Overview

Two stage metered paywalls introduce a more flexible way to balance audience growth and subscription revenue. Instead of showing a single paywall after a set number of free articles, publishers can first prompt readers to register for free, then later invite them to subscribe.

This also provides a path to notably increasing the number of users that register before subscribing. While we do not force users to register before buying a subscription, by presenting the register choice to them first, and optionally giving them additional content for doing so, you create a natural flow in which customer are encouraged and rewarded for registering.

This staged approach lets you capture more registered users, extend their engagement, and improve overall conversion rates, while keeping control over when and how each step appears.

By separating registration and subscription prompts, we aim to increase conversion opportunities, reduce user drop-off, and give customers finer control over access rules.

What is a Two stage paywall?

A two stage paywall allows for at least two distinct access thresholds:

1. Registration wall (Regwall) - shown after X free articles. Prompts anonymous users to register for free (or subscribe).
2. Subscription wall (Paywall) - shown after Y (can be the same value as X) additional articles. Prompts registered users to subscribe.

Each stage can have its own copy and buttons, allowing you to tailor the experience and messaging at every step. You can also decide whether a user is able to subscriber on the regwall, or only sees the option to subscribe on the subsequent paywall. 

Note that the subscribe button will always be present in settings, unless the user is already a paying subscriber.

You can have as many different configurations of paywall as you like (ie one for registered users, one for lapsed), as long as your auth provider is capable of differentiating the users.

As with existing paywalls, subscribers remain unaffected as does content excluded from any meters.

Analytics

All users who are marked as registered will have the following custom analytics dimension added to each of their events in the app, meaning you should be able to adequately differentiate between and track registered vs non-registered users. 

<category scheme="http://schema.pugpig.com/user/custom_analytics/paywall_override" term="registered"/>

Where can it appear?

These paywalls can be applied anywhere metered access is already supported on any paid content. Current examples include:

• Standard metered paywall journeys (anonymous > registered > subscribed)
• Registration-only experiences (anonymous > registered)
• Registration-required experiences (must register before reading any content)

Who can use it?

Two stage paywalls are available to all customers on versions of Bolt later than June 2026. 

They are ideal for publishers who want to:

• Increase registration rates before asking for payment
• Customise user journeys based on authentication state

What is needed to get it live?

To enable a two-stage paywall, we need a way of identifying users who should be classed as registered. Either your authentication provider must include a new paywall_override key in its verify response, and an additional key to ensure you can see analytics for users in different states. Or it must have another clearly identifiable value that we can map from.

This will then tell the app which paywall stage to show including any meter behaviour and copy differences. For example, switching from the anonymous meter to a registered meter once the user has signed up.

So you will need to do one of:

1. Work with your authentication provider to add the two paywall_override keys to the verify response.
2. Let our team know what value in your auth response should be used to determine whether a user is registered.

And then you will need to:

• Provide separate copy for your registration and subscription steps

<category scheme="http://schema.pugpig.com/paywall_override" term="registered"/>

<category scheme="http://schema.pugpig.com/user/custom_analytics/paywall_override" term="registered"/>

Subscribe button on each paywall stage

By default, users who are eligible to subscribe see a subscribe button on every paywall. With a two stage paywall you can choose to:

• show the subscribe button on every paywall (default)
• never show it on the paywall
• show it only on paywalls that don’t have a register button. The regwall then asks users to register, and the later paywall asks them to subscribe.

The last option is the usual choice. If you have more than one user state, for example registered and lapsed, tell us which ones should be offered subscribe, as each is set up separately.

This setting can only hide the button. Users who aren’t eligible to subscribe won’t see it either way, and Subscribe in settings isn’t affected. It needs Bolt iOS 5.1.3 / Android 5.2.3 or later.