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Mobile Development · head to head

Adapty vs React Native

Adapty logo

Adapty

Mobile Development

In-app subscription and paywall platform, free below 5,000 USD of monthly revenue then 1 percent, with add-ons charged separately

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
React Native logo

React Native

Mobile Development

Build native mobile apps with React and JavaScript

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Adapty the 1 percent headline is only the base rate; Refund Saver at 0.2 percent of revenue, Ads Manager at 3.5 percent of ad spend, Attribution at 0.03 USD per install and Adapty Mail at a 20 percent revenue share stack on top and are individually easy to switch on.; React Native the JavaScript bridge has historically been a bottleneck for animation-heavy and list-heavy screens, though the New Architecture addresses much of it
  • They diverge on capability: Adapty covers Visual paywall builder, React Native covers Renders to native components.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Adapty and React Native actually diverge.

Attributes where Adapty and React Native differ
AttributeAdaptyReact Native
Pricing modelPer month by tracked revenueOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsiOS, Android, Web, React Native, FlutteriOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Web

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Mobile Development).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Adapty

  • Visual paywall builder
  • A/B testing on paywalls
  • Cross-platform entitlements
  • Subscription analytics
  • Refund Saver add-on
  • Attribution and Ads Manager add-ons

Only in React Native

  • Renders to native components
  • React programming model
  • Native modules
  • Fast Refresh
  • Wide platform reach
  • Large package ecosystem

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Adapty

  • A growth marketer who needs to test paywall pricing weekly without an engineering ticket or an app releasenot React Native
  • A small subscription app that wants to stay free longer than the 2,500 USD threshold offered by the main competitornot React Native
  • Consolidating subscription analytics and paywall experimentation in one place rather than wiring an analytics tool to a billing SDKnot React Native
  • Automating Apple refund responses where a measurable share of revenue is lost to refund requestsnot React Native

React Native

  • Teams with React experience on the web extending into mobilenot Adapty
  • Apps that should feel like the platform rather than look identical across bothnot Adapty
  • Adding a mobile client to a product whose engineers already write JavaScriptnot Adapty
  • Reusing business logic between web and mobile codebasesnot Adapty

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Adapty

  • The 1 percent headline is only the base rate; Refund Saver at 0.2 percent of revenue, Ads Manager at 3.5 percent of ad spend, Attribution at 0.03 USD per install and Adapty Mail at a 20 percent revenue share stack on top and are individually easy to switch on.
  • Revenue is calculated before platform fees, so the fee applies to money Apple and Google have already taken a 15 to 30 percent cut of, making the effective rate on received cash noticeably higher than the quoted figure.
  • Adapty Mail at a 20 percent revenue share is a large ongoing cost for a channel most teams would otherwise run through an email platform they already pay a flat fee for.
  • The integration ecosystem, third-party tutorials and hiring pool are smaller than the category leader, so engineers are less likely to have used it before and edge cases have fewer public answers.
  • Paywall configuration and entitlement state live with the vendor, so a migration later means rebuilding both the billing integration and every paywall the marketing team has created.

React Native

  • The JavaScript bridge has historically been a bottleneck for animation-heavy and list-heavy screens, though the New Architecture addresses much of it
  • Upgrading between versions has a reputation for being painful, particularly with many native dependencies
  • Anything the framework does not wrap requires native code in Swift or Kotlin, so a purely JavaScript team can still get stuck
  • Because it renders to real platform components, small behavioural differences between iOS and Android surface in your code rather than being hidden

Pricing, plan by plan

Adapty

Free
  • Pro under thresholdFree
    • Free until monthly revenue reaches 5,000 USD
    • All core features, no tiers and no fixed costs
    • Paywall builder and A/B testing included
  • Pro$undefined/month
    • 1 percent of monthly revenue above the 5,000 USD threshold
    • Refund Saver adds 0.2 percent of monthly revenue
    • Ads Manager adds 3.5 percent of monthly ad spend
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Quoted
    • White-glove onboarding
    • 24/7 dedicated Slack support and a success manager

React Native

Free
  • React NativeFree
    • Full framework
    • iOS and Android targets
    • Native module system

Which should you pick?

Choose Adapty if

  • You need visual paywall builder.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web, React Native, Flutter.
  • You also want a/b testing on paywalls.
Adapty review

Choose React Native if

  • You need renders to native components.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Web.
  • You also want react programming model.
React Native review

Questions people ask

Is Adapty or React Native better?
Neither clearly leads. Adapty starts at Free and React Native at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Adapty or React Native?
Adapty starts at Free and React Native at Free.
Does Adapty or React Native run on more platforms?
Adapty runs on iOS, Android, Web, React Native, Flutter. React Native runs on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Web.
Can I use Adapty for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Adapty best used for?
Adapty is most often used for a growth marketer who needs to test paywall pricing weekly without an engineering ticket or an app release, a small subscription app that wants to stay free longer than the 2,500 usd threshold offered by the main competitor, consolidating subscription analytics and paywall experimentation in one place rather than wiring an analytics tool to a billing sdk, automating apple refund responses where a measurable share of revenue is lost to refund requests. Of those, a growth marketer who needs to test paywall pricing weekly without an engineering ticket or an app release and a small subscription app that wants to stay free longer than the 2,500 usd threshold offered by the main competitor are not what React Native is typically brought in for.
What can Adapty do that React Native cannot?
Adapty covers Visual paywall builder, A/B testing on paywalls, Cross-platform entitlements, Subscription analytics. React Native covers Renders to native components, React programming model, Native modules, Fast Refresh.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Adapty: How much does it cost above the free threshold?

1 percent of monthly revenue, measured in USD before platform fees, with billing starting once you exceed 5,000 USD in a 30 day period.

React Native: Is React Native free?

Yes. React Native is open source from Meta with no licence fee, and it is free for commercial use.

Adapty: Is the free tier really more generous than RevenueCat?

On the base product yes, 5,000 USD against 2,500 USD of monthly revenue, but add-ons are priced separately where the competitor bundles more into its single rate.

React Native: Does React Native produce a real native app?

Yes. JavaScript primitives render to the platform’s own UI components using the same native APIs a Swift or Kotlin app would call, rather than to a web view.

Adapty: Can marketing change paywalls without a release?

Yes, that is the main reason teams choose it; paywalls are configured server side and published without going through app review.

React Native: Which well-known apps use React Native?

Meta cites Facebook, Microsoft Office, Teams and Outlook, Amazon Shopping, Discord, Coinbase and Tesla among thousands of apps built with it.

Adapty: What does Refund Saver actually do?

It responds to Apple refund requests with transaction evidence to contest them, and it costs an additional 0.2 percent of monthly revenue.

React Native: Should I use Expo or plain React Native?

Expo handles builds, updates and native configuration for you and is the recommended starting point. Plain React Native gives full control of the native projects, which matters when you need native code the managed workflow does not cover.

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