What a great question. If the answer were simple, we’d have retired years ago.
Here are the eight ways we see apps actually make money — or “monetize,” if you want the industry term — with the pros and cons of each named plainly, not glossed over.
This is how the big social platforms and Google make most of their money — selling attention. Advertisers pay per click or per impression, priced like an auction against everyone else who wants that audience at that moment.
A single large sponsor pays to have their brand featured, or their products sold, inside your app. It works best when the app serves a cause a company wants to be associated with — public health, safety, education — or when the app naturally complements something the sponsor already sells.
Users pay to download the app, or pay a subscription, through Apple's or Google's own billing system — convenient for the user, since they're charging the same account they use for music and other apps. The app stores take 15% commission, rising to 30% once your revenue passes $1 million a year.
The free app has to stand on its own; the purchase — a status badge, a weapon, premium content — has to be valuable enough that people choose to buy it once they've seen the free version. App stores still take their commission on the sale.
The standard model for apps that sell something real — Amazon, Uber Eats. Apps can also do things a website can't: use your location, send notifications, remember a saved card. On-demand and marketplace apps typically charge a commission to the sellers on their platform.
Self-service through an app is often far cheaper than a call centre or a physical branch. AI tools such as ChatGPT are increasingly used the same way — to cut the cost of a service rather than to charge for it directly.
Different organisations often want almost the same app, just in their own brand, with some customisation. Build one platform that re-brands and re-customises easily, and you can license it — a software-as-a-service model, charged per user, per use, or as a flat fee. We built one security app that's since been white-labeled more than 30 times.
Data has real value — it's why WhatsApp remains free: the behavioural data Meta gathers feeds advertising on its other platforms, even though message content stays private. How much your data is worth depends on how much you have and how useful it is to someone else. Data-protection law makes selling personal data harder, and often impossible, without clear consent, a stated purpose, and a way for users to have their data deleted.
One caveat, because it changes what “selling inside the app” means in practice. Apple and Google require their own payment system — and their commission — for anything digital sold inside an app. Real-world goods, like a phone on Amazon or a ride on Uber, can use ordinary payment gateways such as Stripe instead.
You’re also not permitted to steer users toward paying on your website instead of in the app by offering a lower price there — though enforcement has grown patchy for some (Spotify and Netflix among them), and some countries now require Apple and Google to allow it by law.
The practical takeaway: think carefully about what you’re actually selling, whether it has a real-world component, and ask us before you build the payment flow.
Yes — it's the model behind most big social apps, priced like an auction between advertisers competing for your audience. It's simple to add with a network like Google AdSense and costs users nothing, but it only pays real money once you have tens of thousands of engaged, returning users. Add it too early and you'll annoy the users you're trying to keep.
It's a narrower version of advertising: a single company pays to have its brand featured, or its products sold, inside your app rather than buying ad slots. It suits apps built around a cause — public health, safety, education — that a sponsor wants to be associated with, or apps that naturally complement what the sponsor sells.
It's the simplest model, and it works for reference apps — anything that plays the role of a book or a course people already expect to pay for. The catch: it's hard to get anyone to pay before they've tried the product, and it's the wrong model if growth or a network effect — the app improving as more people join — matters to your business.
A paid app charges for the whole thing up front; an in-app purchase charges for something extra inside a free app — a status badge, an in-game item, premium content. The free version has to work and feel complete on its own, and the purchase has to be valuable enough that people choose to buy it once they've used the free app. Apple and Google still take their commission either way.
Only for digital goods and services sold inside the app — that's where their required payment system and 15–30% commission apply. Apps selling something real, like a product on Amazon or a ride on Uber, can use an ordinary payment gateway such as Stripe instead. You're generally not allowed to offer a cheaper price for paying on your website instead of in the app, though enforcement varies by country and platform.
It's the standard model for apps that sell something real — retail, food delivery, ride-hailing. The app doesn't just replicate a website; it uses things a website can't, like location, push notifications, and a saved card, and it usually earns through the same sales revenue as any other channel, sometimes with a commission charged to sellers on a marketplace.
Yes — self-service through an app is often far cheaper than a call centre or a branch, and AI tools like ChatGPT are increasingly used the same way. The saving is real and measurable, but only if the interface is genuinely simple and reliable; a buggy self-service tool costs you the saving twice over.
You build one platform that different organisations can re-brand and customise as their own, then license it to them — usually priced per user, per use, or as a flat fee. It produces recurring, annuity-style income from customers with deeper pockets than a single consumer, but heavy customisation makes ongoing maintenance complicated, so you need a real support and SLA structure behind it.
In principle, yes — data has real value, which is why WhatsApp remains free while feeding Meta's advertising elsewhere. In practice, data-protection law makes selling personal data difficult without clear consent and a stated purpose, and the model only pays off at genuine volume. Build in permission, a privacy policy, and deletion on request from day one — you'll need it for app-store approval regardless.
There isn't a single best method — the right one depends on what your app does, who it serves, and whether you need scale or revenue from day one. Most of the apps we build combine two or three of these methods rather than relying on just one.
Tell us what you're building and we'll help you pick a monetization model — or two — as part of scoping the app itself.
