A developer doing $400,000 a year on the App Store can pay Apple $120,000 or $60,000. The only difference is a form in App Store Connect.
That form is the App Store Small Business Program. Enrolled developers pay 15% on paid apps and in-app purchases instead of the standard 30%, and eligibility runs on proceeds, not gross sales.
The short version, both stores:
- Apple: 15% on paid apps, in-app purchases, and subscriptions from day one, while enrolled and under the threshold. Enrollment required.
- Google Play: 15% on the first $1 million of earnings every calendar year, 30% above that. Enrollment required.
- Neither is automatic. Skip the paperwork and both stores bill 30% by default, however small the app.
The $1 million bar sounds like a program for hobbyists. It is closer to a program for the entire industry, because proceeds, not gross sales, decide who clears it. Yet most explanations get the threshold mechanics wrong, and the mistakes cost real money. The proceeds detail alone is worth the next five minutes.
Apple Small Business Program vs Google Play's 15% tier
The two programs share a headline rate and almost nothing else. The tier systems behind them differ too, but the fee mechanics are where developers actually lose money.
| Apple Small Business Program | Google Play 15% tier | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | 15% instead of 30%, on everything, while eligible | 15% on the first $1M of earnings per year, 30% above |
| Threshold basis | Proceeds (net of Apple's commission and taxes), prior and current calendar year | "Earnings," counted per calendar year |
| Enrollment | Accept Schedule 2 in App Store Connect, declare associated accounts | Create an Account Group in Play Console |
| Multiple accounts | Associated accounts count together (over 50% ownership or control, either direction) | All accounts in the group share one $1M tier |
| Subscriptions | 15% from day one while enrolled | 15% from day one regardless of the threshold, since January 2022 |
| Crossing $1M mid-year | 30% on future sales only, no clawback, re-qualify after a year back under | Earnings above $1M bill at 30% for the rest of the year, tier resets January 1 |
How the Apple Small Business Program actually works
Apple built the program as a gate, not a tier. Either the whole account qualifies for 15% or none of it does, and qualification runs a dual test: proceeds under $1 million in the prior calendar year and under $1 million so far in the current one. Proceeds means the money Apple pays out after its commission and after taxes come off the sale. Not what customers spent. More on why that matters below.
Enrollment happens in App Store Connect: accept Schedule 2 and declare any Associated Developer Accounts. Associated is defined broadly. More than 50% ownership or decision-making control, in either direction, chains accounts together, and their proceeds count as one pool. Splitting a portfolio into multiple accounts to stay under the line does not work.
The subscription clause is the sleeper benefit. Standard terms pay developers 70% of subscription revenue in a subscriber's first year and 85% only after 12 paid months. Enrolled developers get 85% from the first billing cycle. Given normal churn curves, a large share of subscribers never reach month 13, so most subscription revenue sits in the 70% bucket by default. The program moves all of it to 85% on day one. For a small subscription app, that clause alone can outweigh everything else in how Apple's price tiers are structured.
Google Play: the first million is cheap every year
Google's version has a friendlier shape. There is no eligibility test to fail. Enrolled developers pay a 15% service fee on the first $1 million of earnings each calendar year, and 30% only on earnings above that. Cross the line in July, and January 1 resets the tier. No re-application, no year in the penalty box.
Enrollment is still required. Per Google Play Console Help, developers create an Account Group, and skipping that step means the default 30% applies from the first dollar. Google aggregates every account in the group. Once combined earnings pass $1 million, the 30% rate applies to all accounts in it for the rest of the year. The same anti-splitting logic as Apple, implemented as a shared meter instead of an ownership test.
Subscriptions are simpler still. Since January 1, 2022, subscription products on Google Play bill at 15% from day one, threshold or no threshold. A subscription app far past the $1 million mark still pays 15% on Play subscriptions while its iOS subscriptions run on Apple's standard 70/85 split. That asymmetry surprises a lot of two-platform teams, usually when the Apple settlement report lands.
The details developers get wrong
Three misreads do most of the damage.
"The $1 million is gross revenue." Apple measures proceeds: sales net of its commission and net of taxes. The threshold sits meaningfully higher in gross terms than the headline suggests, which pushes eligibility further up the revenue curve than most developers assume. Plenty of apps that ruled themselves out on gross numbers qualify on proceeds.
"Cross the line and Apple claws it back." No. Crossing $1 million mid-year moves future sales to 30% from that point forward. Nothing retroactive, no bill for the past, no penalty. And it is not permanent. The year after proceeds fall back under $1 million, the developer can re-qualify. Developers throttling their own growth to avoid a cliff are avoiding a cliff that does not exist.
"The subscription discount and the small-business tier are the same thing." They are separate policies that happen to share a number. On Google, the 15% subscription rate is unconditional. On Apple, day-one 15% on subscriptions exists only inside the program. Outside it, the standard 70/85 split applies. Conflating the two leads to wrong revenue forecasts on both platforms.
App Store commission changes in 2026
Two things moved this year, one on each front, and neither changes the core advice.
Google restructured its US, UK, and EEA fees on June 30, 2026, splitting the service fee into a base fee plus a separate 5% fee for using Google Play's billing. The composition changed. The total, for a developer under $1 million using Play billing, still nets out to 15%. Worth watching, not worth panicking over.
The Apple side is messier. As of July 2026, Apple is not taking a commission on purchases US users make through external links out of iOS apps. That is not a settled rate. Apple's earlier 27% external-link commission was struck down, an appeals court has since said Apple should be able to charge something reasonable, and the question of what that number is sits back with the district court on remand. None of this touches the 15/30 in-app commission or the Small Business Program. It affects US external-link purchases only, and it can shift with the next ruling. Teams weighing web checkout should model it against what Stripe and the app stores actually charge, not against a rate that may not survive litigation.
What 15 points does to your price
Commission sets the break-even, and break-even sets the floor under every price on the shelf. At 30%, a $9.99 purchase nets $6.99. At 15%, the same purchase nets $8.49, roughly 21% more per transaction without touching the price, the paywall, or the conversion rate. Run it the other direction and the implication sharpens: a developer paying 15% can profitably undercut a competitor paying 30% in every market and still net more per sale.
That changes what the right price is, especially in price-sensitive markets where a dollar of headroom decides the conversion rate. The Mirava Index shows what comparable apps charge, country by country, so the price reflects the fee actually being paid rather than a number carried over from the 30% era.
Still charging prices set under the old fee math?
The commission changed. Most price lists did not. The Mirava Index shows what comparable apps charge in each of your markets, so the next price decision runs on current data instead of old assumptions. See what comparable apps charge
FAQ
How much does Apple take from app sales in 2026?
The standard commission is 30% on paid apps and in-app purchases. Developers enrolled in the App Store Small Business Program pay 15% while proceeds stay under $1 million per calendar year. On subscriptions, standard terms pay 70% in a subscriber's first year and 85% after 12 paid months. Enrolled developers get 85% from day one.
Is the Apple Small Business Program automatic?
No. Enrollment happens in App Store Connect: accept Schedule 2 and declare any Associated Developer Accounts. Until that is done, Apple bills 30% regardless of how small the app is.
Does the $1 million threshold count gross sales or proceeds?
Proceeds, meaning sales net of Apple's commission and taxes, not gross customer spend. The test is dual: under $1 million in the prior calendar year and in the current one. An app can bill customers more than $1 million gross and still qualify.
What happens if an app crosses $1 million mid-year?
On Apple, 30% applies to future sales only. No clawback, nothing retroactive, and eligibility returns the year after proceeds fall back under $1 million. On Google Play, earnings above $1 million bill at 30% for the rest of the year, then the 15% tier resets on January 1.
Does Google Play have a small business program?
Not under that name, but the economics match: a 15% service fee on the first $1 million of earnings each calendar year, 30% above. Enrollment is required by creating an Account Group in Play Console, and every account in the group shares one $1 million tier.
Do subscriptions get the 15% rate?
On Google Play, always. 15% from day one regardless of the threshold, in place since January 1, 2022. On Apple, day-one 15% on subscriptions comes only with Small Business Program enrollment. Otherwise the standard 70/85 split applies.
Fifteen points is the largest single margin lever most small apps will ever touch, and claiming it costs a form in App Store Connect and an Account Group in Play Console. The harder question arrives after enrollment. The old prices were set when every sale surrendered 30 cents on the dollar. Now that the store takes half as much, does the price list still make sense, or is it quietly tuned to a fee structure that no longer applies?
