Google Play fees explained: 2026 rates
By Fees.tools · Updated · Fees verified
Google Play charges a US developer 10% + 5% on an auto-renewing subscription and on the first $1M of annual earnings, and 20% + 5% or 25% + 5% on one-time purchases above that, depending on when the paying user installed the app. Examples below come from the same engine as the Google Play fee calculator, and every rate is quoted from Google Play's official service fees page, verified on 3 September 2026.
What Google Play charges in the United States
Google rewrote this schedule on 30 June 2026. Four things set the rate: what is sold, what you earn a year, whether the user's install is new or existing, and how the money moves.
| What's sold | Earnings tier | New install | Existing install |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto-renewing subscriptions | Any | 10% + 5% | 10% + 5% |
| One-time purchases and app sales | First $1M a year | 10% + 5% | 10% + 5% |
| One-time purchases and app sales | Standard | 20% + 5% | 25% + 5%, or 20% by external web link |
| One-time purchases and app sales | Play Games Level Up or Apps Experience | 15% + 5% | 20% + 5%, or 15% by external web link |
Subscriptions never move: the same rate applies in every tier and for both install types. The first-$1M tier is one published value covering both other-transaction columns as well, so most developers see one rate for everything.
On $100 of subscription revenue, the fee on $100.00 is $15.00 and you keep $85.00, an effective rate of 15%. On a $9.99 in-app purchase under $1M a year, the fee on $9.99 is $1.50 and you keep $8.49, an effective rate of 15.02%.New installs and existing installs
An install is new when the paying user first installed, or first updated, your app on or after 30 June 2026; anything earlier is existing. Above $1M a year the gap is five percentage points, charged per transaction, so one product earns two amounts at once.
On a $100 purchase at the standard rate, new install, the fee on $100.00 is $25.00 and you keep $75.00, an effective rate of 25%. On the same purchase from an existing install, the fee on $100.00 is $30.00 and you keep $70.00, an effective rate of 30%.The billing fee and external web links
The second figure in every pair is a 5% billing fee, charged "when a user completes a purchase of an in-app digital service or feature using Google Play Billing or for the initial purchase of a paid app or game".
There is one published way out: for an existing install on the standard tier Google states a flat 20% for external web links, and 15% for Level Up and Apps Experience developers, with no billing fee. No external-link rate is published for new installs or the first-$1M tier, so the calculator keeps the Play Billing rate there rather than inventing one.
On that $100 purchase paid through an external web link, the fee on $100.00 is $20.00 and you keep $80.00, an effective rate of 20%.Pricing so you keep a round number
The fee comes out of what the user pays, so work backwards:
- A subscription: To keep $100.00 you charge $117.64, and the fee is $17.64.
- A standard-rate purchase from an existing install: To keep $100.00 you charge $142.85, and the fee is $42.85.
What this guide leaves out
The US service fee only. Out of scope: the $25 developer registration fee; the South Korea and India alternative-billing programmes; the EEA alternative-billing rates, which the fee table lists but never charges, minus its Level Up row; taxes; and the 30% and 15% schedule for other markets.
When these rates last changed
From 30 June 2026 Google replaced the 30% headline and the 15% first-$1M tier, in these three markets, with rates that turn on the paying user's install. Verified 3 September 2026, at medium confidence: Google's designated secondary article still describes the pre-2026 schedule, and the first-$1M row is a merged cell in the source table, cross-checked against the parallel table on Google's EEA alternative-billing page. The changelog holds that entry and the methodology explains the check; if a figure disagrees with your Play Console, report it.
Frequently asked questions
Does Google Play still take 30%?
Not from a user in the US, the EEA or the UK. Since 30 June 2026 the standard rate there is 20% + 5% on a new install and 25% + 5% on an existing one. The 30% headline survives only in other markets.
Where do these numbers come from?
Every figure is quoted from Google's official service fees page, saved as a dated snapshot and checked by a person; the schedule is quoted line by line, with the verbatim source text behind every rule, in the calculator's fee table. The nearest comparison here is the Steam Market fees guide; more app store calculators are on the way.
Work out your own numbers with the Google Play fee calculator, or read the changelog.