How to make money with an app
There are four ways, and they look nothing like each other. Picking the wrong one is the most common reason a good app earns zero.
1. The app as a sales channel for a business that already exists
This is the way that works fastest, and the one that shows up least in content about the subject, because it does not look like a "successful app".
You already sell something: food, a service, a course, a product. The app removes friction from ordering, keeps the customer, and brings them back. The revenue does not come from the app; it comes from more orders from the same customer, and it is measured against what they used to buy.
There is no store fee here, because what is sold is not digital content.
2. Subscriptions and in-app purchases
This is the model for apps that deliver something continuously. The stores charge 30% on digital purchases, dropping to 15% for low-revenue developers under the small business programmes, and that fee is not optional when the content is digital and consumed inside the app.
The practical rule: subscription when the value is continuous, one-off purchase when the value is consumed on use. The common mistake is charging once for something that costs you work every month.
How this works in practice is in in-app purchases.
3. Advertising
The most cited model and the one that delivers least for a new app. Ad revenue is a function of volume, and volume is the most expensive thing to acquire. An app with a few hundred users earns irrelevant amounts per month, and still pays the price of a worse experience.
Ads make sense once the app has daily use and a lot of people. Before that they are an expensive distraction.
4. Selling the app to whoever needs it
Build the app for a specific business, charge for the work and for maintenance. This is the agency and freelancer model, and it is the only one on the list that earns before a single user exists.
With a generation platform, the cost of producing each app drops far enough that serving several small clients stops being unviable.
The question that separates the four
Who pays, and why?
- your business's customer, because they bought something → model 1;
- the app's user, because the app delivers recurring value → model 2;
- the advertiser, because there are people there → model 3;
- another company, because it needs the app → model 4.
If you cannot finish that sentence, the problem is not monetisation: there is nobody yet with a reason to pay.
The summary
- four models, and the fastest is the app that serves a business that already sells;
- digital purchases inside the app pay a store fee; physical goods and services do not;
- subscription for continuous value, one-off for value consumed on use;
- ads only after volume, never before;
- selling the app to whoever needs it is the only model that earns without users.