Apple Drops Per-Install EU Fee for a Flat 5% Commission

Apple will replace the per-install fee it charges European Union developers with a flat 5 percent commission on Oct. 1, and will drop two other fees entirely, according to a developer post the company published on Aug. 18.

The changes, laid out on Apple's developer support site, apply to any developer distributing apps in the EU through the App Store, a third-party marketplace, or the web. Apple's own Aug. 18 newsroom announcement frames the move as a consolidation of the business terms it has run in the bloc since 2024.

What replaces the 0.50-euro-per-install fee

The Core Technology Fee charged developers 0.50 euro for every install or annual update once an app passed 1 million downloads in the EU in a 12-month span, a charge that applied even when an install produced no revenue. That fee is gone. In its place, the Core Technology Commission takes 5 percent of sales from apps distributed outside the App Store, whether through an alternative marketplace or a developer's own website.

Apple is also eliminating the Initial Acquisition Fee and the Store Services Fee outright, collapsing what had been up to four separate charges into two: the Core Technology Commission for outside distribution, and a revised App Store commission for anyone who stays.

Fee	Before Oct. 1	After Oct. 1
Per-install charge	0.50 euro after 1 million annual installs	Eliminated
Core Technology Commission	Did not exist	5% of sales outside the App Store
Initial Acquisition Fee	Charged on new users from off-platform links	Eliminated
Store Services Fee	Charged on transactions from off-platform links	Eliminated

What Apple's own cut becomes

Developers who stay on the App Store and keep using Apple's in-app purchase system will pay 26 percent, down from the 30 percent standard rate Apple has charged since the App Store opened, according to iDrop News, which reported the change on Aug. 19. Developers in the Small Business Program, the Mini Apps Partner Program or the Video Partner Program pay 15 percent, as do subscriptions past their first year.

Apps that process payments themselves inside the App Store, rather than using Apple's system, pay 20 percent standard or 10 percent at the reduced rate. Apps that link out to a website for checkout pay 15 percent or 10 percent, but only on sales made within seven days of the tap.

What it takes to run a rival app store

Apple's terms still gate who can open an alternative marketplace or distribute apps directly from the web. A developer has to clear one of several bars: a Dun & Bradstreet financial-stability score, being publicly traded, having venture funding from an established firm, a completed financial audit, nonprofit or government status, a standby letter of credit worth $1 million, or 1 million first-year installs worldwide. Marketplace operators earning under 10 million euros in global revenue and 1 million euros in lifetime marketplace fees are exempt from the Core Technology Commission entirely.

Developers who add alternative payment options also have to keep offering them for 12 months once they switch on, and must behind a parental gate any alternative-payment purchase from a user under 18, with stricter rules below 13. This is the child-safety condition Apple attached to alternative payments for the first time in this version of the terms.

What Apple has not said

Neither the developer support page nor Apple's newsroom post states how many developers paid the old per-install fee in the 2024-2026 window, or how many alternative marketplaces exist in the EU today under the terms Apple published in 2024. Without that baseline, there is no way to size how many developers the new 5 percent commission will actually cost more, or less, than the fee it replaces.

The macOS 27 Rosetta cutoff Apple set for developers shows the company is willing to hold a hard deadline once it sets one; Oct. 1 is now that deadline for EU business terms. Developers who do nothing by then are automatically bound by the new terms the moment they take effect, the same day Apple's Apple Watch Series 12 goes on sale in the same regions.