How an app makes money

Sources

• Playtika Holding Corp. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (key metrics: daily active users, daily paying users, payer conversion, revenue per daily active user) · Playtika Holding Corp. (filed with the U.S. SEC), 2025
• Snap Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (average revenue per daily active user, fourth quarter) · Snap Inc. (filed with the U.S. SEC), 2025
• Duolingo, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 · Duolingo, Inc. (filed with the U.S. SEC), 2025
• Apple announces App Store Small Business Program (the standard 30 percent commission stays in place) · Apple Newsroom, 2020
• Auto-renewable subscriptions: what you receive in a subscriber's first year and after a year of paid service · Apple Developer, 2026
• App Store Small Business Program · Apple Developer, 2026
• Understanding Google Play's lower service fees (recurring transactions in the US from June 30, 2026; billing fee) · Google Play Console Help, 2026
• Stardew Valley on the US App Store (price and in-app purchases, at the time of writing) · Apple App Store, 2026
• Apple Developer Program: what's included (membership fee) · Apple Developer, 2026
• Play Console Help: get started with Play Console (registration fee) · Google Play Console Help, 2026
• App Store Connect Help: overview of receiving payments · Apple Developer, 2026
• Occupational Outlook Handbook: Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers (pay: median wage, May 2025) · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025
• Play Console Help: app testing requirements for new personal developer accounts · Google Play Console Help, 2026

Every number

• 4.4%sec.gov ·2025 · Playtika's average daily payer conversion, 2025: players who paid on a day as a share of that day's players. Its games are mostly casino-style and casual games.
• $0.89sec.gov ·2025 · Playtika's average revenue per daily active user, 2025: its revenue divided by the days in the year and by its average daily players.
• 8.5 million playerssec.gov ·2025 · Playtika's average daily active users, 2025.
• $3.62sec.gov ·2025 · Snap's average revenue per daily active user in the last three months of 2025: a quarter's revenue divided by its average daily users. Mostly ads; it also sells Snapchat+ subscriptions.
• $0.039sec.gov ·2025 · Worked out: Snap's revenue per daily user in the last three months of 2025, divided by the ninety-two days of the quarter.
• 84.2%sec.gov ·2025 · Worked out from Duolingo's 2025 annual report: subscription revenue as a share of all its revenue. The rest was mainly ads, its English test and in-app purchases.
• 30%apple.com ·2020 · Apple's standard App Store commission on digital goods and services, which Apple said stays in place when it started the Small Business Program in 2020.
• 70%apple.com ·2026 · What a developer receives of a subscription's price in a subscriber's first year at Apple's standard rate, before taxes, at the time of writing (checked November 2026).
• 15%apple.com ·2026 · Apple's commission on paid apps and in-app purchases for developers in its Small Business Program, at the time of writing (checked November 2026).
• $0.85apple.com ·2026 · Worked out: what's left of a dollar a player spends after the store's share for a small developer.
• $1Mgoogle.com ·2026 · The yearly earnings up to which Google Play's lowest US service fee applies to a developer.
• $1Mapple.com ·2026 · The most a developer can earn in a year, after Apple's commission, and stay in Apple's Small Business Program.
• 10%google.com ·2026 · Google Play's US service fee on a developer's first million dollars of earnings a year, from the end of June 2026, at the time of writing (checked November 2026).
• 5%google.com ·2026 · Google Play's US billing fee on purchases through Google Play's billing, at the time of writing (checked November 2026).
• 15%google.com ·2026 · Worked out: Google Play's US service fee on a developer's first million dollars a year, plus its billing fee.
• 20–25%google.com ·2026 · Google Play's US service fee on paid apps and one-time purchases above a developer's first million dollars a year, before the billing fee: lower for new installs, higher for existing ones, at the time of writing (checked November 2026).
• 3–4%sec.gov ·2025 · Payment fees on purchases through Playtika's own direct-to-consumer stores, as its 2025 annual report says they typically run.
• 29.6%sec.gov ·2025 · Worked out from Playtika's 2025 annual report: revenue through its own direct-to-consumer stores as a share of all its revenue.
• $4.99apple.com ·2026 · Stardew Valley's price on the US App Store, with no in-app purchases, at the time of writing (checked November 2026).
• $0.75example (example number: Worked out from the examples: the store's share of the price, rounded to the cent.) · Worked out from the examples: the store's share of the price, rounded to the cent.
• $4.24example (example number: Worked out from the examples: the price less the store's share, rounded to the cent.) · Worked out from the examples: the price less the store's share, rounded to the cent.
• $9.99example (example number: Simplified example: a bag of coins in a free game.) · Simplified example: a bag of coins in a free game.
• $1.50example (example number: Worked out from the examples: the store's share of the coin pack, rounded to the cent.) · Worked out from the examples: the store's share of the coin pack, rounded to the cent.
• $8.49example (example number: Worked out from the examples: the coin pack's price less the store's share, rounded to the cent.) · Worked out from the examples: the coin pack's price less the store's share, rounded to the cent.
• 2 ad viewsexample (example number: Simplified example: ads one player sees a day.) · Simplified example: ads one player sees a day.
• 30 daysexample (example number: Simplified example: a month of playing every day.) · Simplified example: a month of playing every day.
• $10example (example number: Simplified example: what a small app is paid for every thousand ad views, after the ad network keeps its share. Real rates change with the country, the kind of ad and the season.) · Simplified example: what a small app is paid for every thousand ad views, after the ad network keeps its share. Real rates change with the country, the kind of ad and the season.
• 60 ad viewsexample (example number: Worked out from the examples: two ad views a day for thirty days.) · Worked out from the examples: two ad views a day for thirty days.
• $0.60example (example number: Worked out from the examples: sixty ad views at ten dollars for every thousand.) · Worked out from the examples: sixty ad views at ten dollars for every thousand.
• $3,000/monthexample (example number: Simplified example: your own rent, food and bills while you build, with no pay coming in.) · Simplified example: your own rent, food and bills while you build, with no pay coming in.
• 6 monthsexample (example number: Simplified example: how long you build before launch.) · Simplified example: how long you build before launch.
• $18,000example (example number: Worked out from the examples: six months of living costs at three thousand dollars.) · Worked out from the examples: six months of living costs at three thousand dollars.
• $99/yearapple.com ·2026 · The Apple Developer Program's membership fee, at the time of writing (checked November 2026).
• $25google.com ·2026 · Google Play's one-time registration fee for a developer account, at the time of writing (checked November 2026).
• $4,241.50example (example number: Worked out from the examples: a thousand sales at the game's price, less the store's share.) · Worked out from the examples: a thousand sales at the game's price, less the store's share.
• $5,100example (example number: Worked out from the examples: twenty thousand players, two in a hundred buying fifteen dollars' worth, less the store's share.) · Worked out from the examples: twenty thousand players, two in a hundred buying fifteen dollars' worth, less the store's share.
• $5,000example (example number: Worked out from the examples: twenty thousand players seeing twenty-five ads each, at ten dollars for every thousand views.) · Worked out from the examples: twenty thousand players seeing twenty-five ads each, at ten dollars for every thousand views.
• $18,124example (example number: Worked out from the examples: your living costs plus Apple's and Google's fees.) · Worked out from the examples: your living costs plus Apple's and Google's fees.
• 45 daysapple.com ·2026 · Apple pays developers within this many days of the last day of the Apple fiscal month in which the sale was completed.
• $135,980/yearbls.gov ·2025 · Median yearly pay for software developers, all industries, May 2025.
• 12 testersgoogle.com ·2026 · The fewest testers a closed test needs before a new personal Google Play account can apply to publish.
• 14 daysgoogle.com ·2026 · How long those testers must stay in the closed test without a break.
• 20,000 playersexample (example number: Simplified example: players who open a free app at least once this month.) · Simplified example: players who open a free app at least once this month.
• $6,000/monthexample (example number: Simplified example: a small studio's month: your own pay, a part-time artist, servers and tools.) · Simplified example: a small studio's month: your own pay, a part-time artist, servers and tools.