How much does Apple take from app sales?

The standard commission is 30%. The App Store Small Business Program cuts it to 15% for developers earning under $1M per year in proceeds — but you must apply; enrollment is not automatic. Auto-renewable subscriptions also drop to 15% after a subscriber's first year at the standard rate. In many countries VAT or sales tax comes off before Apple's split, so actual proceeds land below the naive price-minus-commission math.

What is the App Store Small Business Program?

Apple's reduced 15% commission tier for developers whose proceeds stayed under $1M across the previous calendar year. Nearly every indie qualifies, and it doubles-ish your margin versus 30% — but it requires an application in App Store Connect, and many eligible developers simply never fill it in. If you haven't checked, check today; it's the highest-ROI form in indie development.

Why are my App Store proceeds lower than price minus 30%?

Taxes and currency. In many storefronts, VAT or equivalent tax is deducted from the customer price before Apple's commission applies, and sales in other currencies convert to your payout currency at prevailing rates. A $19.99 subscription can net wildly different proceeds by country — which is why revenue modeling should start from the proceeds column in App Store Connect, never the sticker price.

FunnelHound / Guides / Apple's cut explained

Apple's cut, explained: why your $9.99 app pays you $6-ish

By Emin — indie iOS developer building FunnelHound · Published 14 Sep 2026

The financial model in your head is "price × downloads". The one your bank sees is price − tax − Apple's commission ± currency. The single most expensive oversight in indie dev: the 15% Small Business Program requires an application — eligible developers sit on the 30% rate for years because nobody told them there's a form.

The commission tiers

30% — the default. The number everyone knows, and what you pay if you never apply for anything.
15% — Small Business Program. For developers under $1M in proceeds the previous calendar year. Nearly every indie qualifies. Enrollment is a form in App Store Connect, not automatic — go check yours before reading further; this guide will still be here.
15% — subscriptions after year one. Once a subscriber crosses one paid year, that subscription's commission drops to 15% even outside the program. Retention literally raises your margin — one more reason churn is the quiet killer.

Taxes come off first

In many storefronts — most of Europe among them — VAT is inside the customer price and comes out before the split. A €9.99 sale in a 25% VAT country is roughly €8 of taxable base before Apple's percentage even enters. This is the gap that surprises people modeling "price minus 30": by the proceeds line, a $9.99 sticker lands anywhere from about $6 to $8.49 depending on country, program status and tax. Add currency conversion into your payout currency, and per-country proceeds for the same sticker price can differ by a third.

Modeling it honestly

Model from proceeds, never price. App Store Connect's proceeds column already contains the whole story — tax, commission, currency. It is the only number that predicts your payout.
Quick sanity math: at 15%, roughly 70–85% of sticker survives depending on local tax; at 30%, roughly 55–70%. Directional, but it keeps spreadsheet dreams within a postcode of reality.
Watch proceeds per install, not revenue per install. Especially when comparing countries — high-sticker markets with heavy VAT can pay less than modest-sticker markets without it (a wrinkle that localization planning should price in).
Subscriptions: retention is margin. The year-two 15% means your oldest subscribers are your most profitable — churn fights you twice (see watching deletions).

The funnel ends at proceeds, so measure to proceeds

Downloads are applause; proceeds are payment. A funnel that stops at installs is a story missing its ending — the whole point of watching Impressions → Installs → Purchases is that the last stage is money, stated the way Apple will actually pay it. FunnelHound reads proceeds straight from App Store Connect, so paywall experiments and ASO changes get judged in the only unit that compounds.

Watch the number the bank agrees with

FunnelHound's funnel runs all the way to proceeds — impressions to installs to actual money, from App Store Connect.

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Data notes: commission tiers and Small Business Program terms per Apple's published policies as of 2026; regional regulation (notably in the EU) has produced alternative fee structures beyond this guide's scope. Tax treatment varies by storefront — the proceeds column in App Store Connect is authoritative for your mix. Not tax advice.