Most apps with subscriptions fail to make $1,000 monthly

A report surrounding mobile app subscriptions provides in-depth data from across 2023, which shows how most struggle to make enough to get by.

It's no secret that working as an app developer isn't a guarantee of constant income. Most apps in existence are throw-away projects or simple tools with no avenue for generating revenue.

A report from RevenueCat called "State of Subscription Apps" contains data about 30k subscription apps across 290 million subscribers. Relevant data points were first shared and broken down by TechCrunch.

The data from the report is a unique look at the app subscription business across Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store since it is the single largest dataset outside of the companies themselves. Many data points remained flat year-over-year, like the common $10 price for monthly subscriptions, though average prices have crept up by 14%.

Only 17.2% of apps will reach $1,000 in monthly subscriptions, but those that do will grow more easily. About 59% of apps that reach $1,000 in monthly revenue reach $2,500, and 60% of those will reach $5,000.

Only 3.5% of all apps reach $10,000 in monthly revenue.

The retention rate of subscribers after 12 months dropped by 14% year-over-year, but 10% of those re-subscribed within another year.

"We definitely saw a tightening, which would make sense, because a lot of apps were raising prices — inflation-induced price raises — which then, of course, would lead to people churning as well," said RevenueCat CEO Jacob Eiting. "Overall, the whole ecosystem seems to have grown pretty well, but there has been some readjustment."

Eiting continues with predictions for 2024, suggesting that AI will be a disruptor over the next year. He states it isn't the death of mobile as some have predicted, but a second act since mobile is the interface for AI.

The State of Subscription Apps 2024 is a dense report filled with metrics meant to answer any question a person could have about the app subscription market. Anyone can view the 120-page report by providing their email to RevenueCat.

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11 Comments

entropys 4302 comments · 13 Years

About 8 months ago

I am totally heartbroken. Shattered.
just have a decent up front price and avoid the complicated revenue stream management.

zeus423 270 comments · 19 Years

I don't need another monthly bill. I'm happy to pay a fair price, but I'm not paying for eternity.

chasm 3590 comments · 10 Years

entropys said:

I am totally heartbroken. Shattered.
just have a decent up front price and avoid the complicated revenue stream management.

That doesn't really work for all business models. Your electric bill, just for starters, has the monthly price adjusted based on your usage, not a flat rate every year based on everyone's average use.

While I also like a fair and reasonable upfront one-time price for some apps, allowing for developer profit of course, ongoing providing of service through an app -- let's take Netflix for example -- again cannot really work like that, as the upfront price (if there was one) would assume a lifetime of usage, and would be too expensive for nearly anyone to afford.

The one advantage of subscriptions is that you can start and stop them as you like. I had Disney+ in 2022 for a year, and enjoyed the shows I watched, but did not renew at the end of the year as I'd watched all I wanted to watch from them at the time. This May, I will renew again because the new series of Doctor Who will be on. I might just cancel when that series is done for its season, or perhaps Disney+ will have a reason to keep me on for a while longer. Either way, I'll certainly save money compared to signing up and then forgetting to ever cancel, even after I've stopped watching.

So the disadvantage of having to do a modest amount of "management" weighs against the advantage of (if you choose) only paying for what you "use." Many apps -- most, really -- have an upfront price you pay and then you "own" it and can use it as much as you like for however long the app runs on your device. For most app models, this works well. But it doesn't work well for every service.

godofbiscuitssf 100 comments · 2 Years

zeus423 said:

I don't need another monthly bill. I'm happy to pay a fair price, but I'm not paying for eternity.

And how do you pay a fair price if there’s no mechanism OTHER than subscription for charging for upgrades?

humbug1873 168 comments · 2 Years

That's one of the points missing in the App Store. My favourite model, start with a free 'test run', if the product convices 'buy it' (for a one off price) and give the developer a good way to eventually charge for an upgrade when the next big release comes out.

A developer has to jumps to all kinds of hoops to reach that goal, might need to update by offering a 'new' product in the app store ... and that whole process is fraught with errors since Apple makes such a poor job in keeping bad actors out of the app store (the search is broken and delivers copy cats and ads instead of what you are looking for).

I guess the poor App-Store experience is by intend .. since Apple figured out a way to rip off more money by pushing developers into subscription models for apps or 'stacks of gold' in games.