You keep 80%. Here's the other 20%.
Most platforms publish a headline split and let you discover the app store's cut at your first payout. This page is the whole stack, in the order the money actually moves.
The same course, on two phones
Nothing about your course changes between these. The only difference is which store the student bought through, and what that store charges.
A $29.99 course, bought on iPhone
- Student pays$29.99
The list price on your course.
- App Store / Google Play commission (30%)−$9.00
Taken by Apple or Google before the money reaches Upgram. We never see it, and we can't waive it — every app that sells through the stores pays it.
- Upgram's 20%−$4.20
Charged on what actually arrives, not on the list price. Covers hosting, encoding, captions, transcripts, discovery and support.
- Your earnings$16.79
80% of what reaches us.
A $29.99 course, bought on Android
- Student pays$29.99
The list price on your course.
- App Store / Google Play commission (15%)−$4.50
Taken by Apple or Google before the money reaches Upgram. We never see it, and we can't waive it — every app that sells through the stores pays it.
- Upgram's 20%−$5.10
Charged on what actually arrives, not on the list price. Covers hosting, encoding, captions, transcripts, discovery and support.
- Your earnings$20.39
80% of what reaches us.
Apple charges 30% until a developer is accepted into its Small Business Program, then 15%. We've applied; until it's approved, the 30% figure above is the honest one.
Not a listing fee
You're charged nothing to publish, and nothing monthly. Our share exists because these run whether you sell one course or a thousand.
Video infrastructure
Encoding every upload into adaptive streams, storing them, and delivering them worldwide — the single largest cost of running this.
The AI work
Transcripts, captions, summaries and suggested tags on every video you upload, generated server-side and billed per minute of footage.
Discovery
The feed that puts your reel in front of someone who has never heard of you, and the search that finds your course by what's said inside it.
Students and support
Course group chats, direct messages, moderation, and a support inbox that answers your students so you don't have to.
Payments and compliance
Store integration, refunds, tax forms and payouts — including the paperwork that lets us pay instructors across borders at all.
Keeping it yours
You hold the rights to everything you upload, you can unpublish or delete it at any time, and nothing here asks for exclusivity.
The awkward ones, answered
Because Apple and Google charge different commissions, and that difference lands on the same sale of the same course. Google takes 15% on the first $1M of earnings each calendar year. Apple takes 30% until a developer is accepted into its Small Business Program, then 15%. Your share is always 80% of whatever reaches us — the store's cut is what moves.