The Revenue Share Calculator shows what you actually keep after Shopify's revenue share: 0 percent on your first $1M of lifetime partner revenue, and 15 percent on everything above it.
- Below the $1M lifetime cap you keep 100 percent minus payment processing. The exemption is lifetime and does not reset.
- Only the portion above $1M pays 15 percent, so your blended rate climbs gradually rather than jumping to 15 percent overnight.
- At roughly $2M of lifetime revenue your blended take is about 7.5 percent and climbing toward 15 percent as you scale.
- Sixty seconds, no signup, and it models your take-home and blended rate at any revenue level.
Shopify takes 0 percent on your first $1M of lifetime partner revenue and 15 percent on everything above it, so what you keep is a blend that rises as you scale. The Revenue Share Calculator models that take-home and your blended rate at any revenue level in about sixty seconds. Below the cap you keep nearly everything; at $2M lifetime your blended take is around 7.5 percent and climbing toward 15.
I built it because the structure quietly misleads founders in both directions. Early on, keeping 100 percent makes the economics look better than they will be, which tempts you to build a cost base the post-cap business cannot carry. Later, people overestimate the hit by applying 15 percent to all revenue, when it only touches the portion above the cap. The calculator replaces both errors with your real number.
The cut misleads
in both directions.
The revenue share is generous up front and easy to misread. Below $1M of lifetime revenue you keep everything but processing, which feels like the permanent state of the world right up until it is not. Founders price and hire against that, then cross the cap and discover their margins were borrowing from a benefit that does not reset. On the other side, founders who have not modelled it assume 15 percent comes off the top of all revenue and overestimate the damage, sometimes badly enough to make the wrong call on pricing or a sale.
Both mistakes come from not seeing the blended rate. I have built and sold in this ecosystem, and the founders who plan well are the ones who model their take-home at the size they are scaling toward, not the size they are today. The calculator exists to make that the default.
0 percent, then
15 above the line.
The mechanic is simple once you see it as a threshold, not a switch. Track your cumulative, lifetime partner revenue. Everything up to the first $1M is exempt: you keep 100 percent, minus payment processing, which is handled separately. Every dollar after that pays 15 percent. Because the exemption is lifetime, you cross it once. It does not refill each year, so the change is permanent, and the calculator treats it that way.
Shopify moved to this lifetime cap in January 2025, and revenue earned before that date does not count toward the $1M (Shopify, App Store revenue share). The April 2025 changelog announcement confirms the old annual reset is gone and that earnings are aggregated at the partner level, across any associated developer accounts. One exception worth knowing: developers earning $20M a year or more through the App Store, or with $100M or more in total company revenue, are not eligible for the 0 percent tier at all.
| Where you are | What it means for your take-home |
|---|---|
Under the $1M cap | You keep 100 percent minus processing. Bank the margin while it lasts: the cap does not reset. |
Crossing the cap | Only the portion above $1M pays 15 percent. Plan pricing and hiring against the blended rate, not the sticker rate. |
Ignoring it in your model | At $2M lifetime your blended take is about 7.5 percent and climbing toward 15. Forecasts that skip it overstate margin. |
Plan against the
blended rate.
The headline 15 percent is not the number you live with; your blended rate is. Because the first $1M is exempt forever, your effective share starts at zero and rises gradually as more of your cumulative revenue sits above the cap. At $2M lifetime, roughly half your revenue is above the line, so your blended take lands near 7.5 percent. At $5M it is higher; at $20M it approaches the full 15. The calculator draws that curve for your numbers, so you can see exactly where you sit and where you are heading.
This is the figure that should drive pricing and hiring decisions. A cost structure that works at a 2 percent blended rate can quietly break at 12, and the only way to avoid that surprise is to model the rate at the revenue you are scaling toward.
What the take-home
number changes.
Three decisions get sharper once you can see your real blended rate. Pricing: if your margins only work because you are currently keeping everything, raise prices or rework packaging before the cap forces the issue. Hiring and burn: build the team your post-cap economics can sustain, not the one today's inflated margin suggests. And a potential sale: a buyer prices your app on post-cap economics, so knowing your blended rate keeps you from over-valuing the pre-cap run rate.
The point is not that the revenue share is bad. It is a fair deal, and the free $1M of runway is real money. The point is to plan with eyes open, so the transition past the cap is something you anticipated rather than something that surprised your P&L.
What it will not
do for you.
It models the revenue share itself; payment processing and any other platform fees are separate and depend on your setup. It also reflects the structure as it stands, and platform terms can change (the binding version lives in Shopify's Partner Program Agreement), so treat it as a current planning tool rather than a contract. And it works off the lifetime revenue figure you give it, which means you need an honest read on your cumulative partner revenue to date for the blended rate to be right.
What it does is stop the two predictable mistakes: over-building on pre-cap margin, and over-fearing a 15 percent that only ever touches part of your revenue. Both are expensive, and both come from not seeing the blend.
Where it sits in
the toolkit.
Revenue share sets the margin your whole model runs on, so it pairs with app pricing strategy, which is where you make sure the price still works at your blended rate. It feeds your CAC payback and churn cost, since both depend on the revenue you actually keep, and ultimately your app valuation. The strategic read on the cap is in the lifetime cap breakdown.
Common
questions
answered.
What is Shopify's app revenue share in 2026?
Shopify takes 0 percent on a partner's first $1M of lifetime revenue and 15 percent on everything above it, with payment processing handled separately. The structure rewards getting to the cap, then asks for a share as you scale past it. The strategic implications are in the revenue share lifetime cap breakdown.
Is the $1M exemption annual or lifetime?
Lifetime, not annual, and that distinction matters enormously for planning. An annual exemption would reset every January; a lifetime one is a one-time runway you cross once and never get back. Once your cumulative partner revenue passes $1M, the 15 percent applies from then on, so model it as a permanent change, not a yearly reprieve.
Do multiple apps share the exemption?
The exemption applies at the partner level, so revenue across your apps under one partner account counts toward the same $1M lifetime threshold. Spreading revenue across several apps does not give you a fresh $1M per app. The calculator treats your total partner revenue as the number that matters, which is how Shopify counts it.
How do I plan for the 15%?
Price and hire against your blended rate, not the headline 15 percent. Below the cap you are effectively keeping everything, which can tempt you to build a cost structure the post-cap economics cannot support. Model your take-home at the revenue you are scaling toward, then make sure your pricing and margins work at that blended rate, not today's.
Does the 15% apply to all my app revenue?
No, only the portion above the $1M lifetime threshold. Everything up to $1M keeps the 0 percent treatment, so your effective rate is a blend that rises as more of your cumulative revenue sits above the cap. That is why your blended take at $2M is well under 15 percent and keeps climbing toward it as you grow.
The free $1M is real, and so is the 15 percent that follows it. Plan against the blended rate you are scaling toward, not the one you have today. Take the sixty seconds: model your take-home.
Building a Shopify app?
I advise a small number of app founders, from six-figure ARR toward a real exit. I built an app and sold it to Tiny, and I built the Shopify Partner Program before that. If that is your path, the form takes two minutes.
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