How much do mobile apps actually make?
There's no single figure, because app revenue is wildly uneven. A small group of apps earns most of the money, while the long tail earns little or nothing. Most numbers you see online are estimates or screenshots, so the honest answer is: it depends, and you should look at verified data before trusting any figure.
Ask how much mobile apps make and you'll get answers ranging from “nothing” to “millions a month.” Both are true, which is the whole problem. App revenue follows a steep power law: a small set of apps captures most of the money, and a long tail of apps earns very little. So a single average tells you almost nothing useful. What matters is where a specific app sits in that distribution, and whether the number you're looking at is real or estimated.
Why most app revenue numbers are guesses
Two kinds of numbers dominate the conversation, and neither is trustworthy on its own.
- Third-party estimates. Tools model revenue from download counts and list prices. They're directional at best and can be off by a lot, because they can't see refunds, trial conversion, churn, or regional pricing.
- Founder screenshots. A revenue chart in a post can be cropped to the best week, taken during a spike, or simply staged. Even honest ones are a snapshot, not a live figure.
The fix isn't a better estimate. It's reading revenue from the system that actually processed the payments.
What actually changes how much an app makes
A few factors explain most of the gap between apps that earn and apps that don't:
- Business model. Subscriptions bill every month, so revenue compounds while users stay. One-time purchases and ads usually need far more scale to match that.
- Retention. Monthly revenue is really a bet on how long people keep paying. Weak retention caps income no matter how good the launch was.
- Category and pricing. Some categories support higher prices and stickier habits than others, which shifts the ceiling before you write a line of code.
How to see real, verified numbers
If you want to know what apps genuinely earn, look at revenue that's read from billing data rather than reported by hand. That's the idea behind AppOrbit. Founders connect their RevenueCat account, and the figures on a listing come straight from that account: monthly recurring revenue, active subscriptions, and the daily revenue trend. Nothing is typed in, so there's nothing to inflate.
You can browse the highest-earning apps ranking to see where verified apps actually land, use it to benchmark your own app, or check how a category monetises before you build. It won't tell you what every app on the store makes, but for the apps that opt in, the numbers are real.
Frequently asked questions
What is a realistic monthly revenue for a new app?
For most new apps, close to nothing at first. Revenue tends to follow the app's ability to keep users subscribed, which takes time to build. A tiny fraction reach thousands per month quickly; the majority stay small for a long while or never take off. Treat any confident single number with suspicion.
Do subscription apps make more than paid or ad-supported apps?
Often, yes, because a subscription bills every month instead of once. Recurring revenue compounds as long as users stay, which is why MRR is the number founders watch. Ads and one-time purchases can work, but they usually need much larger scale to match a subscription app's steady income.
Why are most app revenue numbers unreliable?
Because they're usually estimated by third parties from downloads and prices, or shown as a screenshot the founder can crop or stage. Neither is read from the billing system that actually processed the money.
How can I see how much an app really makes?
You need revenue verified at the source. On AppOrbit, founders connect their RevenueCat account and the revenue shown is read live from their billing data, so it isn't a guess or a screenshot.
See what apps really make on AppOrbit
A free leaderboard of mobile apps ranked by revenue verified live from RevenueCat. Add your own app in a couple of minutes.