From 1 October 2026, every EU developer moves onto a single new set of Apple business terms. The old Core Technology Fee — €0.50 charged per install or annual update once an app passed one million EU downloads in a twelve-month period — is gone. In its place: a flat 5% Core Technology Commission on digital transactions made through alternative marketplaces or a developer’s own website. In-app purchase commissions land at 26%, alternative payment processing at 20%, and web link-outs at 15%, with Small Business Program rates dropping to 15% and 10%. Developers could sign the new terms from mid-August, giving roughly six weeks to weigh a move into alternative distribution before the switch. The European Commission has said it welcomes the change and will monitor how it’s implemented.
The detail that matters for anyone commissioning an app isn’t the exact percentages — it’s what changed about the risk. The old per-install fee was a fixed cost that scaled with downloads regardless of whether those downloads ever turned into revenue, which made alternative distribution genuinely frightening for anything trying to grow fast in the EU: a viral free app could rack up a fee bill with zero income to cover it. A commission tied to actual transactions removes that specific danger. It doesn’t make alternative distribution free, and 5% on top of whatever payment processing and hosting costs a business takes on itself is still a real number to model — but it changes alternative distribution from “a fee that can bankrupt an unlucky launch” to “a cost that only bites when you’re already making money.”
So what
If EU distribution outside the App Store was ruled out because of fee risk rather than a considered cost comparison, it’s worth re-running the numbers under the new terms — particularly for subscription or high-volume free apps where the old per-install structure was punishing. This is exactly the kind of platform economics decision that should sit alongside technical architecture from day one, not get bolted on after launch. See our platform & API development work, or get in touch to talk through what a multi-channel distribution strategy looks like for your build.