Rule 4: Match Your Plan Mix to Category and Geography
4 minThe rule: sell the durations your users actually buy, keep the choice simple, and feature the annual plan, because annual is what carries your lifetime value.
What the data says: annual drives LTV
Plan duration outweighs price tier and access model for retention. One-year retention by duration:
| Duration | Year-1 retention (median) | Active renewal rate (overall) |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | 1% to 2% | 18.7% |
| Monthly | 6% to 14% | 39.2% |
| Yearly | 20% to 40% | 83.4% |
Yearly plans renew at more than four times the rate of weekly and roughly twice that of monthly. Weekly subscribers churn almost completely within a year, so a weekly-heavy app lives or dies on early monetization.
Match the mix to your category
The overall market sells 23 percent weekly, 42 percent monthly, 34 percent yearly, but categories differ sharply:
| Category | Dominant plan |
|---|---|
| Gaming | Weekly (82% combined short plans) |
| Productivity | Yearly (77%) |
| Travel, Shopping | Yearly (about 66%) |
| Health & Fitness | Yearly (68%) |
And match it to geography
- North America and Western Europe: most yearly-skewed (40% and 35%). Push annual.
- MEA: 55% monthly. Lead with monthly.
- Latin America: 29% weekly, the highest. Lead with weekly.
Keep the paywall simple
Two-plan paywalls dominate, at 41 to 60 percent across categories. More options create decision overload, which kills conversion. Default to two well-chosen plans with the annual option highlighted.
Do this in RevenueCat
- Configure your plans as packages in an Offering, and mark the annual package as the highlighted default.
- Use Targeting and Placements to serve region- or segment-specific Offerings, for example a monthly-first Offering in MEA and an annual-first Offering in North America.
- Hold the paywall to two visible plans unless testing proves a third earns its place.
Benchmark yourself
If your sales are concentrated in weekly or monthly while your category leans yearly, you are likely capping your LTV. Shift acquisition and paywall emphasis toward the annual plan and watch active renewal rate.