Apple Small Business Program: The 15% Commission Guide for Indie Founders

What is the Small Business Program?

Launched in 2021, the Apple Small Business Program reduces the standard App Store commission from 30% to 15% for developers earning less than USD 1 million in annual proceeds. It applies to paid app downloads and in-app purchases (including subscriptions) shipped through Apple's billing system.

Eligibility

Eligibility is straightforward but worth understanding before you launch:

• One Apple Developer Program account per enrolment.
• Less than USD 1 million in proceeds across all your apps in the previous calendar year (or you're a new developer with no prior proceeds).
• Apple aggregates proceeds across legally affiliated developer accounts — sister companies count.
• If you cross USD 1M mid-year, you revert to 30% for the rest of that year and requalify in any subsequent year you drop below the threshold.

How to enrol

1. Sign in to App Store Connect with your Account Holder credentials.
2. Go to Agreements, Tax, and Banking.
3. Find the App Store Small Business Program section and click Enrol.
4. Confirm your business entity details and certify that your proceeds (and those of any affiliated entities) were below USD 1M in the previous calendar year.
5. Apple usually confirms enrolment within a few business days. The reduced rate applies to proceeds earned after the confirmation date — it's not backdated.

What it means for AI-built apps (Base44, Lovable, Replit)

If you built your app on Base44, Lovable, or Replit and you're monetising through a web subscription (Stripe), you're paying 0% to Apple — but you also can't be discovered on the App Store, can't access Sign in with Apple's higher conversion rate, and can't ship features that require native APIs (push notifications, StoreKit, HealthKit, etc.).

Wrap the same web app natively and route purchases through StoreKit, and you unlock the App Store distribution channel. Most AI-built indie apps qualify for the 15% rate from day one, which means you keep 85% of every subscription — closer to Stripe's effective take rate than most founders realise.

See our spokes on in-app purchases for Base44 and App Store publishing for Base44 for the full mechanics.

Common pitfalls

• Affiliated entities. If you own multiple developer accounts via different companies, Apple aggregates proceeds. Splitting accounts to stay under the threshold isn't compliant.
• Mid-year revenue spikes. A viral month can push you over USD 1M. You move to 30% for the remainder of that year automatically.
• Forgetting to enrol. Eligibility isn't automatic — you must submit the form in App Store Connect. New developers often miss this and pay 30% by default.
• Currency conversion. Apple's USD 1M threshold uses the proceeds figure they report in your monthly statements, after currency conversion. Watch the running total in your dashboard.

How Wanilla handles this for you

We treat Small Business Program enrolment as part of our managed launch service. When we ship your Base44, Lovable, or Replit app to the App Store, we:

• Verify your eligibility and submit the enrolment in App Store Connect.
• Wire StoreKit into your app so the 15% rate applies to every purchase.
• Monitor your monthly proceeds and flag when you're approaching the threshold.
• If you compare us to RevenueCat or Adapty, the difference is they sell you an SDK; we ship the launch — Small Business Program enrolment included.