++++ Plate 00 · Shopify app revenue shareCalculator
Ecosystem Strategy · See your take-home with no signup

After Shopify's cut, what do you actually keep?

Shopify takes 0% on your first $1M of lifetime partner revenue, then 15% on every dollar above it. The exemption is lifetime now, not annual, and revenue earned before January 2025 does not count. Answer a few questions and see where your crossover lands and what you keep over time.

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By Taylor Sicard · the early Shopify employee who helped build and scale the Partner Program · this is the math from the inside
How Shopify's app revenue share works

Shopify takes nothing on your first $1 million of lifetime partner revenue and 15% of every dollar above it. The exemption is lifetime, not annual, and revenue earned before January 2025 does not count toward it. In the month you cross the line, only the portion above $1M is taxed. From the following month, all of it is. Your effective rate over any horizon is total revenue share divided by total gross revenue.

  • Rule: 0% on the first $1,000,000 of lifetime partner revenue since January 2025, then 15% on everything after.
  • Monthly formula: taxed revenue = this month's revenue minus whatever exemption is left, floored at zero. Shopify's cut = taxed revenue x 0.15. You keep the rest.
  • Crossover month: the month your cumulative lifetime revenue first reaches $1M. Before it you keep everything.
  • Effective rate = total revenue share over the horizon divided by total gross revenue. Under 3% means most of the horizon is still exempt, over 8% means most of it is taxed at the full 15%.
  • Inputs: current monthly app revenue, expected month-over-month growth, projection horizon, and lifetime partner revenue earned so far.
  • Common mistake: treating the $1M as an annual reset. It is a one-time lifetime exemption, so once you cross it the 15% is permanent.
Worked example. You have earned $960,000 of lifetime partner revenue and bill $50,000 this month. $40,000 of exemption is left, so $10,000 is taxed: Shopify takes $1,500 and you keep $48,500. Next month the exemption is gone, the full $50,000 is taxed, Shopify takes $7,500 and you keep $42,500. Across those two months the effective rate is $9,000 / $100,000, or 9%.
Source: Taylor Sicard, Taylor Sicard Consulting · Updated August 2026
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Method

How Shopify revenue share is calculated

Since January 2025, Shopify takes 0% on your first $1M of lifetime app revenue and 15% on every dollar above it. The exemption is lifetime, not annual, and revenue earned before January 2025 does not count toward it. The calculator models your crossover month and your real take-home, month by month.

Under the $1M capYou keep 100% minus processing. Bank the margin while it lasts: the cap does not reset.
Crossing the capOnly the portion above $1M pays 15%. Plan pricing and hiring against the blended rate, not the sticker rate.
Ignoring it in your modelAt $2M lifetime revenue your blended take is about 7.5% and climbing toward 15%. Forecasts that skip it overstate margin.

The 15% lands on gross app revenue, so it stretches CAC payback and trims the profit your valuation is built on. The CAC payback calculator and the app valuation tool should both take post-share numbers. The rest of the free Shopify app calculators are built on the same assumptions.

Questions

Common questions

What is Shopify's app revenue share in 2026?
Shopify takes 0% on your first $1M of lifetime partner revenue, then 15% on every dollar above it. The same rate applies across all apps under one partner account.
Is the $1M exemption annual or lifetime?
It is lifetime now, not annual. Since January 2025 the $1M exemption does not reset each year, and revenue earned before January 1, 2025 does not count toward the threshold.
Do multiple apps share the exemption?
Yes. All apps under one Shopify partner account share a single lifetime $1M runway, so the exemption is consumed across your whole portfolio, not per app.
How do I plan for the 15%?
Build the 15% into pricing and expansion before you cross the cap. Once you clear $1M lifetime, you pay 15% on essentially everything, so raise ARPA and net revenue retention while you still keep 100%.
What was the rule before January 2025?
The 0% band reset every year: the first $1M of partner revenue each calendar year was exempt. Since January 2025 the exemption is lifetime, and revenue earned before the change does not count toward the cap, so established apps cross it far sooner than they expect.
Does the 15% apply to all my app revenue?
To revenue billed through Shopify: subscriptions, usage charges, and one-time charges. That is effectively all App Store revenue for most apps, which is why the calculator treats gross billed revenue as the base.