How much money do apps make?
October 1, 2026 · 7 min read
The honest answer is: most apps earn almost nothing, and a small share earns most of the money. That is not a reason not to build — it is a reason to choose where to build carefully, because what an app can earn is mostly decided by its niche before a line of code is written.
In short
- Most apps earn little; a small share earns most of the money.
- Revenue is installs × the share who pay × what a payer is worth, plus renewals.
- In a worked example, 3,000 installs a month at 2.5% and $39.99 a year is about $2,550 of new yearly sales each month.
- Estimate the top ten of your niche to see what a realistic spot is worth.
On this page5 sections
01A very uneven market
App revenue is concentrated: the top apps in each category take most of what that category earns, and the long tail of apps takes very little. For an indie developer, the question is not the average app's revenue but what the apps ranked where you could realistically rank earn.
02The funnel
Revenue is a chain of four numbers:
- 1
Installs a month
Mostly from store search.
- 2
The share who pay
Typically a few percent for apps that sell something.
- 3
What a payer is worth
Set by your prices and the mix of monthly, yearly and lifetime plans.
- 4
Renewals
Earlier subscribers paying again, building up over time.
03A worked example
This example is arithmetic, not data. An app with 3,000 installs a month, 2.5% of whom pay, sells a $39.99 yearly plan. That is 75 new paying users a month. After a 15% store commission, each yearly subscriber brings about $34 — about $2,550 of new yearly revenue each month, or roughly $210 a month once spread over the year. As those subscribers renew, monthly revenue keeps growing for as long as churn stays below new sales.
Change any number and the result moves a lot: twice the installs or twice the conversion doubles it. That is why the niche, which sets the installs you can win and the price users accept, matters most.
| Step | Value |
|---|---|
| Installs a month | 3,000 |
| Share who pay | 2.5% |
| New paying users a month | 75 |
| Yearly plan | $39.99 |
| After a 15% commission | $33.99 |
| New yearly sales each month | ≈ $2,550 |
| The same, spread over the year | ≈ $212 a month |
04Estimate the apps you would compete with
Neither store publishes revenue, but each store page shows enough for a range: ratings or install bands, the app's age and its in-app purchase prices. Estimating the top ten of your niche tells you what a realistic spot in it is worth.
Free toolApp Revenue CalculatorA monthly revenue range from ratings or installs, age and price.Open05Ads versus purchases
Apps that earn from ads need very large audiences, because each user is worth little. Small apps almost always earn more per user from a purchase or subscription than from ads.
Questions people ask
- How much does an app with 1,000 downloads make?
- It depends almost entirely on what it sells. A free app with ads makes very little from 1,000 downloads; a subscription app converting a few percent at a good price can make a few hundred dollars from them.
- Do free apps make money?
- Through in-app purchases, subscriptions or ads. Most of the revenue in both stores comes from apps that are free to download and sell something inside.
- How much does Apple take from app revenue?
- 30% as standard, and 15% for developers in the Small Business Program and for subscriptions after their first year. Google Play takes 15% on a developer's first $1M a year and on subscriptions.
The free app revenue calculator turns any store page into a monthly revenue range, and SideRadar estimates the top ten of every niche the same way. How we score