1 page.title=Monetize Freemium Apps 2 page.image=images/cards/card-monetize-freemium_16-9_2x.png 3 page.metaDescription=Use Google Play In-app Billing and other tools to monetize your free apps. 4 page.tags="in-app", "billing", "iap", "monetizing" 5 @jd:body 6 7 <p> 8 Users are more likely to download free apps and games compared to priced 9 ones. However, we provide you with a number of ways to monetize free apps, 10 using <a href="{@docRoot}google/play/billing/index.html">In-app 11 Billing</a>. With this tool you can sell digital goods that are: 12 </p> 13 14 <ul> 15 <li>Durable — once purchased the item will always be available to the 16 user, such as additional app features. 17 </li> 18 19 <li>Consumable — items that might be used progressively or expire after 20 a period of time, such as a game booster or news subscription. 21 </li> 22 </ul> 23 24 <p> 25 A basic approach is to offer a free download with limited features or full 26 features for a limited time. Then use an in-app purchase to unlock the full, 27 unlimited app. 28 </p> 29 30 <div class="center-img" style="width:620px"> 31 <div style="float:right; width:300px; padding-left:1em;"> 32 <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-freemium-1.jpg" class="border-img"> 33 <p class="img-caption"> 34 Consumable product purchase 35 </p> 36 </div> 37 38 <div style="width:300px;float:left;"> 39 <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-freemium-0.jpg" class="border-img"> 40 <p class="img-caption"> 41 Durable goods purchase 42 </p> 43 </div> 44 </div> 45 46 <p class="clearfloat"> 47 A more advanced approach is to offer a range of features and content items 48 through in-app purchases. For example, in games you can offer users new 49 levels, playing pieces, or other game features. In apps you can offer 50 features or functionality that enhance the user experience either by 51 extending existing features or offering new ones. Using this approach you can 52 generate a continuing revenue stream from each app install. 53 </p> 54 55 <p> 56 Any item offered as an in-app purchase can also be offered as a subscription. 57 </p> 58 59 <p> 60 To get started with In-app Billing you need to set-up a Google payments 61 <a href="{@docRoot}distribute/googleplay/start.html#merchant-account">Merchant 62 Account</a> from Developer Console. You then define <a href= 63 "{@docRoot}distribute/googleplay/developer-console.html#in-app-products">in-app 64 products</a> in the Developer Console, integrate the In-app Billing API into 65 your apps, and add the mechanisms to unlock features or deliver content. 66 </p> 67 68 <div class="headerLine"> 69 <h2 id="related-resources"> 70 Related Resources 71 </h2> 72 73 74 </div> 75 76 <div class="resource-widget resource-flow-layout col-13" 77 data-query="collection:distribute/monetize/freemium" 78 data-sortOrder="-timestamp" 79 data-cardSizes="9x3,9x3,9x3,9x3,6x3,6x3" 80 data-maxResults="6"></div> 81
