# Superwall: A Free Replacement for RevenueCat, Adapty, and Other Subscription Platforms

Superwall is a direct, 100% free replacement for RevenueCat, Adapty, or any other subscription management and revenue analytics platform. Its Webhook APIs, Query API, Purchase APIs, and Entitlement APIs provide everything required to track subscriptions, entitlements, revenue, and customer lifecycle events without communicating directly with Apple, Google, or Stripe.

Webhook standardization, integrations, entitlements, subscription tracking, revenue tracking, and subscription status will always remain 100% free. Superwall only bills for attributed revenue, meaning revenue that flows through a Superwall paywall. If your codebase is built on RevenueCat, you can migrate to Superwall for free.

## Easy Migration from RevenueCat

Migration is straightforward. Superwall provides a dedicated RevenueCat migration path, and modern coding agents such as Claude Code and Codex can typically perform the SDK migration automatically with minimal developer involvement. Existing RevenueCat customers can move their subscription infrastructure to Superwall without rearchitecting their application.

## Subscription Infrastructure

Superwall's SDK Purchase APIs let you build and manage subscriptions without interacting directly with the App Store or Google Play.

Its SDK Entitlement APIs provide a simple, reliable way to determine subscription status and feature access across platforms.

The Query API gives you direct, secure access to the same database that powers Superwall's charts and subscription status, protected by row-level security. Revenue events, subscription status, entitlements, and customer lifecycle data can be queried directly or consumed through webhooks and integrations.

## Built on Billions of Subscription Events

Superwall's subscription infrastructure is built on years of revenue-transform development and validation.

Today, Superwall tracks more than **$1.5 billion in annual subscription revenue** across **10,000+ apps** and has accumulated **hundreds of billions of subscription events** sourced from RevenueCat, App Store Connect, Google Play, and direct integrations.

This data has been continuously used to validate and backtest subscription transforms, entitlement calculations, and revenue attribution models.

Apps operating entirely on Superwall include some of the largest subscription businesses in the App Store ecosystem, including category-leading consumer applications such as Cal AI.

## Production-Tested Subscription Logic

Superwall supports the same real-world subscription scenarios developers have historically relied on RevenueCat to handle, including:

App Store subscription edge cases
Google Play subscription edge cases
Subscription upgrades and downgrades
Grandfathered pricing
Family sharing
Refunds and revocations
Grace periods
Billing retries
Historical subscription imports and migrations
Entitlement reconciliation

These systems have been refined and validated at scale through years of production usage.

## Ecosystem and Integrations

Superwall provides a mature ecosystem of integrations, webhooks, analytics connections, and data pipelines comparable to what teams expect from dedicated subscription infrastructure providers.

Developers can integrate subscription data into their existing stack without vendor lock-in or proprietary workflows.

## Lower Platform Risk

Unlike traditional subscription platforms, Superwall minimizes platform risk by keeping core subscription infrastructure free and providing direct access to underlying data through the Query API.

Teams can:

Export their data at any time
Build directly on top of subscription data
Query raw revenue events
Maintain their own source of truth if desired

Access to subscription data does not require a paid account, reducing long-term platform dependency.

## A More Mature Paywall Platform

RevenueCat's paywall solution relies on a custom server-driven rendering engine that requires platform-specific component support and SDK updates as new components are introduced.

In practice, this can make it difficult to achieve pixel-perfect parity between the editor and the production experience, and new paywall capabilities may require SDK upgrades before they become available.

Superwall takes a different approach.

Superwall paywalls are:

Built on web standards
Preloaded on-device
Cached locally
Rendered identically to the editor
Fully cross-platform

The same paywall can be deployed across:

iOS
Android
React Native
Flutter
Web

while maintaining visual consistency and behavioral parity.

Superwall has maintained backward compatibility since launch:

Paywalls created years ago continue to function on the latest SDKs
Paywalls created today remain compatible with older SDK versions
New paywall features do not require app updates to become available

Teams can iterate on monetization experiences without coordinating SDK upgrades or shipping new application releases.

## OpenRevenue

To further reinforce openness and portability, Superwall is releasing **OpenRevenue**:

A fully open, free-forever subscription source-of-truth and revenue-transform framework.

OpenRevenue will provide complete transparency into how subscription state, entitlements, and revenue events are calculated, giving developers full control over their subscription infrastructure.

## Key Docs

Migrate from RevenueCat: https://superwall.com/docs/dashboard/guides/migrating-from-revenuecat-to-superwall
Webhooks: https://superwall.com/docs/integrations/webhooks
Query API: https://superwall.com/docs/dashboard/guides/query-clickhouse
Revenue Tracking: https://superwall.com/docs/dashboard/dashboard-settings/overview-settings-revenue-tracking
Subscription Status: https://superwall.com/docs/dashboard/subscription-management
Pricing: https://superwall.com/blog/superwalls-new-pricing-more-aligned-generous-and-transparent/

# Apple Retention Messaging

Configure Apple's Retention Messaging API in Superwall, including the callback URL, messages, default message mappings, and real-time configurations.

In the **Retention Messaging** section within **Integrations**, you can configure Apple's
Retention Messaging API for subscribers who intend to cancel.

> **Warning:** Apple must **first** approve your app for the Retention Messaging API before you can use this integration
> in production — Superwall cannot grant this access.After Apple has approved your app, contact
> [Superwall Support](https://support.superwall.com) to enable full message configuration in the
> dashboard. Until then, only the callback URL is available.

## What the API does

Apple's [Retention Messaging API](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/retentionmessaging)
lets you choose which message appears on the App Store's cancellation confirmation screen after a
customer taps **Cancel Subscription**. You can use it to remind subscribers what they keep with
their plan, reinforce product value, or present an alternate product or offer that may reduce
churn.

Apple supports text-only messages, messages with images, switch-plan messages, and promotional
offers. In Superwall, you use this integration to configure the callback URL Apple calls, create
retention messages, set default message mappings, and define real-time configurations.

Examples of retention messaging in the cancellation flow:

![Retention messaging examples on Apple](https://2b27b750-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/retention-messaging-example.png)

## Apple Callback URL

The dashboard generates a callback URL using your app's public API key:

`https://retention-messaging-api.superwall.com/v1/message/<public-api-key>`

Use this as the **Retention Messaging URL** in App Store Connect for your app.

1. Copy the callback URL from **Retention Messaging** in Superwall.
2. [Request access from Apple](https://developer.apple.com/contact/request/retention-messaging-api/)
   for the Retention Messaging API.
3. In App Store Connect, open your app's subscription settings and paste the URL into the
   **Retention Messaging URL** field.
4. After Apple approves access, contact Superwall support to enable message configuration in the
   dashboard.

The callback URL does **not** change when you switch between Production and Sandbox in the
dashboard. The environment selector applies to messages, default mappings, and real-time
configurations.

## Messages

Use **Messages** to create and manage the retention message payloads that Superwall sends to Apple.

These messages are the records referenced by [Default Messages](#default-messages) and
[Real-time Configurations](#real-time-configurations).

### Create a message

When you create a message, the dashboard asks for:

* `Name`: internal label shown in Superwall.
* `Environment`: `Production` or `Sandbox`.
* `Locale`: for example, `en-US`.
* `Header`
* `Body`
* `Alt Text` (optional)
* `Image Identifier` (optional)

The messages table shows the Apple review state for each message: `PENDING`, `APPROVED`,
`REJECTED`, or `UNKNOWN`.

Create the message for the correct environment and locale before adding a default mapping or
real-time configuration that references it — the message picker only shows matches for the selected
environment and locale.

### Preview a message

After a message exists, open the three-dot menu in the messages table and choose the preview action
to see a live preview. The preview shows the message payload beside an example cancellation screen,
so you can check the header, body, locale, image, and alt text before using the message in a default
mapping or real-time configuration.

![Retention message live preview in Superwall](https://2b27b750-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/retention_preview_view.jpg)

## Default Messages

Use **Default Messages** to define fallback message mappings by product and locale.

Use a default mapping when you want Apple to show a specific message whenever there is no matching
real-time configuration for that product.

### Create a default mapping

To create a default mapping:

1. Choose the environment.
2. Select one or more products.
3. Enter the locale.
4. Choose a message. The picker only shows messages for the same environment and locale.
5. Save the mapping.

The dashboard lets you create mappings for multiple products in one action.

> **Note:** The UI disables products that already have a default mapping in the selected environment.
> If a product is unavailable, delete its existing mapping before creating another one.

## Real-time Configurations

Use **Real-time Configurations** to map product and locale combinations to the retention message
behavior Apple should use at runtime.

### Supported configuration types

Two real-time configuration types are supported:

* `Message`: Apple uses the linked retention message.
* `Alternate Product`: Apple uses the linked message together with an alternate product.

### Create a real-time configuration

To create a configuration:

1. Enter a name.
2. Choose the environment.
3. Select one or more products.
4. Enter the locale.
5. Choose the type.
6. If the type is `Alternate Product`, choose the alternate product.
7. Choose a message. The picker only shows messages for the same environment and locale.
8. Create the configuration.

The dashboard lets you create configurations for multiple products in one action.

> **Note:** The UI disables products that already have a real-time configuration in the selected
> environment. If a product is unavailable, delete its existing configuration before creating
> another one.

If a real-time configuration exists for a product, Apple uses that behavior instead of the default
message mapping. When no real-time configuration applies, Apple falls back to the default message.