App Store vs Google Play: The Numbers That Decide Where You Launch
Google Play takes three installs in four. The App Store takes seven dollars in eight. Here is what that actually means for where you publish.
The two stores get compared as if they were rivals selling the same thing. On the numbers they behave like two different businesses. Google Play took 73.5% of the world’s app installs in 2025. The App Store took roughly 70% of the money. Almost every practical decision about where to publish follows from that one inversion, and most comparisons stop before doing the division that makes it useful. This one does the division, shows the arithmetic, and reads the fee and review policies off Apple’s and Google’s own pages rather than off other people’s summaries.
What This Guide Covers
- Google Play takes 73.5% of installs
- The App Store takes 70% of the spending
- Revenue per download: $3.21 vs $0.47
- $99 a year against $25 once, and why it barely matters
- Time to launch, where the ordering inverts
- Which store to build for first
On dates: market totals are for 2025, the most recent complete calendar year, reported by Business of Apps. Fees, commission rates and review policy were read from Apple’s and Google’s own documentation on 9 September 2026. The two are labelled separately throughout rather than blurred together.
Get Started FreeTL;DR Quick Summary
Google Play delivered 104.6 billion downloads in 2025 against the App Store’s 36.6 billion, a 73.5% to 26.5% split that tracks Android’s 67.61% share of mobile devices. The revenue picture inverts it: of $166.8 billion in consumer spending, iOS took about 70%, or $117.6 billion against Google Play’s $49.2 billion, and iOS took 73% of the $79.5 billion spent on subscriptions. Divide spending by downloads and an App Store install was worth about $3.21 against $0.47 on Google Play, a ratio near 6.8 to 1. On cost, Google is cheaper to join at $25 once against Apple’s $99 a year, but it is now slower to launch on: Apple states 90% of submissions are reviewed in under 24 hours, while a new personal Play account must first run a closed test with 12 testers for 14 continuous days. Both stores charge 15% to most developers, and Google changed its rates in the EEA, UK and US on 30 June 2026. The short version: charge money, lead with iOS; sell attention or need reach, lead with Android; and if one build can produce both, publish to both.
Build an iPhone App Free →Table of Contents
Jump to any section: the comparison table, downloads, revenue, revenue per download, what an account costs, commission including the 2026 change, time to get live, catalogue size, geographic reach, which store to launch on first, what these numbers do not tell you, and what it all means if you are building.
- App Store vs Google Play: the comparison in one table
- Downloads: Google Play takes roughly three installs in every four
- Revenue: the App Store collects more than twice as much money
- Revenue per download: the number that actually decides it
- What it costs to open a developer account on each store
- Commission: what each store actually keeps, including the 2026 change
- How long it takes to get live, and the result that surprises people
- Catalogue size: which store is more crowded, and how crowded
- Reach: where in the world each platform actually wins
- So which store should you launch on first?
- Three things this comparison does not tell you
- What the numbers mean if you are building something
- Frequently Asked Questions
App Store vs Google Play: the comparison in one table
The two stores are usually described as rivals selling the same thing. On the numbers they are closer to two different businesses that happen to distribute the same file formats. One moves roughly three times the volume. The other collects more than twice the money. Almost every practical decision follows from that single asymmetry.
Everything in the table below is sourced, and the sections that follow show the working. Market totals are for the 2025 calendar year, the most recent complete one, reported by Business of Apps. Fees, commissions and review policy were read from Apple’s and Google’s own documentation on 9 September 2026, because those change without notice and secondhand summaries go stale fast.
| Metric (2025 unless noted) | Apple App Store | Google Play |
|---|---|---|
| Downloads | 36.6 billion (26.5%) | 104.6 billion (73.5%) |
| Consumer spending | $117.6 billion (~70%) | $49.2 billion, up 13% |
| Revenue per download (derived) | about $3.21 | about $0.47 |
| Share of subscription spend | 73% | 27% |
| Apps listed | 2.42 million | 1.58 million |
| Developer account fee | $99 per year | $25 one-time |
| Reduced commission | 15% up to $1m prior-year proceeds | 15% on first $1m each year |
| Stated review speed | 90% under 24 hours | About 7 days for production access |
| Extra hurdle for a new solo account | None stated | 12 testers for 14 continuous days |
| Device share (Aug 2026) | 32.36% iOS | 67.61% Android |
Bold marks the stronger figure for that row, not the better store. Sources: Business of Apps (2025 market data), Apple and Google developer documentation read 9 September 2026, StatCounter (August 2026 device share).
Where each store actually wins
Google Play wins on installs, catalogue access, and cost of entry. The App Store wins on consumer spending, revenue per user, subscription share, and speed to first launch. Neither of those lists is a ranking. They are the inputs to a decision that depends on what your app charges for, and who you need to reach.
Downloads: Google Play takes roughly three installs in every four
Google Play delivered 104.6 billion downloads in 2025 against36.6 billion on iOS. Business of Apps puts the resulting split at73.5% to 26.5%, close to three to one, and it has been stable in shape for years. Those two store figures do not quite add up to the 142.2 billion worldwide total the same source reports, which is normal for modelled estimates and a useful reminder that these are not counts.
The reason is device reach rather than store quality. Android runs on phones at every price point in markets where an iPhone is not a realistic purchase, so the install base is simply much larger. StatCounter put worldwide mobile OS share in August 2026 at67.61% Android to 32.36% iOS.
Why the install gap is wider than the device gap
Android holds about two thirds of devices but takes nearly three quarters of downloads. The extra gap comes from where Android is strongest. The highest-volume download markets are large, price-sensitive, heavily Android populations, and users in those markets install and uninstall more freely. High install counts and high revenue are not the same signal, which is the trap the next two sections exist to spring.
Revenue: the App Store collects more than twice as much money
Now reverse the picture. Of the $166.8 billion consumers spent across both stores in 2025, iOS accounted for roughly 70%. In absolute terms that is$117.6 billion on the App Store against $49.2 billion on Google Play, and Google Play’s figure was itself up 13% on the year.
Subscriptions skew harder still. Of the $79.5 billion consumers spent on subscriptions,iOS took 73%. If your product bills monthly rather than once, the platform gap widens rather than narrows.
One number that is missing on purpose
Consumer spending counts what people pay through the store. It does not count advertising, which is a $419 billion market and the primary way most free Android apps earn. Any comparison that presents store revenue as total revenue is quietly telling you that ad-funded apps do not exist. They are most of the category. This matters again in the honest-limits section near the end.
Revenue per download: the number that actually decides it
Downloads and revenue are the two figures everyone quotes, and separately they mislead. Put them together and you get the only comparison that changes decisions.
The arithmetic is deliberately simple so you can check it. Take each store’s 2025 consumer spending and divide it by that store’s 2025 downloads:
iOS: $117.6bn / 36.6bn downloads = $3.21 per download
Every install on the App Store was associated with about $3.21 of consumer spending in 2025.
Google Play: $49.2bn / 104.6bn downloads = $0.47 per download
Every install on Google Play was associated with about $0.47.
The ratio is roughly 6.8 to 1
An App Store install carried nearly seven times the direct store revenue of a Google Play install. That is the sentence to keep. It explains why teams with paid or subscription products launch on iOS first even though Android has far more users, and why teams with ad-funded products do the opposite.
Two honest caveats. This is an average across the whole market, and the market is dominated by a few hundred enormous properties, so it is not a forecast for your app. And it counts only money moving through the stores, so it structurally undercounts Android, where advertising does the earning. Read it as a direction, not a valuation.
What it costs to open a developer account on each store
This is the one comparison where the gap is unambiguous and small enough to not matter much after the first year.
Apple charges $99 a year for the Apple Developer Program, and the membership lapses if you stop paying. The Apple Developer Enterprise Program, for private in-house distribution rather than public App Store release, is $299 a year.
Google charges a one-time $25 registration fee for a Play Console account, with nothing to renew.
What that means over a realistic horizon
Over five years Apple costs $495 and Google costs $25. In isolation that reads decisively. Set against the cost of building and marketing anything worth publishing, an average of $94 a year, and $470 across all five, is not a platform decision. It is worth knowing chiefly because it is the number most often quoted as though it settled the argument, and because of what the next section shows: the cheaper store is not the faster one.
Commission: what each store actually keeps, including the 2026 change
Both stores headline at 30% and both cut it to 15% for most developers. The detail differs in ways that matter if you are near a threshold.
Apple: 15% under the Small Business Program
Apple charges 15% on paid apps and in-app purchases for developers who earned up to $1 million in proceeds in the prior calendar year, and for developers new to the App Store. Cross $1 million during a year and the standard rate applies to later sales; fall back below it and you can requalify the year after. Under the EU’s alternative terms the rate drops further, to 10%.
Google: 15% on the first $1 million every year
Google applies 15% to the first $1 million a developer earns each year and 30% above that, so the reduced rate is a permanent band rather than an eligibility status. Auto-renewing subscriptions are 15% regardless of revenue. Google states that 97% of developers pay no fee at all, and that 99% of those who do qualify for 15% or less.
| Situation | Apple App Store | Google Play |
|---|---|---|
| Standard rate | 30% | 30% above $1m per year |
| Small or new developer | 15% up to $1m prior-year proceeds | 15% on the first $1m each year |
| Auto-renewing subscriptions | 15% under the Small Business Program | 15% regardless of revenue |
| EU alternative terms | 10% | Differentiated rates since 30 June 2026 |
| EEA, UK and US from 30 June 2026 | Unchanged | 10-15% new installs, 15-25% existing, each plus a 5% billing fee |
Read from Apple’s and Google’s own developer documentation on 9 September 2026. Both companies revise these terms without much notice, so check the source pages before relying on any figure here.
The change most comparisons have not caught up with
From 30 June 2026, Google Play moved to differentiated rates in the EEA, the UK and the United States. New installs are charged 10% to 15% plus a 5% billing fee, and existing installs 15% to 25% plus a 5% billing fee, or 15% to 20% where the transaction comes through an external web link. If you are reading an App Store versus Google Play comparison written before mid-2026, its commission section describes a scheme that no longer applies in three of the largest markets.
How long it takes to get live, and the result that surprises people
The received wisdom is that Apple is the slow, strict gatekeeper and Android is the open door. On each company’s own current documentation, that is now closer to backwards for a new solo developer.
Apple states 90% of submissions reviewed in under 24 hours
Apple’s published figure is that on average, 90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours. Rejection is common, and fixing a rejection costs another round trip, but the loop itself is fast. We cover what actually triggers rejections in getting the App Store to approve your app.
Google requires 12 testers for 14 continuous days first
New personal Google Play developer accounts created after 13 November 2023 must run a closed test with a minimum of 12 testers opted in continuously for at least 14 days before they can even apply for production access. The 14 days must be unbroken: if a tester opts out, their count resets. After that, Google reviews the production access request in about seven days.
So the practical ordering inverts
A developer starting from nothing today can realistically be live on the App Store in days. On Google Play the same developer needs to recruit a dozen real testers, keep them enrolled for a fortnight, and then wait out a review. The requirement applies to personal accounts rather than organisation accounts, which is a distinction worth checking before you register, because it is set at signup and awkward to change afterwards.
Catalogue size: which store is more crowded, and how crowded
The App Store listed 2.42 million apps and games in 2025. Google Play listed 1.58 million. The smaller platform by installs carries the larger catalogue, mostly because Google has spent several years removing dormant and low-quality listings while Apple’s total kept climbing.
The statistic that should govern your launch plan
On both stores, more than a quarter of published apps have received fewer than 100 downloads in total. Not per month. Ever. Apple’s own reported figure is close to a quarter; Google Play’s is over a quarter. Roughly four million apps exist and about a million of them have effectively never been installed by anyone.
Publishing is not distribution. Store choice is a rounding error next to that, and no comparison table changes it. If a launch plan’s marketing section reads “list it on the App Store”, it is describing the million.
Reach: where in the world each platform actually wins
Platform share is close to a proxy for national income, which is why a single global figure hides the decision you are actually making.
Android’s 67.61% worldwide share is built on very high dominance across South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and much of Latin America. iOS concentrates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada and the Nordics, and those are also the markets with the highest willingness to pay for software.
Why the two maps do not overlap
The largest download markets and the largest spending markets are mostly different countries. India led downloads in 2025; it is not a leading consumer-spending market. That single mismatch is the whole reason the per-download gap is nearly seven to one, and it is why “which store is bigger” has no useful answer without naming a country.
If you are building for a specific market, look up that market’s split rather than the world’s. The global average describes nowhere in particular. For the wider market picture behind these figures, see our mobile app statistics breakdown.
So which store should you launch on first?
The data supports a genuinely simple rule, with one exception.
Launch iOS first if you charge money
Paid apps, in-app purchases and above all subscriptions earn dramatically more per user on iOS: 70% of consumer spending, 73% of subscription spending, and about seven times the revenue per install. You will also get to market faster. If revenue comes from users paying you directly, iOS first is the straightforward read.
Launch Android first if you need reach or run on ads
If the product monetises through advertising, needs the largest possible user base, or targets markets where Android is overwhelmingly dominant, the store revenue gap is close to irrelevant, because store revenue is not how the app earns. Volume is the input that matters and Google Play supplies roughly three times more of it.
The exception: most teams should just do both
The two-store decision is only a real trade-off when building twice costs twice as much. It usually does when you are hand-coding, which is why the question gets asked at all. When one build produces both, the honest answer is to publish to both and let real installs tell you which platform your particular audience actually uses. That is what our iPhone app builder and Android app builder exist to do, from a single project.
Three things this comparison does not tell you
Every number above is sourced, and every number above has a boundary. These are the three that most often get lost when this data is quoted onward.
1. It ignores advertising, which is bigger than both stores combined
Consumer spending across both stores was $166.8 billion. Mobile advertising was$419 billion, roughly two and a half times as much. Because ad revenue does not flow through store billing, it is absent from every figure in the revenue and per-download sections. That absence disproportionately understates Android. The $0.47 figure is what a Play install is worth in store revenue, not what it is worth.
2. Averages hide a distribution with an extreme top end
Both stores’ totals are dominated by a small number of very large properties. The median app earns close to nothing on either platform, which is the same point as the quarter-under-100- downloads figure seen from the revenue side. No average here forecasts your app.
3. Estimates are not counts
Neither Apple nor Google publishes comprehensive download and revenue data. Providers model these figures from panels and sampling, and aggregators republish them. Treat the direction and order of magnitude as sound and be sceptical of precision past one decimal place. The fee, commission and review-policy figures in this post are different in kind: those come from Apple and Google directly and are exact as of 9 September 2026.
Do this
- Name the year every figure covers
- Say whether advertising is included
- Separate store revenue from total revenue
- Check your target country’s split
- Read fees from Apple and Google directly
- Treat estimates as directional
Avoid this
- Quoting downloads without revenue
- Quoting revenue without downloads
- Calling store spending ‘the app economy’
- Using a global split for one market
- Commission tables written before mid-2026
- Reading a market average as a forecast
What the numbers mean if you are building something
Four things follow from the data above, and none of them requires picking a side.
Match the platform to the business model, not to the headline. Charging users points to iOS. Selling attention points to Android. That single question resolves the comparison faster than any feature table.
Do not let the entry fee decide anything. The $99 against $25 gap is the most-quoted number in this comparison and the least consequential. Time to first launch is the cost that actually bites, and it currently runs the other way.
Check your market, not the world. A global 67/33 split is irrelevant if your users are in one country. Look up that country.
Assume distribution is the hard part. A quarter of published apps never reach 100 downloads. Store choice does not move that number; having a plan for reaching people before you launch does.
One Build, Both Stores
The launch-order question only matters when building twice costs twice as much. Describe your app once and publish it to the App Store and Google Play from the same project.
Build an iPhone App Or build an Android appFrequently Asked Questions
Which is better for developers, the App Store or Google Play?
Neither, in the abstract. They are better at different things. The App Store produced about $3.21 of consumer spending per download in 2025 against Google Play’s $0.47, so it is materially better for paid and subscription apps. Google Play delivered 104.6 billion downloads against 36.6 billion, so it is better for reach and for ad-funded apps. Match the store to how your app earns.
Which store has more downloads, Google Play or the App Store?
Google Play, by close to three to one. It delivered 104.6 billion downloads in 2025, 73.5% of the worldwide total, while the App Store took 36.6 billion, or 26.5%. The gap tracks device reach: StatCounter put worldwide mobile OS share in August 2026 at 67.61% Android to 32.36% iOS.
Which store makes more money, the App Store or Google Play?
The App Store, by more than two to one. Of the $166.8 billion consumers spent across both stores in 2025, iOS accounted for roughly 70%: $117.6 billion against Google Play’s $49.2 billion. The skew is even stronger for subscriptions, where iOS took 73% of $79.5 billion. These figures cover store spending only and exclude advertising.
How much is an app download worth on each store?
In 2025, dividing each store’s consumer spending by its downloads gives about $3.21 per download on the App Store ($117.6bn / 36.6bn) and about $0.47 on Google Play ($49.2bn / 104.6bn), a ratio near 6.8 to 1. Both are market-wide averages dominated by very large apps, and both exclude advertising revenue, which understates Android considerably.
Is it cheaper to publish on Google Play or the App Store?
Google Play is cheaper. It charges a one-time $25 registration fee, while the Apple Developer Program costs $99 a year. Over five years that is $25 against $495. It is rarely the deciding factor, and the cheaper store is currently the slower one to launch on for a new personal account.
How much commission do Apple and Google take?
Both headline at 30% with a 15% reduced rate. Apple charges 15% under the Small Business Program for developers earning up to $1 million in proceeds in the prior year, and 10% under EU alternative terms. Google charges 15% on the first $1 million each year and 15% on auto-renewing subscriptions regardless of revenue. From 30 June 2026, Google Play uses differentiated rates in the EEA, UK and US: 10-15% on new installs and 15-25% on existing installs, each plus a 5% billing fee.
How long does app review take on the App Store versus Google Play?
Apple states that on average 90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours. Google reviews production access requests in about seven days, but new personal Play developer accounts created after 13 November 2023 must first run a closed test with at least 12 testers opted in continuously for 14 days. In practice a new solo developer usually reaches the App Store faster than Google Play.
Why does the App Store make more money with far fewer downloads?
Because its installs are concentrated in high-income markets. iOS share is highest in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada and the Nordics, which are also the markets most willing to pay for software. Android’s share is highest in large, price-sensitive markets where monetisation leans on advertising rather than store payments, and ad revenue does not appear in store spending figures at all.
How many apps are on the App Store and Google Play?
The App Store listed 2.42 million apps and games in 2025 and Google Play listed 1.58 million, roughly four million combined. The App Store carries the larger catalogue despite being the smaller platform by installs. On both stores, more than a quarter of published apps have received fewer than 100 downloads in total.
Should I publish my app on one store or both?
Both, unless building twice genuinely costs twice as much. The stores are complementary rather than competing: Google Play supplies about three times the installs and the App Store supplies about seven times the revenue per install. Publishing to both and watching real installs tells you more about your audience than any market average can.
Pick the Store That Matches Your Model
The data supports one clear rule. If users pay you directly, iOS earns several times more per install and gets you live faster, so lead there. If you monetise through advertising or need the largest possible audience, Google Play supplies about three times the volume and the store revenue gap barely applies to you. Everything else in this comparison, the $99 against $25 especially, is smaller than it looks. If a single project can produce both apps, the honest answer is to skip the argument and ship to both: our iPhone app builder and Android app builder are built to do exactly that.
Build an Android App Free →Stop Comparing Stores. Publish to Both.
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