App Store Fees in 2026: 30%, 15%, Link-Outs, EU Terms

"Apple takes 30%" has not been a complete sentence since 2020, and in 2026 it is wrong for most developers in most places. Here are the rates that apply on 19 October 2026, how they got there, and what developers say they did about them.

What developers are asking

Across forum threads, vendor guides and community summaries, these ten questions recur most often:

1. Is the Small Business Program 15% automatic, or do I have to enrol?
2. Why does my dashboard look like Apple took more than 15%?
3. Does the $1M cap count revenue or proceeds, and across which accounts?
4. Does Google's 15% tier still exist, and what are the new 20% and 10% rates?
5. Can a US app link to a web checkout without paying Apple anything?
6. Is the 27% link-out commission dead or just paused?
7. What happens to US link-outs at the Supreme Court?
8. What did the EU "alternative terms" become on 1 October 2026?
9. Is the 5% Core Technology Commission the only EU fee now?
10. Did link-outs actually make developers more money?

Standard rate versus the Small Business Program

Apple's standard commission remains 30% in the US and most storefronts, dropping to 15% on auto-renewing subscriptions after a subscriber completes a paid year ^1,18. The App Store Small Business Program cuts that to 15% from the first dollar for developers whose proceeds, across all Associated Developer Accounts, were at or under $1M in the previous calendar year and stay under $1M in the current one ¹.

It is not automatic: the Account Holder has to enrol, accept the latest Paid Apps agreement and list every associated account; the reduced rate starts 15 days after the end of the fiscal month in which enrolment was approved ¹. The cap is measured in proceeds, meaning sales after Apple's commission and certain taxes, so gross sales can exceed $1M while you still qualify ^1,18. Cross $1M mid-year and the standard rate applies to future sales that year; you can requalify the next year ¹.

The dashboard confusion is old. A 2022 forum thread describes a developer whose enrolment was acknowledged but never applied, with one support agent saying they were approved and another that they had never applied ²¹. Replies to similar threads note that developers often compare against sales including local VAT, which Apple removes before taking its cut, so the apparent rate looks higher than 15% ²¹.

Google Play's tiers in 2026

Google's picture is now regional. In the EEA, UK and US (installs from 1 July 2026) and Australia and Japan (from 1 October 2026), Google lists: subscriptions at 10% plus a 5% billing fee; other transactions on new installs at 20% plus 5%; on existing installs 25% plus 5%, or 20% via an external web link ⁷. Play Games Level Up and Apps Experience members pay 15% plus 5% on new-install transactions ⁷.

Everywhere else, until the new fees roll out globally (South Korea at the end of 2026, the rest of the world in September 2027 ⁹), the older structure holds: 15% on the first $1M of annual earnings per account group for developers enrolled in the 15% tier, 30% above that, and 15% on subscriptions regardless of revenue ^7,8. The tier still requires enrolment and an Account Group ⁸. Community summaries attribute the 10% subscription rate to a March 2026 Epic Games settlement unconfirmed ¹⁰.

US link-outs after the Epic injunction

Under the original 2021 injunction, Apple allowed link-outs but charged 27% (12% for Small Business Program members) ^12,17. On 30 April 2025 the district court found Apple in contempt, barred any commission on linked-out purchases, and ordered it to stop restricting link design and wording and to drop "scare screens" beyond a neutral notice ¹².

Since May 2025 the guidelines say entitlements "are not required for developers to include buttons, external links, or other calls to action in their United States storefront apps" ¹¹. Outside the US, link-outs still need an entitlement and are limited to specific storefronts ¹¹.

Whether 0% survives is the open question. On 11 December 2025 the Ninth Circuit upheld the contempt finding but held that a total ban on any commission was overbroad; on remand the district court may narrow the ban to prohibitive commissions or require court approval before Apple charges anything, with any fee tied to costs genuinely necessary to coordinate external links ¹³. Rehearing was denied on 30 March 2026; the Supreme Court declined to pause the no-commission order in May and granted certiorari on 30 June 2026, limited to the contempt-standard question. Apple filed its merits brief on 14 September 2026, Epic's is due 13 November 2026, and the US government filed a brief supporting neither party on 21 September ^14,15,16. No argument date is set and no replacement commission has been approved ^14,20. August 2026 reports of a settlement framework at 15%, 10% for news and video and 5% for small businesses are unverified ¹⁶.

For a US developer on 19 October 2026: you may link out with no Apple commission, you must report qualifying external transactions to Apple within 15 days, you become merchant of record for sales tax, and the rate could change on remand or after a Supreme Court decision expected no earlier than 2027 ^16,20.

EU terms from 1 October 2026

Apple's EU model went through three versions in two years. The 2024 alternative terms paired a reduced commission with a €0.50 per-install Core Technology Fee above one million annual installs; in June 2025 Apple added a 2% Initial Acquisition Fee, a Store Services Fee of 5% or 13% (10% for small businesses) and a 5% Core Technology Commission, promising a single model by 1 January 2026 ^3,6. Adapty called it possibly the most complicated commission system in App Store history; developer Ryan Jones wrote on X: "Good luck deciphering the new-new rules devs. I give up" ⁶.

On 18 August 2026 Apple announced the single model, effective 1 October 2026 ^2,4: 26% for App Store apps on Apple's in-app purchase, or 15% for Small Business, Mini Apps Partner and Video Partner members and subscriptions after year one; 20% (10% for those programs) for alternative payment processing in-app; 15% (10%) for link-outs to the web; and a flat 5% Core Technology Commission on digital transactions in apps distributed via alternative marketplaces or the web ^2,5. The per-install fee, the Initial Acquisition Fee and the Store Services Fee are gone ^2,5. Developers can now offer Apple's in-app purchase alongside alternative payments in the same EU app, but must keep their chosen payment mix for 12 months; Kids apps cannot link out, under-13s cannot be sent to the web, and under-18s need a parental gate ^2,4. The European Commission welcomed the changes ⁴.

What developers actually chose, and why

Community data is thinner than the discussion suggests. RevenueCat published no measured conversion results in May 2025; its advice was to A/B test an IAP-only paywall against IAP plus an external button on US iOS traffic ¹⁷. A merchant-of-record vendor's August 2026 cost model puts the fee saving at $3 to $6 on a $20 subscription but cites a commonly repeated 10% to 20% drop in checkout conversion when users leave the app, enough to erase the gain if one in eight buyers drops out ¹⁹. For the EU, the June 2025 consensus among the guides we read was to stay on Apple's billing unless you were a large established app; uptake of the October 2026 model is not yet reported unconfirmed.

How this shows up in the charts

Fees change what the Top Grossing charts measure. Grossing rank reflects App Store billings, so a US app that moved its best customers to a web checkout in 2025 earns more per user and ranks lower; the same applies to EU apps using alternative payments from October 2026. Expect Top Grossing in Finance, Productivity and Education, where cross-platform subscription apps cluster, to understate real revenue. On Google Play, the 15% Level Up rate for same-day Android launches is a direct incentive for day-and-date releases, which should narrow the gap between iOS and Android debut weeks in the games charts. When a top-ten grossing app slips without a visible reason, check whether it added a web checkout before concluding it is losing users.