# How much do indie apps make per month? The real spread

Source: https://rushilo.com/blog/how-much-indie-apps-make-per-month
By om.assets, Rushilo. Updated 2026-11-03.

> Most indie apps make very little: RevenueCat data puts the median subscription app under $50 a month after its first year. About 17 to 20% reach $1,000 in monthly or cumulative revenue, and only 3.5 to 5% reach $10,000. Apps that clear $1,000 a month usually solve a specific, searchable problem, charge with a firm paywall and have been improved for a year or more.

You have seen the posts: "$7.6k in 28 days", "$10k MRR", "6 apps at $48k a month". You have also seen the replies from people whose app has made $11 since spring. Both are true, and the question underneath is simple: what does a normal indie app actually earn in a month, and what would yours need to look like to land in the good part of the range?

The short answer is that **most indie apps earn under $50 a month, roughly one in five reaches $1,000, and about one in twenty or thirty reaches $10,000**. The useful answer is what the apps at each level have in common, because the traits are surprisingly consistent.

A quick definition first. **MRR (monthly recurring revenue)** is what your active subscriptions bring in each month, spread evenly. It is not the same as "revenue in the last 28 days", which also includes annual plans and lifetime purchases paid upfront. Indie developers mix the two constantly, so read every screenshot carefully.

## How much does a typical indie app make per month?

**The median indie subscription app makes under $50 a month after its first year.** That figure comes from RevenueCat's 2024 State of Subscription Apps report, which covered over 29,000 apps from more than 18,000 developers, as reported by TechCrunch.

The 2025 edition, covering about 75,000 apps, shows the gap widening: the top 5% of newly launched apps earned about $8,880 in their first year, while the bottom quarter earned $19 or less. That is a gap of over 400 times.

Here are the milestone numbers side by side:

| Milestone | RevenueCat 2024 (monthly revenue) | RevenueCat 2025 (revenue within 2 years) |
|---|---|---|
| Median app | Under $50 a month after 12 months | Not reported |
| Reaches $1,000 | 17.2% | Nearly 20% |
| Reaches $10,000 | 3.5% | About 5% |
| Best category | Health and fitness | Photo and video (27.57% hit $1,000) |

One caveat Reddit raised fast. A top reply in r/iOSProgramming pointed out the selection bias: the data only covers apps using RevenueCat, which skews toward small developers and side projects. Large companies build their own billing. So the numbers describe indie apps well, which is exactly who you are.

## What do the revenue levels look like?

**Indie apps cluster into five rough levels, and each has a recognizable profile.** The ranges below combine the RevenueCat data with revenue posts from r/AppBusiness, r/iOSProgramming and r/mobiledev, plus a ratings based study of 295 paid apps by youcouldshipthis.

| Level | Monthly revenue | Rough share of apps | What these apps usually look like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zero to coffee | $0 to $50 | About half | First app, crowded category, soft paywall, no marketing |
| Side money | $50 to $1,000 | About 30% | Some search traffic, a real but small niche |
| Real business | $1,000 to $5,000 | About 10 to 15% | Specific problem, firm paywall, a year of iteration |
| Full income | $5,000 to $10,000 | A few percent | One channel that scales, often paid ads or steady search rank |
| Outlier | $10,000+ | 3.5 to 5% | Years of work, a portfolio, or a category with big budgets |

The shares are approximate, built from the milestone percentages above, so treat them as a shape, not a promise.

### $0 to $50 a month: where most apps live

This is the default outcome, and it is not a failure of talent. The top reply in the r/iOSProgramming thread, with over 200 upvotes, said most indie apps are side projects that are "good for a CV" and bring in coffee money. One developer there said their app makes about $800 a year. Another had launched a subscription app nearly a year earlier and had just reached 20 subscribers.

**Common traits:** a habit tracker, to do list, notes or another crowded category; a free tier generous enough that nobody upgrades; launch posts on Reddit and X and then nothing.

### $50 to $1,000 a month: side money

Apps here have found a few people who want them, but not enough of them. A clear example from r/AppBusiness: a habit tracker with 64,000 Android downloads, 52 active subscriptions and about $45 a month in recurring revenue. A commenter replied that the app "should at least make $2k" from that many users. The downloads were there; the monetization was not.

Another r/AppBusiness developer shipped 9 apps in one year around a full time job and made about $1,200 in total revenue, plus $4,000 from selling one app. **Shipping many small apps tends to land you here unless one of them catches a niche.**

### $1,000 to $5,000 a month: a real small business

This is where the r/AppBusiness milestone posts cluster: "$1k MRR after 4 months", "joining the $3K MRR club after 6 months", "averaging $100 a day". The traits repeat:

1. **A specific problem people search for.** An offline transcription app, a kids story app, a Japanese learning app, not "a better notes app".
2. **A firm paywall.** One dev killed the free trial, roughly doubled the annual price and reached $1,600 MRR in 23 days; commenters argued about why, but nobody argued for going back.
3. **An annual plan or lifetime option.** The offline transcription developer reported $7,591 in 28 day revenue but only $1,295 MRR, because lifetime purchases count as revenue but not as MRR.
4. **Months of iteration on user feedback** before the numbers moved.

### $5,000 to $10,000+ a month: full time income

Apps that pass $5,000 usually have one acquisition channel that scales. The developer behind the most upvoted post on r/AppBusiness reached $10,000 MRR after **eight years**, several flopped games, and an app they sold for $44,000. They started spending about $800 a month on Apple Search Ads and said it roughly breaks even within three months. The top reply in that thread said paid advertising, especially Meta ads for iOS, was "the only channel that truly moves the needle" for them, after testing markets where most lost money.

Another poster reached $48,000 a month combined, but across **six** apps. At this level, portfolios are common.

## Why is the median so low?

**Because most apps are never given a real business setup: a niche, a price and a channel.** A developer with 15 years of experience put it bluntly in r/mobiledev: the unsaturated markets are gone, big subscription apps have pushed install costs up, and the safer bet is "a super specific localized problem" you can win through search.

Three other reasons come up again and again:

- **Abandonment.** As one r/mobiledev reply put it, apps that made money would not have been abandoned. Many apps in the data stopped getting updates within months.
- **Low conversion.** RevenueCat found 1.7% of downloads became paying subscribers within 30 days, with the bottom quarter at 0.6%. Small download numbers times 1% conversion is small money.
- **Category.** In the 2024 data, even the top 5% of travel and productivity apps made under $1,000 a month after a year, while health and fitness did at least twice as well as everything else.

## How much do you actually keep from your MRR?

**You keep roughly 80 to 85% of gross revenue before taxes and tools.** Apple's Small Business Program charges 15% on paid apps and in-app purchases for developers under $1 million in proceeds a year, according to Apple's developer page, with 10% applying to subscriptions after their first year in some cases.

A worked example for an app at $1,000 in monthly sales, as of November 2026:

| Line | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Gross sales | $1,000 |
| Apple commission (15%) | minus $150 |
| Subscription tooling (often free at this size) | $0 to $30 |
| Apple Developer Program ($99 a year) | about minus $8 |
| Before income tax | about $812 to $842 |

If you add $800 a month of Apple Search Ads like the $10k developer above, your profit at $1,000 MRR goes negative. **Paid ads only make sense once you know your revenue per install.** Our guide on [how much apps make per download](/blog/how-much-apps-make-per-download) walks through that number.

## What moves an app from one level to the next?

**The jump from under $50 to over $1,000 comes from picking a better problem and charging properly, not from writing more code.** The [App Store Apps pack](/app-store) teaches exactly this sequence, but here is the outline:

1. **Pick a searchable gap.** Look for apps with thousands of ratings and angry one star reviews, and build the fix.
2. **Price for the people who care.** Use a firm paywall and lead with an annual plan. Our post on [weekly vs yearly subscription pricing](/blog/weekly-vs-yearly-subscription-pricing-apps) covers which plans to show.
3. **Win App Store search first.** Localized names and keywords, and screenshots that sell the result. The transcription developer put most of their marketing effort into this.
4. **Add one content or ad channel** only after organic conversion is proven.
5. **Keep shipping updates from reviews** for at least a year. Almost every $1,000+ post mentions months of iteration.

> **Tip:** Track "revenue per install" and "trial to paid" weekly. They tell you which level you are heading toward far earlier than MRR does.

## What goes wrong for most indie apps?

**The most common mistakes, straight from the Reddit threads:**

- **Building in a crowded category with no angle.** "If you build another habit tracker or todo app it is unlikely that you will make any money," one r/mobiledev reply said.
- **Abandoning after the launch spike.** A commenter noted most people ship the bare minimum, and drop it when it is not an instant hit.
- **Confusing 28 day revenue with MRR.** Lifetime and annual sales make a month look bigger than the recurring base.
- **Giving away too much for free.** 64,000 downloads and $45 a month is what a weak paywall looks like.
- **Spending on ads before the funnel works.** Most markets lose money in testing, as the $10k developer's commenters warned.

> **Watch out:** Many "$X in 30 days" screenshots come from developers on their fifth or eleventh app. Compare yourself to their first app, not their latest.

## So should you expect your app to make money?

**Expect your first app to make little, and treat it as practice for the second.** The data and the Reddit stories agree: $1,000 a month is realistic for a focused developer who picks a niche, charges, and keeps going for a year, but it is not typical, and nobody can promise it. If you need income within three months, apps are the wrong bet.

## Where to go from here

1. Choose a specific problem from one star reviews in a category you know.
2. Ship a small version with a firm paywall and an annual plan.
3. Spend your first month on App Store search, not features.
4. Measure revenue per install and trial conversion every week.
5. Iterate from reviews for a year before judging the idea.

The [App Store Apps pack](/app-store) gives you the full 24 lesson walkthrough, with the niche finding checklist, paywall pricing templates and launch plan, for $19, or get all 16 Money Printer packs for $39. If you are comparing options first, see our take on [the best app business course](/blog/best-app-business-course).

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does the average indie app make per month?

The typical indie app makes less than $50 a month. RevenueCat's 2024 State of Subscription Apps report, covering over 29,000 apps, found median monthly revenue after 12 months was under $50. Averages look higher only because a few big apps pull them up, so plan around the median, not the average.

### What percentage of indie apps make $1,000 a month?

Roughly one in five. RevenueCat's 2024 data showed 17.2% of subscription apps reaching $1,000 in monthly revenue, and its 2025 report found nearly 20% of new apps reaching $1,000 within two years. Only about 3.5% to 5% reach $10,000. Apps that hit $1,000 have better odds of reaching $2,500 next.

### Can you make a living from indie apps?

Some people do, but most do not, and few do it with their first app. A living usually means $5,000 or more a month from one strong app or a small portfolio. The developers on r/AppBusiness who reached that level typically took years, kept a day job meanwhile and treated marketing as half the work.

### How long does it take an indie app to reach $1,000 MRR?

Anywhere from a few months to several years. Some r/AppBusiness posts report $1,000 MRR within four to six months of launch, usually for a second or third app. Others took a year or longer. One developer took eight years and several flops to reach $10,000 MRR. Expect your first app to take the longest.

### How many downloads does an app need to make $1,000 a month?

It depends on conversion and price. RevenueCat found about 1.7% of downloads became paying subscribers within 30 days. At $5 a month net, you need about 200 paying subscribers, which at 1.7% means roughly 12,000 downloads over time, fewer with a hard paywall and an annual plan.

### What is the best way to learn to build a profitable indie app?

The Rushilo App Store Apps pack is the most direct route for beginners: 24 lessons across 6 modules on picking a gap, App Store search, paywall pricing and getting installs without ads, for $19. It is built from what indie developers on Reddit actually did to reach their first $1,000 MRR, mistakes included.

### Do Apple fees reduce what indie apps make?

Yes. Apple's Small Business Program takes 15% on paid apps and in-app purchases for developers earning up to $1 million a year, falling to 10% for subscriptions after their first year in some cases. So $1,000 in sales is about $850 in proceeds before tax and tools.

## Sources

- [TechCrunch: Most subscription mobile apps don't make money, new report shows](https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/12/most-subscription-mobile-apps-dont-make-money-new-report-shows/)
- [RevenueCat: State of Subscription Apps 2025](https://www.revenuecat.com/state-of-subscription-apps-2025/)
- [Apple Developer: App Store Small Business Program](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program/)
- [youcouldshipthis: Indie app revenue, what to realistically expect](https://youcouldshipthis.com/blog/indie-app-revenue-realistic-expectations)
- [r/iOSProgramming: Shocking report reveals average app monthly revenue is under $50](https://www.reddit.com/r/iOSProgramming/comments/1cgo4cm/)
- [r/mobiledev: Is reaching $1,000/month as an indie app dev actually that unrealistic?](https://www.reddit.com/r/mobiledev/comments/1vnbolu/)
- [r/AppBusiness: After 8 years I finally hit $10k MRR](https://www.reddit.com/r/AppBusiness/comments/1r4j9bp/)
- [r/AppBusiness: My small app is making $45/month](https://www.reddit.com/r/AppBusiness/comments/1s9bonp/)