“Hard paywalls convert five times better than premium. They do 10.7% download-to-paid by day 35 versus 2.1% for premium apps. And the retention on hard paywalls — the median is 27.7 for premium and 26.8 for yearly — kind of a wash.”

Hard paywalls convert 5x better than freemium — and retention is nearly identical

The 2026 SOSA report settles the freemium debate with data: hard paywalls convert at 10.7% versus 2.1% for freemium by day 35 — a 5x difference — while year-one retention is nearly identical. The free tier's supposed retention benefit disappears in aggregate. Eiting's reasoning: users are most primed to pay at the moment of download, and freemium simply delays and reduces that decision without improving long-term commitment.