RevenueCat vs Bloxks Pay (2026): Is RevenueCat’s 1% Fee Worth It?

Verdict: if you build an iOS or Android app with Bloxks, Bloxks Pay is the obvious choice (0% fees during the beta, nothing to code); if you need web payments, A/B tests or an app built outside Bloxks, RevenueCat is the better tool.

In short

• RevenueCat is free up to $2,500 a month, then takes 1% of the whole month’s revenue, on gross, on top of Apple’s 15–30%.
• Bloxks Pay charges 0% during the beta, with no subscription, and is wired into your app automatically by the Bloxks builder.
• Going live with RevenueCat is a project in itself: SDK, store keys, products mirrored in three places, webhooks, development builds, sandbox testing. With Bloxks Pay, the builder does it and you drop in one key.
• RevenueCat wins on breadth: web billing, A/B experiments, native SDKs for every stack, integrations.
• Bloxks Pay wins on cost and effort for an iOS or Android app built with Bloxks: no SDK to install, no code to write.

Contents

• The two tools in one minute
• RevenueCat pricing in 2026: how the 1% fee works
• What you actually pay at $1k, $2.6k, $10k and $50k a month
• Feature comparison
• Setup: SDK, Expo Go and builds
• Where RevenueCat is clearly better
• Where Bloxks Pay is better
• Which one should you pick?
• The verdict

The two tools in one minute

RevenueCat is the most widely used subscription backend for mobile apps. It sits between your app and the stores (App Store, Google Play, plus the web through Stripe or Paddle), verifies purchases, keeps track of who has access to what, and gives you charts, paywalls and experiments. It has SDKs for almost every stack, strong reviews (4.8/5 on G2) and raised $50M in 2025. It works with any app, whoever built it.

Bloxks Pay is the payment backend built into Bloxks, the AI builder for mobile apps. It does the same core job for the App Store and Google Play: it verifies purchases on the server (StoreKit 2 on iOS), listens to the stores’ notifications, keeps access rights up to date and shows your revenue in a dashboard. The difference is how you get there: the Bloxks builder writes the purchase code for you, so there is nothing to install or wire. It is in beta, works on iOS and Android, and is reserved for apps made with Bloxks.

So this isn’t a comparison between two equivalent products. It’s a choice between a general-purpose platform and a built-in one, and the right answer depends on where your app lives.

RevenueCat pricing in 2026: how the 1% fee works

Here are RevenueCat’s plans (pricing checked in October 2026 on the official pricing page):

Three details change the real cost, and they are the ones people search for as “RevenueCat fees”.

1. The 1% applies to the whole month, not just the part above $2,500. RevenueCat’s own account documentation gives the example: a $2,600 month costs $26. So $2,500 of revenue costs you nothing, and $2,600 costs $26. There’s a cliff at the threshold. The first time you cross it, you get 30 days to add a card.

2. The fee is calculated on gross revenue. RevenueCat tracks what the customer pays, before Apple or Google take their 15–30%. On $10,000 of monthly revenue, RevenueCat takes $100 and Apple takes up to $3,000. The two stack: you pay the store and the platform.

3. Web purchases add their own costs. RevenueCat Web Billing runs through Stripe, whose processing fee (2.9% + 30¢ in the US) comes on top. RevenueCat’s documentation and its launch blog post don’t say the same thing about whether web purchases count toward the 1%, so check with them if web revenue matters to you.

So, is RevenueCat free? Yes, for a small app. Under $2,500 a month, you pay nothing and get every feature. That’s a genuinely generous free tier, and for many side projects it’s enough. The question only becomes real once your app starts to earn.

What you actually pay at $1k, $2.6k, $10k and $50k a month

The method: RevenueCat fee = 1% of monthly revenue once it’s above $2,500 (otherwise $0). Apple’s cut is 15% for developers in the Small Business Program (and for subscriptions after their first year), 30% otherwise. Bloxks Pay = $0 during the beta.

What this table tells you:

• Below $2,500 a month, both cost nothing. Pick on features and setup, not price.
• At $2,600, you start paying on the full amount. $26 is small, but it’s the moment the meter starts.
• At $10,000 a month, RevenueCat costs $1,200 a year. That’s a real line in an indie budget.
• At $50,000 a month, it’s $6,000 a year, on top of the $90,000 to $180,000 Apple keeps over the same period.

To be fair, 1% is not outrageous for what RevenueCat delivers, and many developers say so. But if you build with Bloxks and sell through the App Store and Google Play, that 1% buys tools you may not use yet, and Bloxks Pay does the core job for 0% during the beta.

Feature comparison

Setup: SDK, Expo Go and builds

This is where the two experiences differ the most, and where most founders underestimate RevenueCat.

With RevenueCat, going to production is a checklist of a dozen technical steps. For an Expo app, the classic path looks like this:

1. Create the app in App Store Connect and in Google Play Console, then sign the paid apps agreements and fill in your banking and tax details.
2. Create every product and subscription group in App Store Connect, then again in Google Play Console.
3. Generate an In-App Purchase key (.p8) in App Store Connect and a service account with the right permissions on Google Cloud, then connect both to RevenueCat.
4. Recreate your products in RevenueCat, attach them to entitlements, then group them into offerings and packages.
5. Install the react-native-purchases SDK, configure it with one API key per platform, and identify your users so purchases follow them across devices.
6. Write the purchase, restore and access-check logic, plus the paywall screen.
7. Configure Apple’s server notifications and Google’s real-time notifications so renewals, cancellations and refunds reach RevenueCat.
8. Add a webhook to your own backend if your server needs to know who has paid.
9. Leave Expo Go: RevenueCat’s own Expo tutorial explains you need a custom development build to test purchases.
10. Test with sandbox accounts on iOS and license testers on Android, then debug the classic errors: products not found, empty offerings, agreements not signed.

Each step is documented, and a developer gets through it in a few days. But one mistake (a product ID that doesn’t match, a missing notification URL) and purchases silently fail in production. For someone who has never opened a terminal, it’s a wall.

With Bloxks Pay, it’s much simpler. The Bloxks builder generates the code that calls Bloxks Pay, in React Native / Expo: purchase, restore, access checks, the paywall screen, the “Manage subscription” button. There is no SDK to install, no products to mirror, no webhook to configure: the server, the store notifications and the access rights are already wired. What’s left for you is the part only you can do at the stores: for the App Store, create an In-App Purchase key (.p8) in App Store Connect and drop it into Bloxks, where it’s stored encrypted.

To be precise on testing: Apple’s rules are the same for everyone. Real and sandbox purchases need a store build, so with Bloxks Pay they run in the TestFlight build. The difference is that Bloxks compiles and sends that build for you, and the builder preview gives you a simulated store to check the flow before that, without being charged.

Where RevenueCat is clearly better

Let’s be straight: on breadth, RevenueCat is ahead, and these are real reasons to choose it.

• The web. RevenueCat handles web billing through Stripe or Paddle, on top of the App Store and Google Play. Bloxks Pay covers both stores, but not web payments.
• Experiments. A/B/n tests on paywalls and prices, with a paywall editor and templates you can change remotely. Bloxks Pay has no A/B tests.
• Deeper analytics. 40+ metrics, LTV and cohorts. Bloxks Pay covers the essentials (MRR, churn, trials, refunds) but not LTV or cohorts.
• SDKs for every stack. Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, Unity, Capacitor, Kotlin Multiplatform… If your app isn’t React Native, RevenueCat is there.
• Integrations. Measurement partners, Apple Search Ads and more. Bloxks Pay offers webhooks, Slack and Discord, not attribution tools.
• Maturity. Years in production, data from more than 115,000 apps, a large community and documentation for every edge case.

And one more point that matters: RevenueCat works inside Bloxks too. If you need its experiments or web billing, you can switch your Bloxks app to RevenueCat from the Integrations panel. You’re never locked in.

Where Bloxks Pay is better

For an iOS or Android app built with Bloxks, Bloxks Pay removes both the fee and the integration work.

• 0% fees during the beta, no subscription, no commitment. Post-beta pricing will be announced in advance.
• Nothing to code. The builder writes the purchase code and the paywall; you only bring your store keys, such as Apple’s .p8 key.
• A server that checks everything. App Store and Google Play purchases verified on the server; on iOS, StoreKit 2 receipts, Apple’s notifications V2 and state re-read from Apple’s API; nightly reconciliation to catch any missed notification.
• Refunds handled for you. A refund cuts access automatically, Apple’s consumption requests get an automatic answer, and your app can open Apple’s refund sheet.
• Coins and credits that can’t be duplicated. Consumables are credited once on the server, even if a request is replayed.
• Owner tools. Apple offer codes created from the builder, free access you can give for 7, 30 or 365 days or for life, and a live event feed.
• A clear dashboard. MRR, revenue, ARPU, churn, active subscribers, trials and trial conversion, upcoming renewals, in EUR or USD, with test purchases filtered out.

Which one should you pick?

Pick Bloxks Pay if:

• you build your app with Bloxks;
• you sell on the App Store and Google Play (subscriptions, one-time unlocks or coins);
• you don’t want to install an SDK or write purchase code;
• you’d rather keep the 1% while you grow.

Pick RevenueCat if:

• you need web payments (Stripe, Paddle);
• you want to A/B test paywalls and prices;
• you need LTV, cohorts or attribution integrations;
• your app is native Swift, Kotlin, Flutter or Unity, or not built with Bloxks;
• you need several access levels in the same app.

The verdict

RevenueCat is an excellent product, and if you sell everywhere or run experiments, it’s worth its 1%. But that 1% applies to your whole month as soon as you pass $2,500, on gross revenue, on top of Apple’s cut: $1,200 a year at $10k a month, $6,000 at $50k.

If you build your iOS or Android app with Bloxks, Bloxks Pay does the core job (verified purchases, access rights, refunds, dashboard) for 0% fees during the beta, and the builder wires it in for you. That makes it the obvious choice. And the day you need experiments or web billing, RevenueCat is one switch away inside Bloxks.