Subscription revenue

Four sources report subscriptions: Stripe, RevenueCat, Superwall, and Whop. This page explains which metrics exist and what each one counts.

The lifecycle

Stage	What happened	Revenue
Trial start	Access began. No money moved	`0`
Trial conversion	The first paid period after a trial	Gross price
Initial purchase	The first paid period without a trial	Gross price
Renewal	A later paid period	Gross price
Cancellation	Future billing stopped. Access can continue	`0`
Expiration	Access ended	`0`
Billing failure	A charge failed. The store retries	`0`
Refund	Money from a completed payment went back	Negative

Do not count trial starts as customers. Do not count renewals as acquisitions. Send initial paid conversions to your ad platforms, and read renewals separately.

Metrics per source

Metric	Stripe	RevenueCat	Superwall	Whop
New subscriptions	`stripe_subscriptions_created`	`revenuecat_subscriptions_started`	`superwall_subscriptions_started`	`whop_subscriptions`
Cancellations	`stripe_subscriptions_canceled`	`revenuecat_subscriptions_cancelled`	`superwall_subscriptions_cancelled`	`whop_cancellations`
Renewals	`stripe_subscription_payments`	`revenuecat_subscriptions_renewed`	`superwall_subscriptions_renewed`	None
Trial starts	None	`revenuecat_trial_starts`	`superwall_trial_starts`	None
Trial conversions	None	`revenuecat_trial_conversions`	`superwall_trial_conversions`	None
Billing failures	None	`revenuecat_billing_failures`	`superwall_billing_failures`	None
Expirations	None	`revenuecat_subscriptions_expired`	`superwall_subscriptions_expired`	None
Reactivations	None	`revenuecat_subscriptions_reactivated`	`superwall_subscriptions_reactivated`	None
Product changes	None	`revenuecat_product_changes`	`superwall_product_changes`	None
One-time purchases	None	`revenuecat_one_time_purchases`	`superwall_one_time_purchases`	None
Net revenue	Yes	Yes	Yes	None

RevenueCat adds two metrics Superwall lacks: revenuecat_subscriptions_extended and revenuecat_refunds_reversed.

Connect RevenueCat or Superwall, never both. Each writes the same fourteen event names for one store transaction, and we deduplicate inside a source rather than across them, so your mobile revenue doubles.

MRR and lifetime value

We compute MRR for Stripe only, from subscription items, with exact decimal arithmetic. Stripe MRR is unavailable for a subscription that is paused, discounted, metered, tiered, usage-based, on a schedule, mixed-currency, or priced without a fixed unit amount. We serve active_mrr_usd only when the baseline snapshot is complete and no subscription is incomplete, and return nothing rather than an approximation. MRR does not exist for RevenueCat, Superwall, or Whop. Datalyr has no lifetime-value metric. RevenueCat and Superwall write event_data.predicted_ltv equal to that single event’s net revenue, and a conversion rule can send that field to an ad platform. The field covers one event, not a customer’s history.

Align identity

Revenue joins a campaign only through the identity field of that source.

Source	Field	Helper
Stripe Checkout Session	`client_reference_id`	`datalyr.getStripeMetadata()`
Every other Stripe object	`metadata.visitor_id`	`datalyr.getVisitorId()`
RevenueCat	`datalyr_id` subscriber attribute	`getRevenueCatAttributes()`
Superwall	`datalyr_id` user attribute	`getSuperwallAttributes()`
Whop	Email or Whop Events context	Auto identity; checkout metadata is optional

On mobile, call the helper after both SDKs initialize. Call it again after the App Tracking Transparency prompt.

Verify

Open your paywall or pricing page in a private window with ?utm_source=doctest.
Open Events. Confirm a pageview row exists.
Start one trial or one paid subscription.
Open Events. Confirm a trial_started or subscription_started row.
Confirm visitor_id does not start with the source name.
Cancel the subscription. Confirm a cancellation row arrives.

When it does not work

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Revenue is not joined to a user	The identity field never reached the billing platform	Set it before the purchase, not after
`visitor_id` starts with `revenuecat_`, `superwall_`, or `stripe_`	The helper ran too late, or never ran	Call it after both SDKs initialize
`visitor_id` starts with `whop_`	No Datalyr visitor or email match exists	Check email capture before Whop checkout
Trial starts show revenue	A negative price flipped the event to revenue-bearing	Read `event_data.gross_revenue` on that row
MRR is empty	One subscription is unsupported, or the baseline is incomplete	Read `recurring_status` for the reason
Mobile revenue doubled	RevenueCat and Superwall are both connected	Disconnect one source
Sandbox purchases missing	We drop sandbox events on both mobile sources	Test in the production environment

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The lifecycle

Metrics per source

MRR and lifetime value

Align identity

Verify

When it does not work

​The lifecycle

​Metrics per source

​MRR and lifetime value

​Align identity

​Verify

​When it does not work

The lifecycle

Metrics per source

MRR and lifetime value

Align identity

Verify

When it does not work