App Store Fees in 2026: The Full Cost Breakdown

App Store fees start at $99 per year for Apple's Developer Program and a one-time $25 for Google Play Console. Publishing to both stores costs $124 in year one and $99 every year after. Commission on your sales, not the account fee, is where the real money goes.

Those two numbers are the ones every blog post quotes. They are also the smallest line in your budget.

The expensive part sits elsewhere: the cut each store takes from every sale, the verification hoops an organization account has to clear, and a compliance calendar that resets annually. And 2026 rewrote most of it. Google switched to a new commission table on June 30. Apple collapsed its European terms into a single structure on October 1. A US court is still deciding what Apple may charge on purchases you route outside your app.

This guide prices every line, with each figure traced back to Apple's and Google's own documentation.

Table of Contents

• Developer Account Fees: Apple vs Google Play
• Organization Accounts and the D-U-N-S Requirement
• Commission: The Line That Actually Costs You
• Google Play's 2026 Fee Overhaul
• Apple's EU Terms and the US Link-Out Question
• Compliance Costs That Repeat Every Year
• Payout Thresholds and Cash-Flow Timing
• Total Cost: Three Budget Scenarios
• Frequently Asked Questions

Developer Account Fees: Apple vs Google Play

The two stores price access in opposite ways, and that split defines most of your app store fees. Apple runs a subscription. Google takes one payment and leaves the door open.

Apple's enrollment support page states the figures plainly: "The Apple Developer Program annual fee is 99 USD and the Apple Developer Enterprise Program annual fee is 299 USD, in local currency where available." The Enterprise Program only covers private distribution to your own employees, so anyone shipping to the public App Store needs the $99 tier.

Google's side is simpler. The Play Console signup page says "There is a US$25 one-time registration fee," with no annual renewal. Prepaid cards do not work.

Look at the five-year row. Across the same two platforms you hand Apple $495 and Google $25. Over any realistic product lifetime, app store fees on the account side are almost entirely an Apple line item.

Letting Apple's membership lapse carries a real cost. Your published apps drop out of the App Store until you renew, and the Account Holder has to re-accept the Paid Applications Agreement afterwards.

One group skips the $99 entirely. Apple's membership fee waiver covers nonprofits, accredited educational institutions and government entities. The conditions are strict. The applicant cannot be "an individual, sole proprietor, or single-person business," cannot have signed the Paid Applications Agreement, and must "not otherwise sell digital goods or services through any of your apps."

Organization Accounts and the D-U-N-S Requirement

Publishing under a company name triggers the same gate on both stores: a nine-digit D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet.

Apple spells it out on the enrollment page: "Your organization must have a D-U-N-S Number so that we can verify your organization's identity and legal entity status," with a carve-out noting it is "Not required for government organizations." Apple also wants a real legal entity — it does not accept "DBAs, fictitious businesses, trade names, or branches" — plus a work email on your organization's domain and a public, functional website.

Google asks for the same thing. Its account requirements page says that "to create a developer account for an organization, you must have a D-U-N-S number," and treats it as mandatory.

Two practical details shape your launch budget:

• The number costs nothing. Google's page states that "applying for a D-U-N-S number through Dun & Bradstreet is a completely free process," and warns about "third-party services that may attempt to charge high administrative fees for this free registration." Budget zero for this part of your app store fees.
• The number takes time. Google warns that "this process can take up to 30 days so you should plan ahead." Skip that warning and a finished app sits on the shelf for a month.

Your legal name and address on the Dun & Bradstreet record have to match your store account character for character. Mismatches are the single most common reason verification stalls, and corrections start at Dun & Bradstreet rather than in the store console, which adds days.

Individual accounts avoid D-U-N-S entirely. The trade-off on Apple's side: "your personal legal name will be listed as the seller on the App Store," with no aliases or company names allowed. If you want brand attribution, an organization account is the only path.

Google adds a time cost for solo developers too. Its testing requirements page requires personal accounts created after November 13, 2023 to run a closed test with "a minimum of 12 testers" who stay "opted in continuously for at least 14 days," and the 14 days have to be consecutive. Add two weeks to your first launch.

Commission: The Line That Actually Costs You

Account fees are a one-off. Commission is the part of your app store fees that never stops, following every sale for as long as the app lives. At $10,000 in annual revenue, a 30% cut equals $3,000 — about thirty times Apple's yearly fee.

Apple's standard rate is 30%. Three documented routes bring it down.

The first is the Small Business Program. Apple's program page describes "a reduced commission rate of 15% on paid apps and Apple In-App Purchases." Eligibility covers developers "who made up to 1 million USD in proceeds in the prior calendar year for all their apps, as well as developers new to the App Store."

The second is subscriber tenure. Apple's subscriptions page puts it in revenue terms: "During a subscriber's first year of service, you receive 70% of the subscription price at each billing cycle, minus applicable taxes," and "After a subscriber accumulates one year of paid service, your net revenue increases to 85% of the subscription price." In commission terms, Apple's share halves from 30% to 15% once a subscriber hits month 13.

The third applies to apps hosting third-party mini apps. Apple's Mini Apps Partner Program page states that "program members earn 85% of qualifying In-App Purchase sales within qualifying mini apps." The technical bar is high: your app must adopt the Advanced Commerce API and the Declared Age Range API.

Enrollment in the Small Business Program is not automatic. You apply through App Store Connect, and Apple applies adjusted proceeds "fifteen (15) days after the end of the fiscal calendar month in which your enrollment is approved." Cross the threshold mid-year and "the standard commission rate will apply to future sales." Fall back under it later and you "can re-qualify for the 15% commission the year after."

Skipping that form is a quiet loss. On $40,000 of annual subscription revenue, the gap between 30% and 15% is $6,000 — roughly sixty years of account fees.

Google Play's 2026 Fee Overhaul

Google Play now runs two parallel fee tables, so your app store fees depend on where your users live.

The service fees page gives the rollout calendar: June 30, 2026 for the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and the United States; September 30, 2026 for Australia and Japan. In those five markets the rate now depends on whether the paying user's install counts as "new" or "existing." A user whose first install or first update happened on or after the regional rollout date counts as a new install.

The billing fee applies when a user pays through Google Play Billing or buys a paid app for the first time. Developers in the Play Games Level Up or Apps Experience programs pay 10%, 15% and 20% on the standard row instead.

The first column matters most to small studios. Up to $1M in annual earnings, transaction type stops mattering: everything lands at 10% plus the 5% billing fee. That pins the effective rate at 15% across subscriptions, one-off purchases and paid downloads alike.

Everywhere else, the older table still governs. The same page keeps it in force "for all remaining markets until the announced updated service fees are rolled out globally":

The trap sits in the word "enrolled." Google's 15% tier page confirms enrollment is a deliberate step: you need a payments profile, an Account Group with your primary developer account, and acceptance of the tier's terms. The cap works per developer rather than per account, so earnings across every account in the group combine. "Once the total earnings exceed $1M (USD), the service fee is 30% for all ADAs for the rest of the year."

Plenty of small developers pay 30% for years simply because nobody clicked through that flow. On $50,000 of annual revenue, that oversight costs $7,500.

Worth keeping in perspective: Google states that "97% of developers distribute their apps and take advantage of all Google Play has to offer at no charge," and that among those who do owe a service fee, "99% are eligible for a fee of 15% or less."

Apple's EU Terms and the US Link-Out Question

Apple simplified its European structure in 2026. Its DMA page confirms the unified EU terms took effect on October 1, 2026, superseding both the Alternative Terms Addendum and the StoreKit External Purchase Link Entitlement addendum.

Three changes reshape app store fees for EU distribution:

• The Core Technology Fee is gone. In its place sits the Core Technology Commission, described as "a simple 5% commission on digital transactions in apps distributed outside the App Store." The per-install model has ended.
• Two fees disappeared. Apple says the new terms "eliminate the Initial Acquisition Fee and Store Services Fee."
• Out-of-app offers have their own rate. When you link users out from inside your app, the store services commission is 15%, dropping to 10% for Small Business, Mini Apps and Video Partner Program members and for auto-renewable subscriptions past their first year. Only sales within 7 days of the link tap count.

The US picture remains unsettled. After the Ninth Circuit's December 2025 decision, Apple asked the district court in August 2026 for permission to charge up to 15% on purchases completed through external payment links in iOS apps; TechCrunch reported that the rate question continues at the trial level. Until a ruling lands, Apple collects nothing on US link-out purchases.

The practical takeaway: your price points produce different net revenue depending on where the buyer lives. A $9.99 subscription nets you a different amount in Berlin, Austin and São Paulo, and the gap widens once you add external-purchase routing to the mix.

Compliance Costs That Repeat Every Year

Teams that budget the account fee usually get surprised later, because app store fees are only the entry ticket. Four lines go missing from most launch plans.

The Mac requirement. Building for iOS means Xcode, and Xcode only runs on macOS. For a team without a Mac, that single constraint dwarfs the $99 account fee.

Signing certificates and keys. The good news: both stores include code-signing certificates in the account fee, so there is no separate purchase the way there is with web TLS certificates. The bad news: losing your Android signing key forfeits your ability to update the app under the same package name. Google Play App Signing absorbs that risk, which makes it the safer default on new projects.

A test device fleet. Simulators do not replace hardware. A realistic minimum is one older and one current iPhone, plus a mid-range and a flagship Android handset. Bugs that only appear on a specific screen size, OS version or memory tier show up in your store reviews, not your simulator.

The annual API treadmill. This one never ends. Google's target API level page sets the rule: from August 31, 2026, "new apps and app updates must target Android 16 (API level 36) or higher to be submitted to Google Play," while "existing apps must target Android 15 (API level 35) or higher to remain available to new users." Extensions run to November 1, 2026. Even with zero feature work, plan one maintenance release a year.

Regional paperwork adds a fifth line. For EU distribution, the Digital Services Act requires a trader declaration. Apple's trader requirements page explains that Articles 30 and 31 oblige Apple to verify and publish trader contact details — an address, phone number and email — on your product page across all 27 EU territories. From February 17, 2025, apps without a verified trader status left the EU App Store. For organizations, the published address comes from the D-U-N-S record, which is one more reason solo developers often incorporate before shipping in Europe.

Android is building a parallel layer. The developer verification page says protections begin on September 30, 2026 for users installing apps from participating stores in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand on certified devices running Android 7+, expanding globally in 2027. For distribution outside Google Play, a Full Distribution account in the Android Developer Console carries a $25 fee, while a limited distribution account lets students and hobbyists "share apps with up to 20 specific devices for testing and personal use at no cost and without ID verification."

To put a number on the build itself, the app cost calculator returns a range based on feature scope. For the submission steps, the app launch checklist walks through them in order.

Payout Thresholds and Cash-Flow Timing

Money arriving matters as much as money leaving. App store fees have a mirror image on the payout side, and both stores set a floor.

Google's payout page pays out "around the 15th of the following month" for orders processed from the 1st to the end of a month. The minimum earned balance is US$1 for local-currency payouts and US$100 for USD wire transfers.

Apple's minimum payment threshold page works the other way around. Listed bank country and currency pairs — including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan and most of the eurozone — sit at 0.02 USD, while "all other bank countries or regions and bank account currencies must exceed a minimum payment threshold of 40 USD." Check which group your bank falls into before you forecast the first deposit.

Apple's reporting calendar is equally fixed. Payment information for the previous fiscal month appears "starting the first Wednesday of the current fiscal month," with financial reports complete "by the first Friday." Build your cash-flow model around those two dates and you avoid the familiar first-quarter question of where the money went.

One more caveat: if early revenue stays under the threshold, the balance carries forward. Expect three to four months between paying your app store fees and seeing the first deposit land.

Total Cost: Three Budget Scenarios

These scenarios cover store and publishing lines only. Development is a separate budget.

Three lines never fit in that table: commission, maintenance and marketing. Commission scales with revenue. For upkeep, the app maintenance cost breakdown prices each component separately. Marketing usually exceeds all of the above combined — an app with no discovery beyond store search has shipped technically but not commercially.

Tax handling adds a final wrinkle for international sellers. Google acts as merchant of record and remits VAT or GST in a defined list of countries, and in the rest "you are responsible for determining the applicable tax rate for your sales" and remitting them yourself. Check that list against your target markets before you set prices, because the rate you owe may sit with a tax authority nowhere near your own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are app store fees one-time or annual?

Both, depending on the store. Google Play charges $25 once, with no renewal. Apple charges $99 every year, and your apps leave the App Store until you renew a lapsed membership.

Do I pay a fee per app?

No. Apple and Google both charge per developer account, not per app. One account publishes as many apps as you want.

Do I owe commission if my app is free?

Not if you sell no digital goods, subscriptions or paid features inside it. Google notes that 97% of developers owe no service fee at all. Advertising revenue falls outside store commission.

Does a D-U-N-S number cost money?

No. Google's account requirements page calls the Dun & Bradstreet application "a completely free process" and warns against intermediaries charging administrative fees for it. Start early, since Google says it can take up to 30 days.

How do I move from 30% to 15%?

On Apple, enroll in the Small Business Program through App Store Connect; your prior-year proceeds must stay at or below $1 million. On Google Play, enroll in the 15% service fee tier with a payments profile and an Account Group. Neither happens automatically.

Which store is cheaper to publish on?

Google Play, on account fees alone: $25 once versus $99 a year. Commission is closer than it looks, and in the five markets on Google's new table the effective rate on your first $1M sits at 15%. Revenue per user, not fee structure, usually decides which platform you launch on first — the monetization models comparison covers that trade-off.

Can a nonprofit get Apple's fee waived?

Yes. Nonprofits, accredited educational institutions and government entities can apply for Apple's membership fee waiver. Individuals, sole proprietors and anyone selling digital goods in their apps fall outside it.

How long does the first submission take?

Beyond account verification and store review, two waits dominate. A D-U-N-S number can take up to 30 days for an organization account, and personal Google Play accounts created after November 13, 2023 must complete a 14-day closed test with 12 testers. The full sequence appears in our guide on how to publish an app.

App store fees are the easiest number in your budget and the smallest. A $124 first-year bill costs less than one design revision on most projects. What actually moves the total is the commission tier you end up in, the verification lead times nobody scheduled, and the API target that resets every August.

Teams that write those three lines into the launch plan from the start stop losing weeks on the shelf and stop overpaying commission by default. To cut your odds of a rejected build, our breakdown of App Store rejection reasons works as a pre-submission checklist. If you would rather plan the store, compliance and maintenance lines together, review our mobile app development service and then reach our team through the contact page.