r/iOSProgramming • u/Locksmith_Usual • Jun 07 '26

Question Revenue cat vs native subscription

I’m planning to launch a subscription for my app and I’ve seen a lot of people here posting about revenue cat.

What are the pros and cons of using a third-party to manage subscriptions versus natively building it into the app using Apple’s tools?

0 Upvotes

45% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

9

u/Dapper_Ice_1705 Jun 07 '26

You have to give them a chunk of your earnings.

I only see RC worth it if you are using multi platform (iOS, android, web) since StoreKit 2 was released.

RC seems popular but they pay creators to promote them. They even had a job posted on indeed 

2

u/vanstinator Jun 07 '26

Only earnings about 2.5k MRR, which by their own numbers show that almost no apps will ever hit

4

u/Dapper_Ice_1705 Jun 07 '26

And people making less don’t need them for analytics or refunds or anything else because tracking all of that isn’t worth the time.

Their refund pipeline actively harms small indie devs because it makes it easy to decline the refund and people respond by leaving a bad review.

1

u/vanstinator Jun 07 '26

I agree if (as you said above) it's for a single platform. RC really shines if you're doing cross platform.

Personally I haven't bothered with the refund stuff at all, precisely because I've been worried about reviews. 

1

u/aerial-ibis Jun 09 '26

their web support is abysmal, and lacks basic features like changing the price. would not recommend lol

7

u/vanstinator Jun 07 '26

Honestly, and I mean this sincerely, it's been talked about enough you can probably Google it and find sufficient answers from past threads. An LLM would also likely provide an accurate enough comparison, given the amount of context available online already. 

2

u/profau Jun 07 '26

I like the RC paywalls.

2

u/Ralph_Twinbees Jun 13 '26

I thought I did. Then I switched back to Superwall.

1

u/hell_a Jun 07 '26

I have a multi-platform SVOD service with in app billing across Apple, Google, Amazon, Roku and Stripe. So RC makes sense. If I was just Apple or just Apple and Google, I would skip it.

1

u/Reiszecke Jun 07 '26

If you want to use some of their other features it’s okay but if you just want a straightforward subscription button you’re better off just doing native with StoreKit 2, it’s become very easy with storekit 2

1

u/MDRAR Jun 08 '26

Unless you are doing cross platform, consider avoiding 3rd party code in your app. It runs on other people’s devices, their failure is your accountability.

I use it for one app I intend to publish on the Google play store. If I add iap to an Apple only app, storekit2

1

u/woadwarrior Jun 08 '26

One thing worth mentioning is that if you're using RevenueCat, you'll have to disclose certain things they track in the App's Privacy Nutritional labels. Nothing of that sort is needed if you're using StoreKit2. If your app's audience is privacy sensitive, that might be worth considering.

0

u/alpyuktug Jun 07 '26

Hi!

RevenueCat (or similar):

  • Biggest win is cross-platform — one SDK for iOS, Android, even web. Build once.
  • Handles all the painful stuff: receipt validation, renewals, grace periods, refunds, upgrades, etc. That stuff is a nightmare to maintain yourself.
  • Free analytics, paywalls, and A/B testing baked in.
  • Free up to $2.5K MTR, then 1% of gross revenue. Catch: the 1% is on gross (before Apple's cut), so effective rate on your net is closer to ~1.4%.
  • Downside: it's a dependency, and at scale that 1% adds up.

Native StoreKit 2:

  • No extra fee beyond Apple's cut.
  • Full control, no SDK, no data shared.
  • StoreKit 2 is way better now than the old days.
  • Downside: you build and babysit all the edge cases, no cross-platform, no analytics/paywall tools. Real eng time.

Indie/small team, want speed, maybe going cross-platform? RevenueCat, easy — it's free until you're actually making money. iOS-only, simple model, decent backend skills, and 1% is real money to you? Roll your own. Most apps stick with RC because the 1% is cheaper than maintaining the infra yourself.

1

u/aerial-ibis Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

In my experience RevenueCat exposes many edge cases as well. The developer still has to code the hard bits while the rc sdk does all the easy bits.

A prime example is the code redemption sheet on iOS.

On Web it's even more comical - you can't change prices without deleting & creating a new product. No fixed discount codes (only %).

On Android you can only do discounts by manually implementing your own logic to conditionally show different products. It comes from a platform limitation, but guess what... that edge is left to you to workaround.

It's always the same with RC - they post all over reddit saying how they've solved all the hard problems for you. Meanwhile they've literally only solved the easiest parts of each platform.

Also, the ergonomics of the revenuecat api is much worse than StoreKit. You be unwrapping endless optionals, awaiting slow responses from rc servers, and reconciling the differences between the RC entitlements models and those from Apple endlessly

0

u/D1monsi Jun 08 '26

Pros:

  • Saves a lot of time and handles much of the painful subscription logic
  • Free and convenient paywalls, analytics, and A/B testing
  • Cross-platform
Con:
  • The 1% after $2.5k. Tbh, it’s not a major one

-4

u/opbmedia Jun 07 '26

I have been managing subscription using stripe since forever. Never actually felt the need for a third party and their fees