Setapp Membership revenue

In Setapp Membership, users pay a subscription fee and get access to the full catalog.

Your revenue is calculated from that subscription fee and consists of:

• a 70% distribution, shared between developers based on app usage during the billing period;
• a Partner fee (+20%) for users you bring to Setapp.

Note: iOS apps in Membership follow the same revenue distribution logic as macOS apps.

Price tiers and multipliers

To make revenue distribution fair across apps with different market values, Setapp assigns each app a price tier. Each tier has a multiplier that is used when splitting the 70% distribution.

How Setapp determines your tier

Your tier is based on your app’s list price outside Setapp or your subscription price, depending on your pricing model. A price is typically considered for tiering only if it has been effective for at least 3 months outside Setapp.

Setapp uses multiple tiers (1–17). Higher app prices map to higher tiers and higher multipliers. The general rule is:

• Higher tier → higher multiplier → larger share of the 70% distribution

Subscription and fixed price

When defining your price tier, Setapp prioritizes annual subscription price.

• If your app offers both lifetime and annual subscriptions, the annual price is used.
• If your app offers both monthly and annual subscriptions, the annual price is used.
• If your app offers only a monthly subscription, the monthly price is typically multiplied by 12 to derive the annualized price for tiering.

Changing your app’s price tier

If you need to update your app’s price tier on Setapp, a request can be submitted from your developer account (for example, via an Account → Price tier area).

As a rule, the price you’re switching to must have been effective outside Setapp for the required period (commonly at least 3 months) before it can be applied for tiering.

How revenue is distributed in Membership

Membership revenue distribution consists of two independent components:

1) The 70% distribution (usage-based)

From each user's subscription revenue, Setapp distributes 70% across app developers whose apps the user opened during the billing period.

The distribution depends on the user’s app usage:

• Case A: User uses only your apps
  Your app(s) receive the full 70% share for that user (distributed within your own portfolio if multiple of your apps were used).

• Case B: User uses your apps and other apps
  The 70% share is split across developers. The split is based on:

  • which apps were used during the period
  • app price tiers (multipliers)

• Case C: User uses only other developers’ apps
  Your apps do not receive a share from the 70% distribution for that billing period.

In practice, higher-priced apps (with higher tiers) carry more weight in the split—provided they were used during the billing period.

2) Partner fee (+20% for users you bring)

If a user comes to Setapp through your partner acquisition (for example, via your Setapp badge on your product pages), you receive an additional Partner fee: +20% of that user's subscription revenue.

Key points:

• Partner fee is guaranteed for eligible referred users.
• Partner fee does not depend on which apps the user opens during the billing period.
• Partner fee continues while the referred user remains subscribed and the program conditions are met.

Revenue for trial period

New users typically get 7 days of free trial. During the trial period, app usage does not generate revenue for Setapp or its partners. Revenue distribution for a new paid user is calculated only after the first paid billing period ends. As a result, revenue allocation for the new users typically appear with a delay (commonly about 2–2.5 months after the user first arrives).

Revenue for teams and families

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Note

These are legacy plans. They are no longer available to new subscribers.

For plans that cover multiple users (such as teams or families), revenue is calculated using the same Membership rules.

The subscription revenue for the plan is used as the basis for:

• the 70% distribution, split based on app usage across all covered users;
• the Partner fee, if the subscription is eligible.

Revenue calculation examples

The examples below illustrate how Membership revenue is calculated in practice.

Example 1: Individual user

A user pays a $9.99 monthly subscription and opens the following apps during the billing period:

Step 1. Partner fee (if applicable)

If you referred this user to Setapp:

$9.99 × 20% = $2.00

Step 2. Developer share from the 70% distribution

Total multiplier sum:
10 + 20 + 1 = 31

Your share from the 70% distribution:

($9.99 × 70%) × (10 ÷ 31) ≈ $2.24

Total revenue from this user:

$2.00 + $2.24 = $4.24

Example 2: Family plan

A family plan costs $19.99 per month and includes two members.
During the billing period, they open the following apps:

Family member #1

Family member #2

All apps opened by family members are aggregated for the calculation.

Total multiplier sum:
10 + 20 + 1 + 4 + 2 = 37

Your share from the 70% distribution:

($19.99 × 70%) × (10 ÷ 37) ≈ $3.78