App Store and Google Play fees, worked out
Of what a buyer pays in an app, the tax goes first and then the store's commission, taken from the price without tax. Here is what is left, and when it is 15% or 30%.
The formula
You keep = price ÷ (1 + VAT) × (1 − commission)
An example
€4.99 a month in Germany, with 19% VAT, from a developer in Apple's Small Business Program: 4.99 ÷ 1.19 = €4.19 without tax; Apple keeps 15%, €0.63; you keep €3.56, 71% of the price.
Work it out with your numbers →How Sumly counts it
- App Store payments read directly count without the country's VAT and less Apple's commission: 15% in the Small Business Program or from a subscriber's second year, 30% otherwise. Apple gives prices with tax, so this is an estimate.
- Google Play payments count without tax, less 15%.
- Through RevenueCat, its own figures for tax and commission are used.
Mistakes that make it lie
- Taking 15% or 30% of the full price. The commission comes from the price without tax.
- Counting what a buyer saw as revenue. In most countries store prices include VAT.
- Assuming the Small Business Program applies by itself. You have to enrol, and it holds while proceeds stay under $1 million a year.
Questions
Does Apple take 15% or 30%?
30% is the standard rate. Developers in the App Store Small Business Program, with up to $1 million in proceeds the year before, pay 15%. Auto-renewing subscriptions also drop to 15% after a subscriber's first year of paid service.
What does Google Play take?
15% on auto-renewing subscriptions. In 2026 Google split it into a 10% service fee and a 5% billing fee in the EEA, the UK, the US, Australia and Japan; together it is still 15%. Other sales pay 15% on the first $1 million a year.
Are US prices with tax?
No. In the United States and Canada store prices are shown without sales tax, which comes on top.
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