Paywall model finder

Almost every publisher paywall is a variation on five models. The right one depends on how much of your content is genuinely must-read, how much traffic you have and how much you rely on search and social for reach.

Metered paywall

Readers get a set number of free articles in a period before the wall appears. It preserves reach, keeps search and social traffic largely intact and converts the most engaged readers. The trade-off is that only a small fraction of visitors ever reach the wall, and meters can be reset in private browsing unless you pair the meter with a registration step. Use the metered paywall calculator to test different free-article limits.

Freemium paywall

Some content stays open permanently while a defined premium tier is locked. It works where a clear subset of your output — analysis, data, investigations, exclusives — is obviously worth paying for. It needs daily editorial discipline about what counts as premium, and if the free side is too strong, readers never feel a reason to subscribe.

Hard or premium paywall

Most or all content is locked, with only headlines or short extracts open. This is the natural model for must-read specialist and trade titles serving professional audiences with high willingness to pay. Expect search and social reach to fall sharply — acquisition then leans on brand, referrals and newsletters.

Hybrid paywall

A combination: a general meter across the site plus hard-locked premium sections or franchises. It suits titles where content value is genuinely mixed. The cost is complexity — more rules to explain to readers, maintain internally and attribute results to.

Dynamic paywall

The wall adapts per reader based on behaviour and propensity to subscribe: a loyal repeat visitor may see a hard stop while a first-time search visitor sees an open article. It typically outperforms a fixed meter at scale, but it needs traffic volume, clean data and someone to own the models.

Whichever model you choose, price and retention decide the outcome as much as the mechanic — see our guide to subscription pricing for publishers.

The finder asks six questions — audience type, how much of your content is must-read, traffic scale, your current goal, the maturity of your data and team, and how much you rely on SEO and social reach. Each answer adds weighted points to one or more models. The model with the highest total is shown as the primary recommendation and the runner-up as an alternative; ties are broken in favour of the simpler model to run.

It is guidance, not a rule. The scoring encodes conventional publishing wisdom, not your specific data — treat the result as a starting point for a conversation with your editorial and commercial teams, and sanity-check it against the comparison table.

This tool provides general guidance for planning purposes only and is not financial, tax or legal advice. Nothing you enter is submitted or saved — the finder runs entirely in your browser.

• Metered paywall calculator — Mocono
• Reader revenue: a strategy guide for publishers — Mocono
• Subscription pricing for publishers — Mocono
• How to add a paywall to your website — Mocono