What does a subscription app for your community cost?

What does a subscription app for your community cost?

A subscription app for your community costs anywhere from €0 upfront to a five-figure sum or more, depending on the route, and purchases made inside the app in the EU store add fees of 15 to 26% of the subscription price. With a pre-funded app such as CreatorStack, you pay nothing for development, running and store publishing, and give up an agreed share of the revenue instead.

The costs always fall into three blocks: the build (one-off), running the app (ongoing: hosting, updates, support, store accounts) and payments (per subscription: store commission or card fee, VAT, refunds). Which of them lands on you depends on who builds and runs the app.

Every fee on this page comes from the pages of Apple, Google, Stripe and the providers named, read on 7 November 2026. Fees change, so check them again before you decide.

Who pays what? The four routes compared

The range for a custom build comes from the price page of a software agency (Codana GmbH, as of 12 October 2026). It sells such apps and cites no market study, so the numbers are a guide, not an average. We found no independent survey. Only quotes are binding.

What do app builders and platforms charge?

An app builder is a tool with a monthly fee. The prices below are on the pricing pages of the providers themselves and were read on 7 November 2026, not taken from comparison articles, because comparison sites and AI answers sometimes give other amounts for the same plans. All prices exclude VAT, and they change.

How much commission do Apple and Google take on subscriptions?

Apple, subscription via In-App Purchase (EU)

26%. 15% for participants in the App Store Small Business Program (enrolment required; Apple requires no more than USD 1 million in proceeds in the previous and the current year, and developers new to the App Store can qualify) and for subscriptions after the first year of each subscriber. Above USD 1 million the standard rate applies to future sales.

Google Play, subscription (EEA)

15% on the first USD 1 million of annual earnings, made up of a 10% service fee and a 5% billing fee. Google states no rate above that for EEA subscriptions on this page, so read it on Google.

Apple Developer Program

USD 99 per year, varies by region. Organisations need a D-U-N-S number according to Apple.

Google Play account

USD 25 once.

For digital subscriptions that members buy in the app, the stores keep a commission. The rates below apply to the EU store, so to Germany and Austria as well. Apple rewrote its EU terms effective 1 October 2026, so older articles often quote other rates. Apple pages are not consistent on every point, the rates here come from the Apple EU page. Other regions have other rates. Developers new to the App Store can join the Small Business Program, and Apple says the vast majority of developers are eligible, but you have to enrol yourself. For apps under the revenue threshold the lower 15% rate is therefore within reach.

Apple lists payment processing, currency conversion and tax support as part of In-App Purchase and shows no extra fee for them. At Google, the 5% is the billing fee for Google Play Billing. According to these statements, a store purchase does not carry a separate card fee on top.

If you send members from the app to a website to pay, Apple may charge its own commission in the EU. The rules are in flux, so read them on Apple before you plan.

What does paying through your own website cost?

If you sell subscriptions outside the stores, you pay no store commission but fees to the payment provider. At Stripe, the price page lists 1.5% + €0.25 per payment for standard cards from the EEA. For recurring subscriptions, Stripe Billing (pay as you go) adds 0.7% of the billing volume, and every dispute raised by a cardholder costs €20. Other payment providers charge other rates, so have every fee itemised.

Which running costs do many people forget?

Hosting

Arises as soon as the app stores data, videos or chats. The amount depends on usage and provider. We give no firm range because we found no neutral source for it.

Maintenance and updates

New iOS and Android versions and security updates have to be worked in. The agency named budgets 15 to 20% of the build cost per year for this. That is a provider statement, not a market average.

Store accounts

USD 99 per year at Apple, USD 25 once at Google (see above).

Payment processing

Store commission or card fee on every subscription (see above).

Refunds

Refunds reduce your revenue. For card payments through Stripe, each dispute costs another €20.

VAT

The standard rate in Germany is 19% (section 12 (1) UStG) and as a rule applies to a subscription for digital services. That part of the price is not yours, it is passed on to the tax office. Austria and other countries have other rates. Have a tax adviser confirm this.

Legal texts

You usually need a privacy policy, a legal notice and terms of use in any case. A lawyer costs money once. This is not legal advice.

Support and community

Questions from members, login problems and conversation cost mostly time. Plan for it, even when someone else runs the technology.

A quote for the build says little about the cost in year two. These items arise on every route, only the person who carries them changes.

Worked example: what is left of a €12 subscription?

A member pays €12 a month including 19% VAT. The 15% row applies to Apple in the Small Business Program and to Google up to USD 1 million of annual earnings, the 26% row to Apple outside the program. This is a simplified model: the store commission is calculated on the price without VAT, and the Stripe row is for a standard card from the EEA including the 0.7% billing fee. Real settlement can differ, and this is not a forecast of your income.

"Left" is the amount before any platform fee, partner share and income taxes.

Can I start a subscription app without coding skills?

Yes, in two ways: with an app builder, where you set everything up yourself and carry the fee, or with a pre-funded partnership, where the partner takes over the technology. You need no coding skills for either. You do need time for content, prices and introducing the app to your community.

When is which route cheaper?

A custom build pays off when you need features no builder offers, have a budget for the build and its upkeep, and your community is large enough to carry the costs. It is the riskiest route, because the sum is due before the first member pays.

A builder or a platform is cheaper when your needs are standard and you have time for setup and upkeep. The fee keeps running without revenue, though: $599 a month is $7,188 a year. With an assumed fee of €600 a month and €8.57 left per member (example above), revenue covers the fee only from about 70 paying members.

A pre-funded app is cheaper when you do not want to put money in or your community is still small, because without revenue you have paid nothing. If the app later earns a lot, the share you give up can end up higher than a fixed fee would have been. In return the partner carries the build, the running and the risk. Work out both routes. We give no promise of income, and partnerships are selective.

The rule of thumb: the less certain your revenue, the more costs that grow with revenue speak for you over fixed costs.

What do you pay at CreatorStack?

For the build, hosting, maintenance, technical operation and publishing in the app stores you pay CreatorStack nothing, now or later: no build fee, no monthly fee, no licence, no invoice. CreatorStack carries the risk of the build and is paid only from an agreed share of the subscription revenue.

That is not free in the sense of nothing in return: the revenue share is the price. From every subscription, store fees, payment processing, taxes, refunds and chargebacks come off first and the rest is shared. The share and the deductions are agreed in writing before development starts. You set the prices, nothing goes live without your sign-off, and there is no income guarantee. What to look for in the contract is in our contract checklist.

If you want to work this out for your community, write to us with who your community is and what you offer. The conversation is non-binding.

Keep reading

Pre-funded app or app builder : Who pays, who builds, who carries the risk: app builders and pre-funded apps compared.

From Instagram to your own app : Four steps from followers to members of your own app, with no promises.

Contract: the checklist : Nine points to have in writing before the build, if someone pre-funds your app.

App, livestreams, memberships compared : Uscreen, Mighty Networks, Circle, Disciple and others compared, and when a pre-funded app fits better.

Providers paid by revenue share : Who builds a creator app with no upfront cost, what their pages say about cost, share and ownership, and what to watch for.

Subscription app without coding : Five routes to a community app with subscriptions without code, what stays with you and what Apple, Google and the law require.

When a subscription app pays off : No fixed follower count: break-even in paying members, scenarios with labelled assumptions, store fees and VAT.

App without start-up capital : Six ways to your own fan app without start-up capital, what pre-funded really means, and what applies extra to nutrition and health experts.

Income beyond ads : Ways to regular income without constant advertising: how the money recurs, fees according to providers, taxes in Germany and what nobody guarantees.

Is CreatorStack right for you? : What CreatorStack covers and what it does not: livestreams, a browser start, member chat, courses and follower count.

Own app name in the App Store : Name, icon and seller name in the stores: what Apple and Google set and what providers say about it on their own pages.

Requirements and process : What CreatorStack looks at in an application, how the partnership runs in four stages and what is agreed in writing before the build.