Category guide

App monetization tools

App monetization tools sit between your app and the store. RevenueCat, Adapty, Qonversion, and Superwall each stay free under their own revenue threshold, then bill a percentage of tracked or paywall-attributed revenue. Apple's store commission is a separate bill. It does not change with the tool you pick.

App monetization tools for a mobile app are RevenueCat, Adapty, Qonversion, and Superwall. Each is free under its own revenue threshold, then bills a percentage of tracked or paywall-attributed revenue. Apple's store commission is a separate bill.

Who needs this

Subscription app builders.
Indie developers validating paid features.
Teams that need paywalls, entitlements, and pricing experiments.

When to use it

You plan to sell subscriptions, consumables, unlocks, or paid tiers.
You need entitlement state to sync reliably across devices.
You want revenue reporting without building receipt validation from scratch.

App monetization tools, priced Sep 25, 2026

Price check	RevenueCat	Adapty	Qonversion	Superwall
Free while	Monthly tracked revenue under $2,500	Monthly revenue under $5,000	Monthly tracked revenue at or under $7,000	Infrastructure is free at any scale. Indie paywalls are free up to $10,000 monthly attributed revenue
Rate after that	1% of the whole monthly tracked revenue	1% of that month's revenue	0.8% of the whole monthly tracked revenue	Indie: 1% of total monthly attributed revenue. Startup $49/month plus 1%. Scale $199/month plus 1%
What the meter covers	Amount charged to the customer, before store commission and taxes, including one-time purchases	Revenue Adapty tracks that month, in USD, before Apple, Google, or Stripe take their cut	Revenue processed through the SDK in the calendar month, including renewals and one-time purchases	Paywall revenue only: dollars that flowed through a Superwall-rendered paywall. Other subscriptions are not on that meter
Vendor bill at $8,000 charged to the customer	$80	$80	$64	$0 on Indie while attributed revenue stays at or under $10,000
Apple, EU Small Business, In-App Purchase	15% of the customer price. $1,200 on $8,000	15% of the customer price. $1,200 on $8,000	15% of the customer price. $1,200 on $8,000	15% of the customer price. $1,200 on $8,000
Pricing checked	Sep 25, 2026	Sep 25, 2026	Sep 25, 2026	Sep 25, 2026

Vendor rows checked Sep 25, 2026 on revenuecat.com/pricing, RevenueCat billing docs, adapty.io/pricing, qonversion.io/pricing, and superwall.com/pricing. The $8,000 vendor bills use each vendor's published rule: 1% of $8,000, 1% of $8,000, 0.8% of $8,000, and Superwall Indie still inside the $10,000 band. Apple's 15% is the EU Small Business Program In-App Purchase rate under terms effective Oct 1, 2026, from the September 2026 cost guide. Do not add 15% and the vendor rate as if they share one base. The worked Apple figures are on the September 2026 App Store terms guide.

Decision diagram: subscription consumer and casual game apps use RevenueCat with Superwall, content and B2B apps use RevenueCat, and free utility or pre-launch apps skip a purchase SDK until they charge. — Pick by app type, then open the matching stack. Prices checked Sep 25, 2026.

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Monetization

RevenueCat

Free under $2,500 monthly tracked revenue, then 1% of that MTR.

iOSAndroidReact NativeFlutterWebFree while monthly tracked revenue stays under $2,500, then 1% of that MTR before store commission and taxes; Growth tools are 1% on their conversions; Custom is negotiated.

Best for

Receipt validation and entitlement truth for subscriptions
A $0 tier while monthly tracked revenue stays under $2,500
The same customer record on iOS and another platform

Official site Details

Pricing checked Sep 25, 2026

Monetization

Adapty

Free under $5,000 monthly revenue, then 1% of that month.

iOSAndroidReact NativeFlutterUnityWebFree while tracked revenue stays under $5,000 on a rolling 30-day check, then 1% of that month's revenue; Enterprise is custom. Add-on rates were not in the Pro table.

Best for

Paywall tests and subscription analytics in one SDK
A $0 tier while tracked revenue stays under $5,000
A free country-level price check with Price Radar

Official site Details

Pricing checked Sep 29, 2026

Monetization

Qonversion

Subscription analytics, paywalls, and purchase infrastructure.

iOSAndroidReact NativeFlutterWebPro is free while monthly tracked revenue is at or under $7,000, then 0.8% of that whole MTR; Enterprise is custom services, not a second feature tier.

Best for

Subscription SDKs
Revenue analytics
Paywall experiments

Official site Details

Pricing checked Sep 25, 2026

Monetization

Superwall

Subscription infrastructure is free; Indie is $0 to $10,000 MAR, then 1%; paid plans start at $49 per month plus 1%.

iOSAndroidReact NativeFlutterWebIndie is free to $10,000 monthly attributed revenue, then 1% of that MAR; Startup is $49 per month plus 1%; Scale is $199 per month plus 1%; subscription infrastructure stays free at any scale.

Best for

Remote paywall experiments without an app release
Billing only on paywall-attributed revenue
Running Superwall next to an existing purchase backend

Official site Details

Pricing checked Sep 25, 2026

Which to pick

Match the tool to the app

Subscription consumer app

RevenueCat for entitlements, Superwall for remote paywall tests.

Content and community app

RevenueCat once access depends on a subscription. The backend stays Supabase.

B2B and productivity app

RevenueCat if the iOS app sells a subscription. Team billing on the web is a separate path.

Casual game

RevenueCat plus Superwall when the game sells subscriptions and you will test the paywall remotely.

Free utility app

No purchase SDK until you add a paid unlock. RevenueCat is the later add, not the starting stack.

Pre-launch waitlist

No monetization tool yet. The stack is a landing page, a list, and store research.

If the app type is still open, use the Stack Finder and start from the monetization tools guide.

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Related guides and comparisons

guide

iOS 27 and your stack: what actually changed for a solo developer

iOS 27 shipped Sep 14, 2026. For a solo app already on the store, nothing has to ship this month. Answer Apple's social-media question only if you submit an update.

guide

What the September 2026 App Store business terms actually cost a solo developer

At $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 a month, a Small Business Program developer on EU In-App Purchase pays Apple $150, $750, and $1,500. The initial acquisition fee and store services fee are eliminated.

guide

Why Stripe is not a RevenueCat alternative on iOS

Can you use Stripe instead of RevenueCat on iOS? For in-app digital goods, no. Apple requires In-App Purchase; Stripe fits physical goods, web checkout, and Mac apps outside the store.

comparison

RevenueCat alternatives for subscription apps

Compare the strongest RevenueCat alternatives for a solo iOS app: Adapty, Superwall, Qonversion, and native StoreKit 2.

FAQ

What are app monetization tools?

They are the purchase layer for a mobile app: receipt validation, entitlements, paywalls, and revenue reporting. The four tools in this category are RevenueCat, Adapty, Qonversion, and Superwall. Store products still live in App Store Connect or Google Play.

Which app monetization tool stays free the longest?

On published thresholds checked Sep 25, 2026, Superwall's subscription infrastructure is free at any scale, and its Indie paywall plan is free up to $10,000 in monthly attributed revenue. Qonversion's Pro plan is free through $7,000 in monthly tracked revenue. Adapty is free under $5,000. RevenueCat is free under $2,500. The meters are not the same, so a higher threshold is not automatically the lower bill.

Do the September 2026 App Store terms change these tool prices?

No. Apple's EU business terms take effect Oct 1, 2026. For a solo developer on EU In-App Purchase in the Small Business Program, Apple's commission is 15 percent of the price the customer pays. That rate is the same whether the purchase goes through RevenueCat, Adapty, Qonversion, Superwall, or StoreKit 2. The vendor percentage is a second bill, on a different base.

When should a solo app skip a monetization tool?

Skip the SDK when the app is iOS-only, the purchase surface is one product or a single unlock, and you will not change the paywall without an App Store release. StoreKit 2 can own that case. Add a tool when receipt validation, restores, or a cross-platform customer record are the risk you do not want to maintain.