How to add a paywall upgrade prompt in a Replit app without a developer
A soft paywall in a Replit app: when a free user reaches a paid feature, a modal explains the upgrade and links to your pricing page — targeted by plan, measured, and editable without a release.
- Time
- ● 20 minutes
- Price
- 14-day free trial, no card
- Who does it
- You and Replit Agent
Example: an upgrade prompt in a Replit app
A Replit booking app for photographers. On their third visit to /bookings, free users see “Take deposits and send reminders with Pro” once, with a link to pricing.
This format is part of the Pro plan. Every new account starts with a 14-day free trial with all formats and audience rules, no card required. When the trial ends nothing is deleted and published items keep showing; the Free plan keeps tours and tooltips free.
How to add the paywall prompt in a Replit app, step by step
- Step 01
Copy your Clew snippet
Create a free account (or sign in), add your site and open Admin → Overview. Click the line in the “No signal from the widget yet.” card to copy it — it carries your real site key instead of the placeholder.
<!-- Clew: replace PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEY with the site key from Admin > Overview --> <script src="https://tryclew.io/widget/PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEY.js" async></script>

Step 1 · schematic illustration - Step 02
Open the Repl with Agent or Assistant
Open your app in Replit and start Agent (or Assistant). Replit templates differ, so let it find the root template.

Step 2 · schematic illustration - Step 03
Send the prompt with your key
Replace
PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEYwith your key and send the prompt below.Add the Clew onboarding widget to this app. Insert this exact tag once so it loads on every page, including after client-side route changes: <script src="https://tryclew.io/widget/PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEY.js" async></script> This is a Replit project: find the HTML template or root layout that every page uses (index.html, a server-rendered layout or the framework root) and put the tag right before </head>. After the signed-in user is loaded, and whenever the subscription changes, call Clew.identify({ plan: <the user's current plan id as a string, e.g. "free"> }). If the widget may not have loaded yet, first define the queue stub: window.TutorKit = window.TutorKit || { q: [], identify: function (p) { this.q.push(["identify", p]); } }; then call window.TutorKit.identify(...). Add a data-tour attribute to the buttons of paid features (for example data-tour="export"). Do not add any payment, gating or paywall logic of your own and do not change what the buttons do. Rules: - Use the script URL exactly as given. Do not download it, bundle it or install an npm package. - If the project sets a Content-Security-Policy, allow https://tryclew.io in script-src and connect-src. - Change nothing else and show me the diff.
Step 3 · schematic illustration - Step 04
Review and redeploy
Check the changed files, then redeploy from Deployments. The workspace webview is a dev server; users see the deployment.

Step 4 · schematic illustration - Step 05
Write the upgrade prompt
In Clew open Flows → + New flow and choose Modal window. One step: a title with the benefit (“Export to CSV is on Pro”), one sentence of value, and in Link text / Link URL the button and your pricing or checkout URL.

Step 5 · schematic illustration - Step 06
Choose where, when and for whom it shows
In the same editor, set Where to show (page URL), When to show, Audience targeting and Frequency. These are the settings of the example above:
Setting Value Format Modal window Where to show (page URL) Section by prefix /bookingsWhen to show On the Nth visit: 3 Audience targeting Property planequalsfreeFrequency Once per visitor 
Step 6 · schematic illustration - Step 07
Publish and check it on the live site
Set Status to Published and save. Open the page in a private window — Clew remembers who has already seen a “once” item, so your usual browser may skip it. Views, completions and drop-offs appear in the tour stats.

Step 7 · schematic illustration
Pitfalls: paywall upgrade prompt in a Replit app
Dev URL vs deployment
The .replit.dev preview and the deployed .replit.app or custom domain are different sites for visitors. Paths match, so rules work on both, but only the deployment reaches users.
Server-rendered templates
Express or Flask apps may have several templates. If the paywall upgrade prompt shows on some pages only, ask Agent to put the tag in the shared base template.
The prompt doesn’t replace access checks
If the paid feature is reachable for free users in your app, the modal appears but the feature still works behind it. Check that the server side enforces the plan; the prompt is only the message.
Update the property after upgrading
Properties live in the browser until the app sends a new value. Call Clew.identify({ plan: "pro" }) after a successful upgrade, or the new customer keeps seeing the prompt.
Questions and answers
Why only once?
Because nothing was clicked: a gentle, one-time prompt after real usage converts better than a repeating banner.
Do I need a paid Replit plan?
You need whatever plan your deployment uses; Clew adds nothing to it — the script is loaded from Clew’s servers.
Does Clew take the payment?
No. The button links to your own pricing page or checkout; Clew never handles cards, subscriptions or access.
Is the paywall prompt free?
It needs the modal format and an audience rule, both in Pro. The 14-day trial includes them, no card.
What else you can add in a Replit app
- How to create a product tour in a Replit app without a developer
- How to add an onboarding checklist in a Replit app without a developer
- How to set up user onboarding in a Replit app without a developer
Paywall prompt on other platforms
- ShopifyHow to add a paywall upgrade prompt on Shopify without a developer
- Google Tag ManagerHow to add a paywall upgrade prompt via Google Tag Manager without a developer
- LovableHow to add a paywall upgrade prompt in a Lovable app without a developer
- Bolt.newHow to add a paywall upgrade prompt in a Bolt.new app without a developer
- v0How to add a paywall upgrade prompt in a v0 app without a developer
- CursorHow to add a paywall upgrade prompt in an app built with Cursor without a developer
- Claude CodeHow to add a paywall upgrade prompt with Claude Code without a developer
- ChatGPT CodexHow to add a paywall upgrade prompt with ChatGPT Codex without a developer
- Qwen CodeHow to add a paywall upgrade prompt with Qwen Code without a developer