Durable Metered Paywall Using Device-Based Identification

🔍 Problem Statement

Pelcro's metered paywall relies on cookies, which means users can trivially bypass free-article limits by opening incognito windows, clearing cookies, or restarting the browser. This requires no technical skill and is regularly flagged by clients as a core weakness — undermining publisher confidence and estimated to cost 4–6 % of metered revenue.

💡 User Story

As a publisher using Pelcro's metered paywall, I want free-article limits to persist across sessions using device-based identification, so that casual meter abuse via incognito mode or cookie clearing is significantly reduced — without requiring readers to log in for free articles or breaking SEO/crawler access.

🎯 Definition of Done (DoD)

A feature is done when:

✔️ Given a reader on a metered site, when they exhaust their free-article limit and reopen the same browser in incognito mode or after clearing cookies, then the meter is not reset and the paywall continues to enforce the limit.
✔️ Crawler and bot access remains unaffected.
✔️ No login is required for free articles.
✔️ The feature does not claim cross-device or cross-browser enforcement (scope is same-browser, same-device only).