Subscription Apps Share of Revenue Hit an All-Time High This Year

Browsing the App Store and Google Play top charts, it's very clear more and more apps are making money through subscriptions.

Don't believe me? Right now, 31 of the top 50 grossing apps and games in the US App Store use subscriptions!

I used Explorer to see how many apps use subscriptions across the App Store and Google Play vs. how many don't, and also how much money subscription apps make vs. their non-recurring competitors - the results surprised me (and a room full of App Promotion Summit attendees).

In May, 4% of apps and games on the App Store and Google Play monetized with subscriptions. Yes, just 4%. Even though more and more apps are switching, the stores are still full of apps and games that are free, free with ads, or use non-recurring in-app purchases.

And even though I've been saying "apps and games" over and over, it's mostly apps that are leveraging subscriptions. For every game that monetizes with subscription there are 10 apps that do!

But more game developers are catching on, so I expect that ratio to change in the future. And the reason I expect it to change is simple - Subscriptions are earning their publishes more. A lot more.

According to our App Intelligence, subscription apps were responsible for 44% of all revenue in May.

Yes, a handful of (mostly) apps are generating nearly half of all revenue in the App Store and Google Play. And that number has also been inching up. Slowly, but we're talking billions of dollars here, so I don't expect it to skyrocket overnight. Maybe over a few nights.

This isn't to say that if you publish an app that offers subscriptions you'll be an overnight millionaire, but choosing subscriptions over other methods of monetization is going to make it easier to build a sustainable app business.