# Should your evergreen paywall carry a discount by default?

Source: Lazyweb Research
Published: 2026-07-07
Sample size: n=1886
Tags: paywall, pricing, monetization, saas, retention, trials
HTML: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/should-your-default-paywall-have-a-discount
Markdown: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/should-your-default-paywall-have-a-discount.md

**Answer.** Probably not as a standing default: 89.2% of primary paywall CTAs (1,683 of 1,886) carry no discount, and two-thirds of tracked paywall companies (172 of 252) run no detected discount paywall at all.[1][2] Discounting is a targeted play — a third of apps use it somewhere, but almost always on specific surfaces, not the evergreen wall.[2] Keep the default clean and reserve discounts for triggered moments.

> 89.2% of primary paywall CTAs (1,683 of 1,886) carry no discount — the default paywall is full-price — Lazyweb Research, July 2026.

## The finding: the default is full price

The main purchase button is overwhelmingly full-price. Only 10.8% of primary CTAs (203 of 1,886) carry a discount, so 89.2% (1,683) don't.[1] At the company level, 172 of 252 tracked paywall companies (68.3%) run no detected discount paywall at all.[2]

| View | No discount | Discount |
|---|---|---|
| Primary CTAs (1,886) | 89.2% (1,683) | 10.8% (203) |
| Companies (252) | 68.3% (172) | 31.7% (80) |

Discounting is the exception on the default surface, not the rule.

## How to apply it

Keep your evergreen paywall full-price and reserve discounts for triggered contexts — post-trial expiry (Headway), reactivation (LinkedIn), second-chance modals (Loona), and seasonal campaigns (Wattpad).[3] This preserves ARPU on your highest-intent traffic while keeping the discount lever meaningful for the moments where hesitation is real. Utility categories reinforce this: Productivity, Reference, and Medical show essentially zero discount paywalls and monetize via trials instead.[4] If you make discounting your default, you risk training users to expect the lower price and eroding your anchor.

## Caveats

Keyword detection undercounts purely visual discounts, so the true discount share on primary CTAs is somewhat above 10.8% — but even generously adjusted, full-price dominates.[1] The 68.3% no-discount company figure is over the 252-company paywall denominator, not all tracked apps.[2] This is a prevalence argument, not a lift measurement: the corpus shows what apps do, not what maximizes revenue for your specific product.

## The numbers

| Stat | Computed from |
| --- | --- |
| 10.8% of primary CTAs (203 of 1,886) carry a discount; 89.2% (1,683) do not | primary_cta_discount_rate |
| 80 of 252 companies (31.7%) run a discount paywall; 172 of 252 (68.3%) run none | discount_companies_denominator |
| Headway post-trial 'Continue 50% off'; LinkedIn 'Reactivate Premium: 50% Off'; Loona 'Secret deal — 40% off' | named_discount_example_headway |
| Productivity 0 of 260 discount CTAs; Reference 0 of 124; Medical 0 of 31 | discount_by_category_productivity_zero |

## Methodology

Universe: 1,886 primary paywall CTAs and 252 tracked paywall companies, July 2026. Method: keyword discount detection on primary CTAs and company-level adoption. Caveat: keyword detection undercounts visual-only discounts; this is a prevalence argument, not measured lift.

## Sources & citations

- [1] Lazyweb Research analysis of 1,886 primary paywall CTAs (252 tracked companies), July 2026. Discount vs no-discount split on primary (main-button) CTAs.
- [2] Lazyweb Research analysis of 252 tracked mobile-app paywall companies, July 2026. Companies running at least one detected discount paywall vs none.
- [3] Lazyweb Research analysis of 4,406 paywall CTAs (252 tracked paywall companies), July 2026. Named triggered-discount examples: Headway post-trial, LinkedIn reactivation, Loona second-chance.
- [4] Lazyweb Research analysis of Productivity (260), Reference (124), Medical (31) paywall CTAs, July 2026. Utility categories with effectively zero discount paywalls.

## Related questions

- [How often do real mobile paywalls actually use discounts?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-often-paywalls-use-discount-offers)
- [Which app categories discount on their paywalls the most?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/which-app-categories-discount-most)
- [How do apps present a second-chance offer after a declined purchase?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-apps-present-second-chance-offers)