How to Make Money From an App
How to make money from an app: subscriptions, in-app purchases, paid apps, ads, web payments and hybrids compared, with store fees and how to pick one.
Apps make money in six main ways: subscriptions, one-time in-app purchases, an upfront price, advertising, payments on your own website, or a mix of these. The right one depends on how often people use the app and whether its value keeps renewing. If you are trying to work out how to make money from an app, pick the model first, then the price, then grow the number of people who reach the point where they pay.
That order matters because each step depends on the one before it. A great paywall cannot rescue a model that fights how people use the app, and more downloads cannot fix a paywall nobody gets to.
The six ways an app makes money
Apple's own guide to business models describes free, freemium, paid and subscription apps, and the in-app purchase types behind them. Here is how the six models compare:
| Model | How it works | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Users pay weekly, monthly or yearly for ongoing access | Apps used often, with content or service that keeps coming | Users must feel new value every month or they cancel |
| Freemium with in-app purchases | Free download, pay once for features or items | Tools and games with clear upgrades | Too much free and nobody pays; too little and nobody stays |
| Paid app | Price paid upfront to download | Niche professional tools with a known audience | Hard to get downloads without a free trial path |
| Advertising | Free app shows ads, you earn per view or click | Broad, frequent-use apps where few would pay | Ads take screen space and attention from the app itself |
| Web payments | Users pay on your website, the app unlocks access | Apps that also sell on the web, US storefront links | Extra checkout steps lose some buyers |
| Hybrid | Ads for free users plus a paid tier that removes them | Large free audiences with a committed core | More to build and balance |
Free apps make money through the same rows of that table. The download costs nothing, and revenue comes from the share of users who upgrade to a paid tier or buy an item, from ads shown to everyone, or from both at once.
In-app purchases come in four types on Apple's platforms: consumables used up and bought again, non-consumables bought once, auto-renewable subscriptions and non-renewing subscriptions. Google Play has equivalent one-time products and subscriptions, so the same model usually works on both stores.
What the stores take
Digital goods and features sold inside an app normally go through the store's billing system, which takes a commission. That cut comes off every sale, so it belongs in the decision before you set a price.
Apple's standard commission is 30%. Developers who made up to USD 1 million in proceeds in the prior calendar year, and new developers, can join the Small Business Program for a 15% rate on paid apps and in-app purchases. Auto-renewing subscriptions are charged 15% after their first year, as Apple's page on auto-renewable subscriptions explains. Rates differ in some regions, such as the EU under Apple's alternative terms and China.
Google Play sets its fees per region, and they are changing. For users in the US, UK and EEA whose first install or update came on or after June 30, 2026, Google Play's service fee page lists 10% plus a 5% billing fee for auto-renewing subscriptions and for a developer's first USD 1 million of annual earnings, with higher rates above that for other purchases. Elsewhere, the earlier tiers of 15% and 30% still apply until the new fees roll out.
Check both pages before you set a price. They change more often than most people expect, and a few points of commission on every sale adds up over a year.
Web payments and the US App Store
Since a US court decision, Apple's App Review Guidelines allow apps on the United States storefront to include buttons and links to purchase on the developer's own website, without the entitlement required elsewhere. Apple updated the guidelines on May 1, 2025 to reflect this.
For a US-heavy app, that means you can offer a web checkout next to in-app purchase. Your payment provider's fees still apply, and a checkout outside the app adds steps, so test it against in-app purchase rather than assuming it wins. Outside the US, the old rules and regional programs still apply.
How to choose your app monetization model
Three questions settle most of the choice.
- How often do people use it? Daily or weekly use supports a subscription or ads. Occasional use suits a one-time purchase.
- Does the value renew? If you add content, sync data or run a service that costs you money every month, a subscription matches your costs. If the app is a finished tool, a one-time purchase is fairer and easier to sell.
- Will your users pay at all? Some audiences, like students or very broad casual audiences, may pay rarely. That points toward ads or a cheap one-time unlock.
The subscription or one-time question comes down to the second answer. A subscription fits apps with ongoing value or ongoing costs, like content, sync or AI features, and a one-time purchase fits finished tools. Many apps offer both: a subscription plus a lifetime option for people who would rather pay once.
You can also make money from an app without ads. Subscriptions, one-time purchases, a paid download and web payments all work with no ads at all. Ads suit broad free apps; a niche app can earn well by charging a small group of committed users.
Many apps end up with a hybrid: a free tier that is useful on its own, and a paid tier for the people who use it most.
Make the paywall work
Most revenue is decided at one moment: when a user meets the paywall. Everything before it brings people there, and everything after it depends on what they decide.
- Show it after a win. Let people reach the moment where the app helped them, then ask. A paywall before any value gives people no reason to pay yet.
- Offer a trial for subscriptions. Both stores support free trials and introductory offers.
- Show the yearly plan as the default next to monthly, if a yearly plan fits your app.
- Test prices. Google Play Console has price experiments for one-time in-app products; on Apple, compare offers and price changes over time in App Store Connect.
- Ask for ratings after the win too. Apple shows its review prompt at most three times a year per user, so use it when the user is happy.
A paywall shown at the right moment does more for revenue than a cleverer price shown at the wrong one.
Grow the top of the funnel
Revenue is the number of users who reach the paywall, times the share who pay, times the price. Once the model and paywall are set, most growth comes from bringing in more of the right users.
For small teams, organic social is the cheapest way to do that: useful posts for the people your app serves, with the app appearing as the tool. Photo slideshows on TikTok and Instagram suit this well, and Viral Slide Post, now on the waitlist, is built for that work: an AI agent connects through a REST API, an MCP server or open source skills, writes the slideshows, makes the images and publishes them on schedule, and a dashboard does the same.
The plan is in how to market an app, and the TikTok version, step by step, is in how to promote a mobile app on TikTok without ads. Track installs per source with campaign links, then follow those users through to revenue, so you can tell which channel brings paying users and not only downloads. Whether the posts come from you or from Viral Slide Post, that tracking is what tells you the channel pays.
Model, paywall, then reach
Making money from an app is three decisions taken in order. The model has to match how often people use the app and whether its value renews: subscriptions for ongoing value, one-time purchases for finished tools, ads for broad audiences who rarely pay, and a hybrid when you have both kinds of user.
The store commission and, in the US, the option of web payments shape what each sale is worth, so read the current fee pages before you price. The paywall then decides how many users become customers, and it works best right after the app has helped them. Only after those two are set does more reach turn into more revenue.
