How to Monetise a Mobile App: Subscriptions, Freemium, Ads and One-Time Payments

Start from what the user is paying for, not from which model sounds most lucrative. Digital value used inside the app (a feature unlock, credits or a subscription) must normally be sold through Apple's in-app purchase and Google Play Billing, and the store takes a commission. Physical goods and real-world services must be sold through your own payment provider. Ads cost the user nothing but bring their own rules on consent, tracking and placement. Once you know what is being sold and how often people use the app, the model, payment route and fees mostly follow.

Decide this before you scope the build. The model sets the payment plumbing (store billing, a gateway, or both), the backend you need to track who has paid for what, the review risks, and whether you need a consent tool and Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt. This guide maps each model to the store rule that governs it and the fees as checked on 15 October 2026. For how payments are built, see mobile app payment integration; for the full regional fee table in budget terms, see the cost guide's store commission section.

The table below is the core of this guide. Apple's references are to the App Review Guidelines; Google's are to the sections of the Google Play Payments policy. Fees are list rates as published by Apple and Google and checked on 15 October 2026; they change, and the regional detail is in the next section.

Commission is charged on purchases through the store, and both stores restructured their fees during 2026. The rate now depends on where the user is. The headline changes, each with its effective date:

Outside the exceptions in the table, steering users to pay elsewhere is restricted. Apple prohibits buttons, links and calls to action to other purchase methods in all storefronts except the US, unless you hold a specific entitlement in an eligible storefront (3.1.1(a)). Google prohibits leading users to non-Play payment methods (Section 4) except through its alternative billing and external-link programmes, which require enrolment and are limited to eligible countries (Sections 8 and 9).

Google's billing choice programme lets developers offer alternative billing or external web links alongside Play Billing in the UK and EEA from 30 June 2026, and in Australia and Japan from 30 September 2026. Google says there are no changes to its US programmes at this time (Play Console Help). Alternative billing avoids the 5% billing fee, not the service fee, and you take on payment processing, refunds and transaction reporting.

For most new apps the practical answer is to build store billing first and treat link-outs as a later optimisation for specific markets, once you know your volumes and have checked the current terms.

Ads look like the simplest model because users pay nothing. The work is in compliance. These rules come straight from Apple's and Google's policy pages:

Two questions do most of the work. What job does the user hire the app for, and is that value one-off or ongoing? And how often will they open it? Use the matrix below as a starting point, then check the payment rule for your answer in the table above.

Hypothetical example: a founder plans a home workout app with a free set of beginner sessions, a monthly and annual plan for the full library and new programmes each month, and bookable in-person classes at partner studios. No real company or figures are involved; the prices below are invented to show the arithmetic.

The subscription delivers ongoing value (new programmes every month), so it meets 3.1.2 and is sold through Apple in-app purchase and Google Play Billing. The in-person classes are services consumed outside the app, so they must not go through store billing: Apple 3.1.3(e) requires another method such as Apple Pay or card entry, and Google's Section 3 excludes physical services and gym memberships from Play Billing. The app therefore needs both store billing and a payment gateway, plus a backend that records each user's subscription status from both stores.

The fee arithmetic for a hypothetical £10 monthly subscription bought through Google Play Billing by a UK user in October 2026: 10% service fee plus 5% billing fee, so £1.50 to Google and £8.50 before tax and other costs. The same sale by a user in India would carry the 15% subscription rate until the "Rest of World" change on 30 September 2027. On iOS, a developer enrolled in the Small Business Program pays 15% outside the EU terms. A £40 class booking paid by card pays no store commission, only the gateway's fees.

What the founder decides not to do: no ads, because the paying audience is buying focus and an ad-free experience, and adding ads would bring consent and ATT work for little benefit.

When a subscription is the wrong choice: the app solves a one-off problem, usage is occasional, or you cannot commit to adding value regularly. Churn will erode the base, and Apple may reject a subscription that does not deliver ongoing value. A one-time unlock is the honest alternative.

When ads are the wrong choice: usage is infrequent, the audience is small or niche, the app handles sensitive tasks (health, money, children), or the experience depends on focus. Apps for children also fall under Google Play's separate Families ads requirements.

When store billing cannot be avoided: in most regions, for digital goods. Link-outs and alternative billing are real options only in specific markets and programmes, and the US position may change again when the courts rule.

What this guide does not cover: tax, consumer law on subscriptions and cancellations, or ad-network revenue terms. It also gives no revenue or conversion benchmarks, because we found none from a primary source with a stated method. Model your own numbers from a small launch instead, and measure them; improving mobile app retention matters for every model that depends on repeat use.

Apple: App Review Guidelines (3.1.1, 3.1.1(a), 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.1.4, 3.2.2, 5.1.2); Apps in the EU: business terms from 1 October 2026; App Store Small Business Program.

Google Play: Payments policy; Service fees; Understanding Google Play's lower service fees (rollout schedule); Android Developers Blog: expanded billing choice and lower fees (24 June 2026); Billing choice programme; Ads policy.

AdMob: Behavioural policies; Consent management requirements for the EEA, UK and Switzerland.

US litigation: MacDailyNews, 14 August 2026 (press report).

Accessed 15 October 2026. Store fees, programmes and policies change, and the US link-out commission is still in litigation; check the current pages before you rely on them.

Pick the model from the user's job and how often they use the app, then let the store rules decide the payment route: store billing for digital value, your own provider for the physical world, and ads only where frequent use and the compliance work make sense. Write down the fee rate for each region you will sell in, with the date you checked it, and set a reminder for the changes already scheduled: South Korea on 31 December 2026 and Google's "Rest of World" rollout on 30 September 2027.

Next steps: list what users will pay for; place each item in the model table; check the regional fees; then scope the billing, entitlement and consent work with your build team. The mobile app cost guide shows where these choices land in the budget, and our mobile app development service page explains how we approach builds.