The App Store Small Business Program cuts Apple's commission from 30% to 15% on paid apps and in-app purchases for developers earning up to one million US dollars in proceeds per year. You have to enroll, it is not automatic, list your associated developer accounts, and stay under the threshold. For almost every indie developer it is the single easiest way to keep more of what you earn, and a surprising number of people who qualify have never signed up.
This guide covers exactly who qualifies, how the 15% versus 30% math actually works (including a subscription nuance most guides miss), how to enroll, the associated-accounts requirement that trips people up, what happens if you cross the one-million threshold, and the EU alternative-terms wrinkle. It is written for an indie developer deciding whether and how to use it, not as a marketing page.
On this page
- What the program is
- Who qualifies
- The 15% vs 30% math
- How to enroll
- Associated accounts: the gotcha
- What happens if you cross $1M
- The EU alternative-terms wrinkle
- Is it worth it?
- FAQ
What the program is
Apple's standard commission on App Store sales is 30%. The App Store Small Business Program lowers that to 15% on paid app sales and in-app purchases, including subscriptions, for developers who make up to one million dollars in proceeds a year. Apple launched it at the end of 2020 to keep more revenue in the hands of the small developers who make up the vast majority of the App Store.
The important word is proceeds, which is your share after Apple's commission, not gross customer spend. The one-million figure is measured on what you actually keep, so the ceiling is generous. In practice, if you are an indie developer or a small studio, you almost certainly qualify, and the program simply doubles the share of each sale that lands in your account.
Who qualifies
Two groups are eligible:
- Existing developers who earned up to one million dollars in proceeds in the prior calendar year, counted across all of their apps and all of their associated accounts.
- Developers new to the App Store, who qualify from the start.
That covers the overwhelming majority of the App Store. The threshold is per developer (and their associated accounts), not per app, so a portfolio of small apps that together stay under a million all get the 15% rate. The one thing to understand is that eligibility is assessed on your combined proceeds, which is why the associated-accounts step below exists.
The 15% vs 30% math
On a paid app or a one-time in-app purchase, the math is simple: on a 4.99 dollar sale, 30% is about 1.50 to Apple and 3.49 to you; 15% is about 0.75 to Apple and 4.24 to you. You keep roughly 21% more revenue on every sale, for doing nothing but enrolling.
Subscriptions have a nuance most guides skip, and it matters because subscriptions are where indie revenue increasingly lives. Under Apple's standard terms, a subscription is charged 30% for the subscriber's first year and then drops to 15% once they have been subscribed for more than a year. Under the Small Business Program, you get 15% from day one. So the program's biggest effect on a subscription business is in the first year of each subscriber, exactly the period when churn is highest and every point of margin counts. If most of your subscribers are in their first year, which is true for almost any growing app, the program is effectively halving your commission on the bulk of your subscription revenue.
How to enroll
Enrollment is not automatic. You have to opt in, and until you do, Apple keeps charging you 30% even if you clearly qualify. This is the part that costs people money: they assume the reduced rate applies to small developers by default. It does not.
You enroll from your Apple Developer account, in the App Store Connect membership area, by completing the Small Business Program agreement and listing your associated accounts (below). Apple reviews the submission, and once you are approved the 15% rate applies going forward from the start of the next month. It does not backdate, so the sooner you enroll, the sooner the lower rate kicks in. If you have been putting it off, that delay is real money.
Associated accounts: the gotcha
When you enroll, Apple requires you to list all of your associated developer accounts. An associated account is any Apple Developer Program account that you own or control, or any account that owns or controls yours. The point is to stop a large developer from splitting revenue across many accounts to each stay under a million and game the 15% rate.
For a solo developer with one account this is a non-event: you list yourself and move on. It matters if you have multiple developer accounts, a holding structure, or a stake in another developer's account. In those cases Apple sums proceeds across all associated accounts to check the threshold, and failing to disclose an associated account can disqualify you. Be accurate here; it is the one place the program has teeth.
What happens if you cross $1M
If your proceeds pass one million dollars during the current calendar year, the standard 30% commission applies to your sales for the rest of that year once you cross the line. You do not owe anything retroactively on the earnings that were charged at 15%; the higher rate simply applies going forward.
The following year, eligibility is reassessed. If your proceeds fall back below one million in a calendar year, you can re-qualify for the 15% rate the year after. So the program is not a one-way door. It tracks your business up and down across the threshold, and crossing a million, while a good problem to have, is not a permanent loss of the reduced rate.
The EU alternative-terms wrinkle
Developers in the EU who have adopted Apple's alternative business terms (the terms introduced under the Digital Markets Act) get an additional reduction: for subscriptions after their first year, the Small Business Program commission drops to 10%. If you are on the standard worldwide terms, this does not apply, and the 15% rate is your number. This one is worth checking against your specific setup rather than assuming, because the EU terms change the commission structure in several ways beyond just this program.
Is it worth it?
For essentially every indie developer, yes, and the decision is not close. Enrolling is free, takes a few minutes, and doubles your share of each sale up to a million in proceeds. There is no realistic downside for a small developer, and the only reason not to enroll is if you are confident you will clear a million this year, in which case the reduced rate would only apply to part of it anyway (and you should still enroll for the months before you cross).
The one thing the program does not do is change your pricing. The 15% rate improves your margin on whatever you charge, but what you charge in each market, and whether those prices reflect what people can actually pay, is a separate and larger lever. A lower commission on a price that is wrong in half the world is still leaving money on the table. Getting both right, the reduced commission and purchasing-power-aware pricing across markets, is where indie subscription revenue is actually won. For the pricing half of that, see App Store subscription pricing across 25 countries and how price equalization works.
FAQ
What is the App Store Small Business Program?
It is an Apple program that lowers the App Store commission from 30% to 15% on paid apps and in-app purchases for developers who earn up to one million dollars in proceeds per year. You enroll through your Apple Developer account; it is not applied automatically.
Who is eligible for the 15% commission?
Existing developers whose proceeds across all their apps and associated accounts were up to one million dollars in the prior calendar year, and developers new to the App Store. That covers the large majority of indie developers and small studios.
Do I have to apply, or is it automatic?
You have to apply. Apple does not enroll you automatically, so a developer who clearly qualifies keeps paying 30% until they opt in through App Store Connect. The reduced rate then applies from the start of the following month, not retroactively.
Does the Small Business Program apply to subscriptions?
Yes. It gives you 15% on subscriptions from day one, whereas the standard rate is 30% for a subscriber's first year before dropping to 15%. So the program's biggest benefit lands on first-year subscribers, which for a growing app is most of them.
What happens if I earn more than $1 million?
The standard 30% rate applies for the rest of that calendar year once you cross one million in proceeds, with nothing owed retroactively. If your proceeds drop back below a million in a later year, you can re-qualify for 15% the year after.
What are associated accounts and why do they matter?
Associated accounts are any developer accounts you own or control, or that own or control yours. Apple sums proceeds across all of them to check the one-million threshold, so you must list them all when enrolling. For a solo developer with one account it is a formality.
Spaceport generates a production-ready SwiftUI Xcode project with RevenueCat subscriptions and worldwide App Store pricing wired up, so the moment you enroll in the Small Business Program you are keeping 15% on prices that are already set sensibly in every market, not just your home one. And before any of that matters, you need users: Lighthouse is the sibling toolkit for the waitlist, survey, and newsletter that get you your first hundred before launch. From an indie iOS dev, for indie iOS devs.