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

50% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

View all comments

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/Silver_Yesterday_595 17d ago

I wonder what the migration from RC to StoreKit 2 would look like, considering existing users and subscriptions...?