# Toggle paywall vs timeline paywall: +19% ARPU for the toggle

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Paywall (App)
- Elements: Free trials, Pricing, Paywall design
- Date shared: 2026
- Test run by: [Fits](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/fits/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://www.revenuecat.com/blog/growth/rip-toggle-paywall/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/fits-toggle-vs-timeline-paywall/

Fits tested a toggle-style paywall against a Blinkist-style timeline paywall, and the toggle version won with 19% higher ARPU. A follow-up test by Fits founder Ludwig Henne found the toggle itself wasn't the main driver: the plan layout was. The result was published on the RevenueCat blog.

## Result

**+19% ARPU for the toggle paywall**

- ARPU: +19% for the toggle paywall against the timeline paywall.
- Follow-up: when Fits isolated the toggle, it was not the main source of the lift. The gain came from the visual hierarchy of the plans.
- Sample size, test length and confidence were not shared.

## Control

A Blinkist-style "honest" timeline paywall, showing what happens after the trial starts: access today, a reminder before the trial ends, then the charge.

## Variant

A toggle paywall in the style Adam Lyttle popularized. It had a free-trial switch, the yearly price shown as a smaller per-period amount, a "Most Popular" badge and a larger annual plan option.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Showing the yearly price broken down into a smaller amount made the annual plan look cheaper.
- The "Most Popular" badge and a bigger annual option drew attention to the higher-value plan.
- The timeline paywall is built to raise trust in the trial, which can lift trial starts without lifting revenue per user.

## Caveats

No sample size, duration or significance was shared, and the result was retold on the RevenueCat blog. Apple now rejects free-trial toggles on iOS, which matters less here since the plan layout drove the gain.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show the yearly price as a per-period amount, badge it "Most Popular" and make the annual option bigger, then ARPU will rise because the best-value plan looks cheaper and more obvious.
- Primary metric: ARPU
- Guardrail: Trial start rate
- Guardrail: Trial-to-paid conversion
- Guardrail: Refund rate
- Who should test it: Apps with a yearly plan that want more annual buyers, especially iOS apps that lost the toggle and want to keep its gains. Less useful if you sell a single plan.

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Credit: Fits ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/fits-toggle-vs-timeline-paywall/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.
