Google will reduce the Play Store share fee for most developers to 15% or less

After Apple tax and Google tax have attracted the attention of antitrust regulators, Apple has previously decided to reduce the cost of app store sharing for small and medium-sized developers.

Now Google is also taking a similar approach to reduce developer costs and ease the game with regulatory agencies, and now most developers’ sharing fees have also been reduced to 15%.

At the same time, the cost of sharing long-term subscriptions will also be reduced, and the new policy may help increase profits for most developers and mature software developers.

Google said that: “The vast majority of developers could distribute their apps on Google Play for free (currently 97% do so at no charge). For the developers who offered a paid app or sold in-app digital goods (currently just 3% of developers), the flat service fee was 30%.”

1. The handling fee for app purchases and in-app purchases for the first $1 million in annual revenue will be reduced from 30% to 15%, and the portion exceeding $1 million will continue to be 30%.

2. The cost of all-time-based subscription revenue has been reduced from 30% to 15%. This may be that Google is encouraging developers to use subscriptions instead of a one-time buyout strategy.

3. Developers of certain programs, such as the developers of the Google Play Media Experience, are eligible to apply to Google for a lower share fee based on higher content costs.

4. In addition to apps and games, service fees for e-books and streaming music in the Google Store are also waived, and fees can be reduced to 10% under certain qualifications.

The above new sharing policy will take effect on January 1, 2022, and Google predicts that 99% of developers will only need to pay 15% or even lower store sharing fees.

Google notes “positive feedback from our developer partners on this change”:

Our partnership with Google has been a powerful one for our business, helping us to scale and ultimately playing a key role in advancing our mission to empower women globally. The pricing change they’ve announced will allow us to better invest in our products and further empower users to confidently connect online.

Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO, Bumble Inc.

Just as every person learns in different ways, every developer is different as well. We’re excited to see Google continuing to collaborate with the ecosystem to find models that work for both the developer and platform. This reduction in subscription fees will help Duolingo accelerate our mission of universally available language learning.

Luis von Ahn, cofounder and CEO of Duolingo.