The average monthly revenue of an app on the market for a year is less than $50.

This is according to the last research from RevenueCat (RC), a mobile subscription services company. RC's 2024 report anonymizes the data and uses it to break down what works — and what doesn't — when entrepreneurs try to monetize subscription app revenue.

Since its founding in 2017, RC has tracked nearly 30,000 apps that use its tools to collectively generate more than $6 billion in revenue. Her clients They include Reuters, workspace app Notion and photo editing app PhotoRoom.

Here are some key findings.

What Works

Although the average monthly revenue for a subscription app is low, RC noted that there is a difference in success rates depending on the category. Health and fitness apps performed about twice as well as all other categories combined after one year. The top 5% of health and fitness subscription apps had an average monthly revenue of $4,564.82.

Other categories saw lower average earnings, with the second highest numbers belonging to social/lifestyle apps. The top 5% in that section brought in an average of $2,769.31 in monthly income.

It's difficult for apps to reach $1,000 in revenue per month, with only 17% of apps reaching the milestone. From that point on, growth seems to get easier, with 59% of apps that reach $1,000 reaching $2,500 per month, and 60% of those apps reaching $5,000 per month.

Photo and video apps hit the $1,000 monthly revenue milestone faster than any other category, which RC attributed to the growth of AI imaging apps last year.

Connected: I tested 3 AI Headshot generators and a clear winner emerged

There is a huge profit gap between the top performing apps and the lowest performing ones, with the top 5% taking home 200 times more revenue than the bottom 25%.

However, RC cautioned readers that “not all revenue is created equal” and gave the example of apps that bring in the highest revenue numbers but break even or lose money after they factor in the cost of customer acquisition.

“Revenue does not mean you have a good business; profit means you have a good business,” RC writes in the report.

What doesn't work

Travel apps were the lowest performing in revenue, with the top 5% bringing in an average of $852.84 per month. However, travel was the best category for converting trial users into weekly or annual subscribers, with a conversion rate of 54.3%, which may mean users had a stronger intent behind their decision to try the app.

Users will pay for subscription apps if they believe the app solves a real problem they face, according to RC.

Connected: Enjoy lifetime access to the useful tools of this travel app for the best price online

“It's your job to show the user that you understand the problem and have a viable solution for it – ideally in the first session,” the report says. “In other words, you want to get a user to that 'aha moment' within 60 seconds of installing your app.”