How Much Does It Cost to Publish an App? (2026 Breakdown)

"Free to build" and "free to publish" are not the same thing — and a lot of first-time makers only discover the gap when they hit the payment screen inside App Store Connect. The short answer: the cost to publish an app in 2026 starts at $99/year for Apple and a one-time $25 for Google, and for many indie makers that's genuinely the whole bill. But there are a handful of extras — some optional, some sneaky — worth knowing before you commit.

This post breaks down every line item: the mandatory store fees, the assets you'll need (and how to get them for free), and the "hidden" costs that catch people out. If you want the full end-to-end process rather than just the money, start with our pillar on how to publish an app without code.

What are the mandatory costs to publish an app?

There are exactly two fees you cannot skip if you want to be on the App Store and Google Play.

Store	Fee	Type	What it covers
Apple App Store	$99/year	Recurring (annual)	Apple Developer Program membership — required to submit any app
Google Play	$25	One-time	Play Console registration — paid once, ever

That's it for the platforms themselves. Apple charges $99 every year to keep your membership (and your live apps) active; if you let it lapse, your apps get pulled from the store until you renew. Google's $25 is paid a single time when you register your Play Console account and is never charged again, no matter how many apps you ship.

So the math for your first year on both stores is:

$99 (Apple) + $25 (Google) = $124 to publish on both platforms
$99/year thereafter (Google's fee never comes back)

If you only care about one store, it's cheaper still: $25 total for Android-only, or $99/year for iOS-only.

A note on Apple's commission (not a publishing cost)

Apple and Google both take a cut of in-app purchases and paid downloads — commonly 15–30% depending on your revenue and the store's small-business program. This is not a publishing cost. If your app is free with no in-app purchases, you never pay it. We're flagging it only so you don't confuse the commission with the flat developer fees above.

What about the assets — screenshots, privacy policy, and copy?

Beyond the store fees, every app needs a set of assets to complete its listing. These are where costs can balloon if you hire out — or stay near-zero if you use the right tools. Here's the honest breakdown.

Asset	Required?	Typical paid route	Free / low-cost route
App icon	Yes	Designer ($50–$300)	DIY in any design tool
Screenshots	Yes	Designer or agency ($100–$500+)	Screenshot generator (free to design)
Privacy policy	Yes (both stores)	Lawyer ($200–$1,000+)	Privacy policy generator
Terms of service	Recommended	Lawyer	Template / generator
Store description & keywords	Yes	Copywriter ($50–$200)	Metadata generator or DIY
App preview video	Optional	Videographer/editor	Screen recording + free editor

None of the "paid route" numbers are unavoidable. They're what you'd pay to outsource — and for a first app, most makers don't need to.

Screenshots

Screenshots are mandatory, and they must hit exact pixel dimensions or the store rejects them: iPhone 6.9" is 1320×2868, iPhone 6.7" is 1290×2796, and Google Play phone screenshots are 1080×1920. You can hire a designer, but a tool that exports at those exact sizes is free to design with — the App Store screenshot generator in Adalo Studio lets you build the whole set (device frames, backgrounds, captions) and only charges a one-time unlock or a paid Adalo plan when you export. For the full spec table, see our App Store screenshot sizes guide.

Privacy policy

Both stores require a live privacy policy URL — there's no way around it. A lawyer will happily draft one for a few hundred dollars, but for a standard app that collects predictable data (analytics, email, crash logs), a generated policy is fine and free. The app privacy policy generator produces a hosted URL you can paste straight into App Store Connect and Play Console. If you're unsure whether you even need one, read do I need a privacy policy for my app.

Store copy and keywords

Your app name, subtitle, keyword field, and descriptions cost nothing to write yourself — and writing them well is the highest-leverage free work you can do, because it directly affects how many people find your app. Our ASO playbook for indie developers covers how to do it without paying anyone.

The hidden costs people forget

These aren't line items on a store checkout, but they're real, and they surprise people.

Time (the biggest one)

The largest cost of publishing your first app is almost always your own time — learning the console, preparing assets, and answering review questions correctly. Budgeting a solid week for a first launch is realistic. The way to shrink it is to prepare assets in parallel while builds compile, and to work from a checklist so nothing bounces back from review. Our app store submission checklist exists specifically to compress this.

A domain or hosting (sometimes)

Your privacy policy needs a public URL. If you use a generator that hosts it for you, this is free. If you insist on hosting it on your own domain, factor in ~$10–15/year for the domain. Not required, just an option.

The Google Play testing delay (a cost in time, not money)

For personal Google Play accounts created after November 13, 2023, Google requires a closed test with at least 12 testers opted in for 14 continuous days before you can apply for production access. It costs nothing in dollars, but it adds two weeks to your Android timeline — plan for it so it doesn't blindside you.

App build tooling

If you're building no-code with Adalo, native publishing requires a paid Adalo plan — that's a real recurring cost worth including in your budget. The upside is you never pay for a Mac, Xcode setup, or a developer to compile builds, which is where traditional app costs used to explode.

So, what's the realistic total?

Here are three honest scenarios for the first-year cost to publish an app, assuming you do the assets yourself with free/one-time tools:

Scenario	Store fees	Assets	First-year total
Android only, DIY assets	$25 one-time	~$0	~$25
iOS only, DIY assets	$99/year	~$0	~$99
Both stores, DIY assets	$124	~$0	~$124
Both stores, outsourced assets	$124	$300–$1,500	$424–$1,624

The spread is enormous — and almost all of it comes down to whether you outsource the assets. The store fees are fixed and small. Everything else is a choice.

For no-code makers, the cheapest credible path is: pay the two store fees, generate your screenshots and privacy policy with free/one-time tools, and write your own store copy. That keeps a real, two-store launch close to $124 in year one. If you want to see exactly what's free versus a one-time unlock on the tooling side, the Adalo Studio pricing page lays it out. And when you're ready to actually ship, follow the step-by-step in how to publish an app without code.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to publish an app on both stores?

The unavoidable store fees are $99/year for the Apple Developer Program and a one-time $25 for a Google Play Console account. So your first year on both platforms starts at $124, and every year after that is $99 as long as you keep the Apple membership active.

Is the Google Play developer fee really one-time?

Yes. The $25 Google Play Console registration fee is paid once when you create your account and is never charged again, no matter how many apps you publish. Apple works differently — its $99 Developer Program fee renews every year.

Can I publish an app for free?

You cannot avoid the store developer fees — Apple's $99/year and Google's $25 one-time are required to publish. But everything around them, including screenshots, a privacy policy, and store copy, can be produced for free or a one-time unlock, so the store fees are often your only real cost.

Tools mentioned in this guide: App Store Screenshot Generator, App Privacy Policy Generator.