Two pricing strategies for mobile apps | Starter Story

When Pat Walls, the founder of PuffCount, switched his app from an ad-supported model to a hard paywall with a free trial, his conversion rate jumped from near zero to 20–25% overnight. That single change transformed his business. But the strategy only works under specific conditions—and applying it to the wrong type of app can backfire.

Why ads fail for some apps

The first decision in monetizing a mobile app is whether to use ads or in-app purchases. Walls learned this distinction the hard way. In his earlier games like Grid and Wordle, ads worked well because users spent long sessions inside the app—they were playing repeatedly, generating lots of ad impressions. But PuffCount is a tool-focused app: users open it, get what they need, and leave. "You're not expecting the user to be on your app for a super long period of time," Walls explains. With short session lengths, ad revenue is negligible.

This is the core mechanism: ad-based monetization depends on total time spent in the app, not just download count. A tool app with high downloads but low session duration will earn almost nothing from ads. The alternative is in-app purchases—either a one-time purchase or a recurring subscription (monthly, yearly, or weekly).

The hard paywall mechanism