Blog post
Priming-Based Onboarding: Convert Subscribers Before the Paywall
Most onboarding flows educate. The best ones prime subscribers to buy. Here's the psychology-backed framework for onboarding that converts.
Nami vs. Piano
The cross-platform Piano alternative.
Nami is the no-code paywall builder and experience layer for teams operating across connected TV, web, and mobile. Build the full subscriber journey from landing page to paywall to win-back on every screen, not just the web. Nami is a standalone subscription platform that connects directly to Apple, Google, Amazon, and Roku billing.
When each platform fits
Piano
For digital publishers and media businesses operating primarily on the web who want a tightly integrated rules engine, commerce platform, and identity stack as a single coupled solution.
Nami
For digital publishers, streaming services, and media businesses who orchestrate paywalls, pages, and flows across connected TV, web, and mobile.
Feature comparison
What each platform does, side by side.
Source for Piano details: piano.io/product (May 2026).
Platform coverage
 | Piano | |
|---|---|---|
| Web | ||
| iOS app (native paywall and journey product) | —† | |
| Android app (native paywall and journey product) | —† | |
| Apple TV | — | |
| Roku, Fire TV, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Android TV, Google TV, Vizio | — | |
| — |
Subscriber journey scope
| | Piano | |
|---|---|---|
| Paywalls | ‡ | |
| Landing pages | Web only | |
| Onboarding flows with conditional logic | Web only | |
| Upgrade & cross-sell screens | Web only | |
| Win-back screens | Web only | |
| Modals, half sheets, popovers | Web only | |
| Conditional routing across platforms (mobile + connected TV + web) | — |
Experimentation
| | Piano | |
|---|---|---|
| A/B testing on paywalls | ||
| Multivariate testing | ||
| Experiments on landing pages, onboarding flows, and offers | ✓ (web) | |
| Experiments across mobile apps and connected TV | — | |
| Subscription-aware experiment results | — |
Architecture: integrated platform vs. experience layer
| | Piano | |
|---|---|---|
| Visual paywall and journey editor | Includes | Includes |
| Subscriber CRM and entitlement management | Includes | Includes |
| Commerce engine | Integrates: App Store IAP, Google Play IAP, Stripe, Recurly, Roku Pay, in-house | Includes: VX (with Stripe option) |
| Identity & SSO | Integrates with your existing identity provider | Includes: Piano ID |
| Customer data platform / segmentation | Integrates: Amplitude, Adobe Experience Cloud, custom CDPs | Includes: Audience |
| Behavioral analytics platform | Integrates: Amplitude, mParticle, Segment, Adobe | Includes: Piano Analytics |
| Native mobile in-app purchases (App Store, Google Play) | ✓ | — |
Service & pricing
| | Piano | |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Professional Services partnership | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Custom enterprise pricing based on subscriber volume, platform scope, and service tier | Custom enterprise pricing; not publicly listed |
† Piano manages access and entitlements across mobile apps, but its no-code paywall and journey product is anchored to the web. Source: piano.io/product/activation/subscription-management. ‡ Piano's no-code paywall builder is web-based. Access control extends to mobile and other channels through Piano's external licensing system. Both architectures are valid: Piano is built as a tightly coupled stack — adopting it usually means adopting the stack. Nami is the experience layer that connects on top of the analytics, CDP, identity, and billing tools the customer already runs.
Why Nami wins for enterprise teams
Why enterprise teams choose Nami over Piano.
Nami is built for enterprise teams from the ground up: custom-quoted pricing, Professional Services partnership, and a platform that runs on every screen, from connected TV to web to mobile. Piano is built for web-first publishing, capable on mobile through external licensing but with no native CTV presence and a tightly coupled stack (VX, Piano ID, Audience, Piano Analytics) customers adopt together. For multi-platform teams running their own stack on every screen, that's a meaningful gap.
Coverage on every screen subscribers use, not just the web
Piano's no-code paywall and journey product is anchored to the web by design. Nami's no-code paywall builder ships Apple TV paywalls, Roku paywalls, Samsung TV paywalls, and Android TV paywalls alongside iOS, Android, Fire TV, LG webOS, Google TV, Vizio, and the web, from one dashboard. For streaming, OTT, and multi-platform publishers, every screen a subscriber touches gets the same caliber of experience.
The full subscriber journey, designed once across every screen
Both platforms ship a no-code rules engine and a visual editor. Piano's strength is depth on the web: Composer for personalization rules, Journey Orchestration for the flow, VX for commerce. Nami treats the full subscriber journey as one continuous design surface across every platform, with experimentation built into each step on each screen. Once Nami is live, experiments ship in days, not quarters.
The experience layer model: integrate, don't replace
Piano is a tightly coupled platform: Composer, VX, Piano ID, Audience, and Piano Analytics designed to be adopted as a stack. Nami takes the opposite architecture. It connects on top of the analytics, CDP, identity, and billing tools the team already runs, from App Store and Google Play in-app purchases to Stripe, Recurly, Amplitude, mParticle, Segment, and the customer's existing identity provider. For teams that have already invested in those stacks, it's the difference between a platform migration and an experience-layer addition.
Switching from Piano
Most teams arrive here when their strategy outgrows the web. The mobile app needs a real paywall, not a webview. The connected TV launch can't run on the web playbook. Paywall changes and A/B tests need to ship the day the team designs them, not the quarter after engineering picks them up. The team is ready to design the same caliber of subscriber experience on every screen, with a platform built to orchestrate it.
Comparison FAQ
Common questions before a Nami vs. Piano decision.
Why do subscription teams choose Nami over Piano?
Three reasons drive most decisions: platform breadth (Piano is web-led; Nami is the subscription orchestration platform across connected TV, web, and mobile), the full subscriber journey on every screen rather than just the web, and the experience layer model (Nami integrates with the analytics, CDP, identity, and billing stack already in place rather than replacing it).
Does Nami require Piano?
No. Nami is a standalone platform with its own subscription infrastructure across iOS, Android, web, and TV/OTT.
Can we keep our existing analytics and identity stack?
Yes. Nami integrates with Amplitude, mParticle, Segment, Adobe Experience Cloud, OneTrust, and the identity provider you already run. Piano includes its own analytics, CDP, and identity products by design; Nami is the experience layer that connects on top of yours.
How does Nami's connected TV paywall support compare to Piano's?
Nami orchestrates pages, flows, and experiments across Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Android TV, Google TV, and Vizio from the same dashboard used for iOS, Android, and web. Piano is built for owned-and-operated websites and apps; connected TV is not a documented platform target.
Proof at scale
Millions of subscribers served across our customer base. 99.99% uptime. SOC 2, GDPR, and CCPA compliant.