How much does it cost to publish an app on Google Play?

Google Play Console help says there is a US$25 one time registration fee, paid by credit or debit card, with prepaid cards not accepted. Read on 1 October 2026. There is no annual renewal. Personal accounts created after 13 November 2023 also have to meet testing requirements and verify access to an Android device before an app can be made available.

Is the Apple developer fee a one time payment?

No. It is annual, and enrolling through the Apple Developer app makes it an auto renewable subscription that runs until cancelled. Google's 25 USD is the one time fee of the two. Apple's fee page does not spell out what happens to an app already on the store if a membership lapses, and we did not find that answered on the pages we read, so confirm it with Apple Developer Support rather than trusting a summary.

Do I have to pay both fees to launch?

No, and for a first app we would pay one. Two stores means two review processes, two sets of screenshots and two sets of policy questions, at a point when you are still finding out whether anyone wants the app. Pick the store your users are on rather than the cheaper one. The 74 USD difference is not a strategy.

What are the app store fees on sales, as opposed to publishing?

They are commissions, and they only apply to money taken through the store. Google's service fees page says 97 percent of developers distribute at no charge and that 99 percent of those who do pay qualify for 15 percent or less. Apple's Small Business Program page describes 15 percent on paid apps and in-app purchases for developers under 1 million USD in prior year proceeds, with the standard rate above that.

Can I publish an app for free?

Not onto the App Store, unless you qualify for the educational fee waiver. On Android you can build an APK and hand it out without paying Google, but that is distribution outside Play rather than a listing on it. Play Console help now carries its own section on Android developer verification, so check the current rules before you plan around that route. Writing and testing an app on your own devices costs nothing on either platform.

Articles · GuidesUpdated October 2026

How much does it cost to publish an app? The two stores want 124 USD in your first year, and one of them wants it again.

Straight answer: 99 USD a year to Apple and 25 USD once to Google. The same app in both stores costs 124 USD in year one and 99 USD every year after. Both figures come from the companies' own pages and were read on 1 October 2026. If the number in your head was much larger, you were not asking how much it costs to publish an app. You were asking what it costs to have one built, which is a wider question with a wider answer: app development cost.

Below: what each fee actually buys, and the requirement on a new Google account that costs weeks rather than money. Then the costs that are not fees at all, and why the commission everyone quotes applies to nothing until you charge for something.

Work out your year one bill

The short version

The store fees are small and they are the only part of this anyone can quote you.

For one developer with a finished app, the cost to launch an app is 124 USD across both stores in year one, then 99 USD a year. Every other line on the invoice is a choice you made: a designer, a server, a builder subscription, a company registration. Nobody can quote those without seeing your app, which is why any page that answers this question with a range from 30,000 to 300,000 is answering a different question.

Two readers land here. If you have a working app and you want the checkout total, the numbers above are the answer and the rest of this is fine print. If you have an idea and no app, the store fee is the smallest cost you will meet, and the useful question is which of the two accounts to open first. Our answer to that is one, not both.

What Apple charges, and what the 99 USD is for

Apple's enrollment page states it without hedging: the Apple Developer Program annual fee is 99 USD, and the Apple Developer Enterprise Program annual fee is 299 USD, in local currency where available. We read that on 1 October 2026. The page also says prices may vary by region and are listed in local currency during enrollment, so the amount on your card may not be exactly 99.

It is a membership, not a listing fee. One fee covers every app you publish across Apple's platforms, plus TestFlight, App Store Connect and the signing certificates. It also renews. Year two is another 99 USD whether you shipped anything or not. Enroll through the Apple Developer app and it becomes an auto renewable subscription that runs until you cancel it.

Two exceptions are worth checking before you pay. Accredited educational institutions worldwide can enroll with a fee waiver. And if you enroll as an organization rather than as yourself, Apple requires a D-U-N-S Number to verify the legal entity, plus a public working website on your own domain. Government organizations do not need the D-U-N-S Number. Getting one is free, but it takes time, so start it well before the week you planned to launch.

Nothing here is needed to write the app or to run it on your own iPhone. The fee buys distribution, and distribution includes TestFlight. That is the line: free to build, 99 USD a year before anyone else can install it.

Apple Developer, Program enrollment: payment and fee waivers, read 1 October 2026

What Google Play charges, and the part that is not money

Google Play Console help says there is a US$25 one time registration fee, payable by credit or debit card, and that prepaid cards are not accepted. Read on 1 October 2026. One payment, one account, as many apps as you like, and no renewal. On price alone the google play developer fee is the cheapest door into app distribution, and it is a quarter of Apple's first year.

The catch does not show up on the invoice. Google's page says developers with personal accounts created after 13 November 2023 must meet specific testing requirements before they can make an app available on Play. Holders of new personal accounts also have to verify access to an Android device using the Play Console mobile app. You may be asked for a valid government ID and a card in your legal name too. The page is blunt about the consequence: if that information turns out to be invalid, the registration fee is not refunded.

So the cheaper account can be the slower one. For a brand new personal Play account, budget weeks before the listing can go public, not an afternoon. Read the current app store requirements before you write the listing. The assets, the policy pages and the support contact are the same work whichever store you pay first.

Google Play Console Help, Register for a Google Play developer account, read 1 October 2026

The costs that are not store fees

Every honest estimate has three lines: the store fees, the tools, the hours. The fees are fixed and you now know them. The tools are where the wide ranges come from. Building and signing an iOS app has traditionally meant owning a Mac. For anyone who does not have one, that is the biggest single number here, as hardware or as a rented build. Newly builds and uploads from cloud machines, which is one way the line goes away, and it is not the only one.

Then the lines people leave out. An app with accounts needs a server, and a server is a monthly bill forever rather than a launch cost. A privacy policy needs a URL, and a URL needs hosting. You need screenshots at every size you claim to support and a support address a human reads. None of these is large on its own. Added up, they are usually larger than the 124 USD that started this page.

The hours are the real cost and nobody invoices you for them. A first submission is rarely accepted first time, and every rejection costs a day or more of turnaround. If you have never done it, read a walkthrough of how to publish to app store before you write a number down. The estimate people get wrong is the calendar, not the cash.

Try it

Your year one bill

The store fees are fixed. Fill in the two lines that are yours and see how small a share of the total they are.

Tools and subscriptions, USD a monthOne off costs you already know, USD

424 USD in year one

Store fees are 124 USD of that, about 29 percent. Year two comes to 399 USD, because Google's fee does not come back and Apple's does. Everything above the store fees is a decision you made, which is the part worth arguing about.

App store fees only start when the money does

The 30 percent everyone quotes is not a publishing fee. It is a commission on sales made through the store. On a free app that sells nothing, it applies to nothing. Google's own service fees page says 97 percent of developers distribute their apps at no charge. Of the developers who are subject to a fee, it says 99 percent qualify for 15 percent or less through one programme or another.

Apple's App Store Small Business Program page describes a reduced commission rate of 15 percent on paid apps and Apple in-app purchases. It applies to developers who made up to 1 million USD in proceeds in the prior calendar year, and to developers new to the App Store. Above that threshold the page says the standard commission rate applies. It does not print that standard rate, so we will not either. The number most people should plan around is 15 percent.

This changes who should care. If your app is free, the cost to launch an app is the store fee and nothing else, indefinitely. If it sells, commission is the dominant cost of the business and the 99 USD stops mattering during your first week of revenue. Neither reader should spend an afternoon optimising a developer fee.

And none of it is a one off. Certificates expire, a new OS arrives every autumn, and a store rule you satisfied in 2026 will be rewritten. The steady state costs more than the launch did, which is a separate subject: what it costs to keep it up.

Where the money goes in year one, and what comes back next year

Cost line	Amount	Paid again next year	One payment covers every app	Needed before your first user
Apple Developer Program	99 USD	Yes	Yes	Yes
Google Play registration	25 USD	No	Yes	Yes
A Mac or a cloud build for iOS	varies	if you rent it	Yes	Yes
Store commission on sales	15 percent for most sellers	Yes	No	No
Server for accounts and sync	monthly	Yes	No	only if the app needs one

Building the thing the fees are for

The fees are the easy half of publishing. What decides whether you ever pay them is whether the app exists, builds, and survives review. If you are pricing this out before anything has been written, price the build. The stores will still be 124 USD when you get there.

Newly is an AI app builder. You describe the app in plain English and it writes a real React Native and TypeScript project you own. It runs on cloud iOS and Android simulators while it builds, uploads to App Store Connect and TestFlight, and publishes to Google Play internal testing. It is $25 a month and there is no free plan. Two details matter for this page. The builds happen on cloud machines, so the Mac line comes off the estimate. And the submit for review button stays yours: the upload is automatic, the submission is not.

A new app also starts local first. Its data stays on the phone, with no accounts and no server, so there is no monthly bill until the app genuinely needs accounts, shared data, syncing or payments. When it does, the agent adds a backend with sign in, an API service, a Postgres database per environment and file storage. The code comes out as a ZIP from project Settings, or over the two way GitHub sync in Deploy. The developer account you paid for stays pointed at code you hold.

Questions people ask about the cost of publishing

Apple's enrollment page says the Apple Developer Program annual fee is 99 USD, in local currency where available, and that the Enterprise Program is 299 USD a year. Read on 1 October 2026. One membership covers every app you publish, and it renews annually. Accredited educational institutions can enroll with a fee waiver.

Price the app, not the paperwork

The 124 USD is the same for everyone. What differs is whether there is an app behind it, so describe the one you want in a sentence, watch it run on a simulator, and pay the store fees when you have something worth submitting.

Start building