| 5 | subscribe now | 54 | 14 |
| 6 | try 3 days free | 34 | 1 |
| 7 | start your free trial | 28 | 7 |
| 8 | start trial | 26 | 7 |
| 9 | upgrade | 25 | 7 |
| 10 | try free | 23 | 8 |
These ten phrases together account for 727 of 1,886 primary CTAs source[2]. Note 'try 3 days free' (34) comes from a single company number[3] — instance counts overweight heavily-screenshotted apps, so always read the company column.
How to apply it
'Continue' is the safe default: it lowers commitment anxiety at the button by deferring the money question to the plan cards above it. But it is not automatically best for you — group your own tests by intent. Across the corpus, trial-led buttons (try/start + free/trial) total 527 CTAs from 103 companies (46.4% of companies), versus 69 companies leading with 'Continue' (31.1%) number[4]. More apps lead with a trial promise than with 'Continue'; 'Continue' just wins the exact-string count.
Caveats
All percentages here use the 1,886 primary CTAs (or the 222 companies) as the denominator, because 1,727 of the 4,406 total CTAs (39%) are role-unknown and excluded from role stats number[5]. Exact-string counts merge casing and whitespace variants via lower(trim()); they do not merge synonyms, so 'Continue' and 'Continue →' are counted together only in the continue-led family cut, not in the exact-string leaderboard.
Real in-market screens
Screens from real, in-market apps, tracked by Lazyweb Research.
Sincerely1206 × 2622opens the full image 
Spin1206 × 2622opens the full image 
Soundcloud1125 × 2436opens the full image 
Breeze1206 × 2622opens the full image
The numbers
| # | Stat | Computed from |
|---|---|---|
| [1] | continue = 350 CTAs, 66 of 222 companies (29.7%) | statpack top_primary_cta_overall + exact_continue_companies |
| [2] | top-10 primary leaderboard: continue 350, subscribe 89, start free trial 84, try for free 74, subscribe now 54, try 3 days free 34, start your free trial 28, start trial 26, upgrade 25, try free 23; sum 727/1886 | statpack primary_leaderboard_top10 |
| [3] | try 3 days free = 34 CTAs from 1 company | statpack primary_leaderboard_top10 / qualitative note |
| [4] | trial-led 103 companies (46.4%) vs continue-led 69 companies (31.1%) of 222 | statpack continue_vs_trial_company_level |
| [5] | 1,727 of 4,406 CTAs are role-unknown (39%); role stats use 2,679 labeled / 1,886 primary | statpack role_distribution + smallSampleWarnings |
Methodology
Universe: 4,406 paywall CTAs extracted from ~800 tracked mobile apps (Supabase project, pulled July 2026), of which 1,886 are role-labeled primary. Button text merged with lower(trim()); role-based counts use labeled rows only. Caveat: 39% of CTAs are role-unknown and excluded from role stats.
Sources
- [1]
Lazyweb Research analysis of 1,886 primary paywall CTAs (from ~800 tracked mobile apps), July 2026
Exact lowercased button text grouped and counted; company counts via COUNT(DISTINCT lower(company_name)).
- [2]
Lazyweb Research analysis of 4,406 paywall CTAs (from ~800 tracked mobile apps), July 2026
Corpus of paywall CTAs extracted from app screenshots; 2,679 role-labeled, 1,886 primary.
Source: Lazyweb Research — proprietary analysis of real, in-market app screens. Cite as Lazyweb Research, 2026-07-07.