Leaky Paywall Trials

How to setup trials with Leaky Paywall

1. Go to Leaky Paywall > Settings > Subscriptions in the WordPress admin.

2. Edit the level you want to add a trial to

3. Make sure Enable Recurring Payments is checked for the level and click "Save".  Now you will see the option to enabled a trial for that level.

4. Check the "Enable trials for this level" setting.

4. Select your Trial type.  If using Stripe, you will see either "free", "paid - discount", or "paid - subscription delay".  If using Stripe Checkout, you see only "free" and "paid - discount".

5. For a "free trial", enter the number of days before the card is charged.

6. For a "paid discount trial", enter the amount off each discounted payment. This can be a flat amount or a percentage. To discount more than the first payment, enter the number of payments in "Apply the discount to the first N payments". Ex: $13 off the first 3 payments of a $20 monthly level charges $7 a month for 3 months, then $20 a month. Leave it blank to discount the first payment only. More than one payment works for levels billed by the month or year.

7. For a "paid - subscription delay", enter the initial payment amount and how long to wait before starting the subscription. Ex: $10 for 3 months, then $100 per year

8. Enter a message to show on the subscribe card and registration for this level telling users about the trial. 

9. Click the blue “Save Settings” button.

What readers see at checkout

The registration form shows the trial price and the date the full price starts, for example "No charge today, then $20 every 1 month starting November 3, 2026" or "$7.00 every 1 month for 3 months, then $20 every 1 month starting January 20, 2027".

Trial ending reminder email

Leaky Paywall can email readers before their trial or introductory price ends. Go to Leaky Paywall > Settings > Emails and click Manage next to "Trial Ending Reminder Email".

1. Check "Enable this email".
2. Set "When to Send Reminder" to how many days before the trial ends to send it. The default is 7.
3. Edit the subject and body if you like. You can use %trialenddate%, %renewalprice%, %renewalterm%, %subscriptionname% and %accounturl%.
4. Click Save Settings, then use Send Test Email to see how it looks.

The reminder is sent once per trial. It isn't sent to readers who have cancelled, or for trials shorter than the reminder window. If you sell to readers in California, its automatic renewal law requires a reminder 3 to 21 days before a free trial or promotional price ends. Readers who started a trial before Trials 1.10.0 don't receive it.

Limiting trials to one per reader

Check "Limit to one trial redemption per email address" on a level so each email address can take that level's trial once. You can set a message and an alternative level to offer readers who have already used it. A trial on a different level doesn't count.

Trial conversion rate

The Trial Conversion card on the Leaky Paywall dashboard shows how many trials that ended in the selected period went on to pay the full price. A trial ends on the date the full price starts. Stripe also reports trial conversions; see the Stripe help doc.