Chapter 4: Decide how to monetize

Your first monetization setup doesn’t need to be perfect. You can refine your pricing, plans, and paywall as you learn how people use your app. For now, the goal is to make a sensible decision and keep moving.

Decide what’s free and what’s paid

Before choosing a price, decide what users get for free and what they need to pay for. This is one of your most important monetization decisions because it determines when users encounter your paywall and what reason they have to subscribe.

One simple approach is to let users experience some of the app for free, then require a subscription to access more valuable features.

For example, a meal-planning app might let users browse recipes for free, while features such as creating a shopping list or adding recipes to a weekly planner require a subscription.

The important thing is that the paid version delivers a clear additional benefit. Avoid putting features behind a paywall simply because you can.

Choose your subscription mix

Keep your first setup simple.

A monthly and yearly subscription can be a useful starting combination:

• Monthly: Gives users a lower-commitment way to access the paid experience
• Yearly: Gives users a reason to make a longer commitment, usually in exchange for a lower effective monthly price

You don’t have to offer both. Your plans should match how people get value from your app.

Pick a starting price

Your first price doesn’t need to be perfect, but don’t choose one at random.

Start by looking at three things:

1. Comparable apps: Search the App Store for three to five apps solving a similar problem. Look at their monthly and yearly prices, what each plan includes, and whether they offer a trial
2. RevenueCat benchmarks: Compare those prices with subscription pricing across the wider market
3. Your product: Consider how valuable the paid experience is and whether running the app creates ongoing costs for each user

RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps 2026, based on more than 115,000 subscription apps, found median prices of around $5.99 per week, $10 per month, and $34.80 per year.

For the example app in this guide, we’ll use:

• $4.99 per month
• $29.99 per year

These are example prices to make the rest of the tutorial easier to follow. They aren’t a recommendation for what you should charge for your own app.

Avoid automatically choosing the lowest possible price. Your price needs to reflect the value of the product and leave enough room for App Store commission and the costs of running your app.

Your first price is also something you can test and change. You don’t need to solve your long-term pricing strategy before you launch.

Yearly pricing tip

If you offer monthly and yearly subscriptions, make it easy for users to understand the saving they get by choosing the yearly plan.

Using the example prices in this guide:

• $4.99 per month = $59.88 per year
• Yearly plan = $29.99 per year

That makes the yearly option considerably cheaper than paying monthly for a full year.

You don’t need to copy this exact discount. The important thing is that the difference between the two options is intentional and easy to understand.

Understand what you actually keep

When someone pays for an in-app purchase through the App Store, the amount they pay isn’t necessarily the amount you receive.

Here’s a simplified example using the $4.99 monthly subscription in this guide and assuming a 15% Apple commission:

Developers new to the App Store can qualify for Apple’s 15% commission through the Small Business Program (for apps earning under $1M per year). You need to enroll to get this rate. Enroll here.

Apple handles payments automatically. They take their commission and any regional sales taxes and deposit the rest into your bank account.

RevenueCat is free until you are processing more than $2,500 in revenue per month. Once your app reaches that level, RevenueCat’s Pro plan costs 1% of the revenue you track and is billed separately. For example, at $2,600 in MTR, the RevenueCat charge would be $26.