Reward on Paid Subscription

One of the most common and simplest referral campaigns is a multi-sided cash + free trial referral. The sender gets paid cash or monetary compensation for the referral, and the receiver gets an extended free trail.

This is one of the most straightforward referral structures, and a great one for new apps to start with. Monetary compensation is a strong incentive, and an extended free trials are often sufficient to entice new users to sign up. In addition, rewarding on paid subscriptions is one of the most reliable ways to avoid referral fraud.

Paid subscription: a reliable qualification gate

A paid subscription is the single best qualification gate for deciding whether a referral is genuine. To subscribe on the App Store you need an Apple Account (formerly Apple ID); on the Google Play Store you need a Google Account. These accounts require a verified, chargeable payment method and confirmed identity that is very difficult to spoof.

Easy integration

Another benefit of using a paid subscription as a qualification gate is the ease of setup and integration. Events for payment purchases, cancellations, and refunds automatically flow through Invitebase's integration with App Store Connect, RevenueCat, or Adapty. Once you connect your preferred payment provider, the purchase webhooks drive your qualification gate directly. No code required.

How it works

1. A referred user taps an invite link (https://mycompany.refr.link/a1b2c3) and installs your app. Invitebase attributes the install and the referral moves to signed_up — it is now linked, but nothing is paid or billed yet.
2. The user subscribes. RevenueCat or Adapty sends its purchase webhook to Invitebase, which maps it to a canonical subscription_started event for that user — no SDK track() call required.
3. The event satisfies the campaign's qualification gate. The referral transitions in_progress → validated, fraud checks run, and the reward fires.

The whole loop is testable in test mode before any real money or store traffic is involved.

The qualification gate

You build the gate visually in the dashboard rule builder. For this campaign it reads: the referred user must start a paid subscription within 14 days of signing up.

See Qualification gates for everything the rule builder can express.

Fraud prevention

Bad actors looking to defraud your referral campaign could convince friends and family to download your app, subscribe, then immediately cancel their subscription and delete the app. These users never intended to use your app - only to take advantage of your referral campaign.

Invitebase has checks in place to specifically handle these situations. The hold window sits between validation and payout, and your subscription provider's refund and cancellation events feed straight into it — so a subscription that unwinds inside the window claws the reward back before any money leaves your balance, and reverses the billing with it. The deterministic fraud controls catch the structural version of the same abuse: one referrer producing these signups in bulk, or the same person on both sides of the code.

Set it up

import invitebase from '@invitebase/js';

invitebase.configure(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_INVITEBASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY); // pk_test_…
await invitebase.identify({ id: 'usr_123' }); // must match your subscription provider's user ID

Invitebase.configure(publishableKey: "pk_test_51Hq2jK")
try await Invitebase.identify(
    InvitebaseUser(id: "usr_123") // must match your subscription provider's user ID
)

Invitebase.configure(this, "pk_test_51Hq2jK")
lifecycleScope.launch {
    Invitebase.identify(
        InvitebaseUser(id = "usr_123") // must match your subscription provider's user ID
    )
}

const invitebase = useInvitebase();

// must match your subscription provider's user ID
await invitebase.identify({ id: 'usr_123' });

await Invitebase.configure(publishableKey: 'pk_test_51Hq2jK');
await Invitebase.identify(
  InvitebaseUser(id: 'usr_123'), // must match your subscription provider's user ID
);

Test the whole loop in test mode

Everything below runs against your sk_test_… key. Test data is isolated, never billed, and never moves money.

curl https://api.invitebase.com/v1/referrers \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INVITEBASE_SECRET_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "external_id": "usr_referrer_1", "email": "maya@example.com" }'

curl https://api.invitebase.com/v1/referral-links \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INVITEBASE_SECRET_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "referrer_id": "6b1d4f9a-8e25-4c07-a3f6-1c5e9d7b2a84", "campaign_id": "7e1f8a3b-4c26-49d0-b591-0d8e2f6a3c15" }'

curl https://api.invitebase.com/v1/events \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INVITEBASE_SECRET_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: signup-usr-referee-1" \
  -d '{
    "name": "signup",
    "referred_user_id": "usr_referee_1",
    "referral_code": "a1b2c3"
  }'

curl https://api.invitebase.com/v1/events \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INVITEBASE_SECRET_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "subscription_started",
    "referred_user_id": "usr_referee_1",
    "properties": { "plan": "paid", "product_id": "pro_monthly" }
  }'

When the test loop is green, flip to your live keys. Nothing else changes.

What's next