What is the Apple Core Technology Commission (CTC)?

The Core Technology Commission is Apple's 2026 replacement for the old Core Technology Fee. Effective January 1, 2026, it is a percentage-based fee (5 percent) on external sales made through apps on EU alternative terms, replacing the old $0.50-per-install CTF. You only pay CTC if you opt in to EU alternative terms and sell via external payment links. Developers on standard App Store terms never pay CTC.

Should indie iOS developers opt in to EU alternative terms in 2026?

For most indie developers under $30K MRR, no. Standard App Store terms with the Small Business Program 15 percent rate is cheaper than Tier Two alternative terms (10 percent App Store + 5 percent CTC on external sales) once you factor in operational overhead. Tier Two starts paying off somewhere between $10K and $30K MRR. Tier One (0 percent App Store + 5 percent CTC) rarely beats standard SBP for indie apps because the ops cost dominates.

What is the difference between Tier One and Tier Two under Apple EU alternative terms?

Tier One means 0 percent App Store commission and 5 percent CTC on external sales, but you get only basic Apple services (App Review, core APIs). It fits apps that sell almost entirely via external links, meaning hybrid products where iOS is a companion. Tier Two means 10 percent (SBP) or 13 percent (standard) App Store commission plus 5 percent CTC on external sales, with full Apple services access. It fits apps with a balanced App Store + external mix.

Does the Small Business Program still work after the CTC change?

Yes, unchanged on standard terms. Under the standard App Store agreement, the Small Business Program still charges 15 percent commission for developers under $1M annual proceeds. CTC does not apply. Nothing changed for most indie developers on January 1, 2026. SBP also applies under EU alternative Tier Two (reducing App Store commission from 13 to 10 percent), but not under Tier One (which is already 0 percent App Store).

How much does an external payment link setup actually cost in operational overhead?

For a $10K MRR indie app, realistic operational cost is $100-300 per month. That covers payment processor fees (Stripe at 2.9% + fixed, Paddle at 5% with VAT handling), refund and chargeback handling (Apple handles this on IAP, you handle it externally), monthly CTC reporting to Apple, and customer support for users who pay outside the App Store. At $100K MRR, ops cost climbs to $1K-3K per month. At enterprise scale ($500K+ MRR), dedicated ops staff.

Do external payment links convert as well as in-app Apple IAP?

No. Apple mandates a disclosure sheet before external links that tells users they are leaving the App Store and Apple cannot help if something goes wrong. This sheet cannot be styled and drops conversion 10 to 25 percent typically. So the effective commission difference is smaller than the nominal rates suggest. Factor this into your math when deciding whether to opt in; many apps find they save gross commission but lose more revenue to the conversion drop.

Apple Core Technology Commission 2026: Indie iOS Developer Decision Guide

Q: Does The Swift Kit support both standard App Store and EU alternative terms?

Yes. The Swift Kit ships StoreKit 2 plus RevenueCat pre-wired for standard terms with Small Business Program support as the default. When you want to add external payment links under EU alternative terms, the RevenueCat integration already supports external purchase reporting (so CTC calculation is automatic in your RevenueCat dashboard), Apple-compliant disclosure sheet UI, and regional routing so EU users see external offers while non-EU users see in-app purchase. Toggle in config.

On January 1, 2026, Apple's old Core Technology Fee (the $0.50-per-install charge that terrified indie developers who feared viral apps) was officially replaced by the Core Technology Commission, or CTC. Structure, math, and decision tree are all different now. This post is the plain-English 2026 guide for indie iOS developers who need to actually decide: stay on standard terms, opt in to EU alternative terms, and whether any of it changes pricing, packaging, or paywall design.

Short version: for most indie iOS developers in the Small Business Program (under $1M annual proceeds), the standard 15% commission on all App Store IAP remains the best deal. The CTC only matters if you both operate in the EU AND want to offer external payment links AND have app revenue large enough that saving Apple's commission on external sales is worth the operational overhead. For the rest of us, the January 1 change is background noise.

What the Core Technology Commission actually is

Apple restructured EU fees at the start of 2026 in response to both the Digital Markets Act and ongoing developer complaints about the original Core Technology Fee. The headline changes that took effect January 1, 2026:

Core Technology Fee is gone. The $0.50 per first annual install above the 1 million threshold is no longer charged.
Core Technology Commission replaces it. A percentage-based fee on external sales made through your app under EU alternative terms.
Two tiers introduced. Tier One (entry) and Tier Two (full services). You pick one when you accept the EU alternative addendum.
Small Business Program still applies on standard terms. Nothing changes for developers under $1M annual proceeds who stay on the default App Store agreement.

Tier One vs Tier Two explained

The choice only matters if you opt in to EU alternative terms. On standard App Store terms you pay the same 15% (SBP) or 30% commission you always did, and this whole section is irrelevant.

Dimension	Tier One	Tier Two
App Store commission	0% on App Store IAP	10% (SBP) or 13% (standard)
Core Technology Commission on external sales	5%	5%
Apple services access	Basic (App Review, core APIs)	Full (Search Ads promo, Guided Access, etc.)
Who it fits	Apps selling almost entirely via external links	Apps with balanced App Store + external mix
Operational overhead	High (you build payment, tax, refunds)	Medium (Apple still handles App Store side)

The decision tree

Honest flowchart for an indie iOS developer in 2026.

Question 1: Do you sell in the EU? If no, stop reading, none of this applies. Stay on standard terms.
Question 2: Is your annual proceeds over $1M? If no, you qualify for the Small Business Program at 15 percent standard commission, which is the best deal for low-volume apps. Staying on standard terms is usually correct.
Question 3: Would external payment links meaningfully improve your economics?External payment means you handle tax, refunds, chargebacks, support, and payment processor fees (typically 2.9% + fixed). Net savings vs the 15% Apple SBP rate is typically 8-11 percentage points. For a $10K MRR app, that is $800 per month gross. After the operational cost of running external payments, you net maybe $300-500 per month.
Question 4: Are you over $1M annual proceeds? Standard terms are now 30 percent, not 15. External payments save you 22-24 percentage points. At $5M annual revenue the absolute savings are enough to hire an ops person. Here the CTC opt-in often pays off.
Question 5: Is most of your revenue already external (web-signed-up subscribers)?If you run a hybrid product where the web drives most subscriptions and iOS is a companion, Tier One with its 0% App Store commission makes sense. You pay CTC only on the small fraction of users who pay through iOS.

Real-money fee math at three revenue levels

Concrete numbers for three common indie iOS scenarios. Assumes 100 percent EU revenue for clarity (in reality most indies have 30-40 percent EU exposure).

Scenario	Standard SBP (15%)	Tier Two + 50% external (~11.5%)	Tier One + 100% external (~7.5%)
$1K MRR	$150/mo to Apple	$115/mo to Apple + $0-50 ops cost	$75/mo to Apple + $150-300 ops cost
$10K MRR	$1,500/mo to Apple	$1,150/mo + $100-300 ops	$750/mo + $500-1,000 ops
$100K MRR	$15,000/mo (now 30% above $1M/yr)	$11,500/mo + $1K-3K ops	$7,500/mo + $3K-8K ops
$500K MRR	$150,000/mo (30%)	$57,500/mo + $5K-15K ops	$37,500/mo + $15K-40K ops

The arithmetic reveals the break-even: Tier Two + external starts paying off somewhere between $10K and $30K MRR. Tier One rarely beats standard SBP until you are above $100K MRR because the ops cost dominates. Big enterprises routinely do Tier One; indie apps rarely should.

Small Business Program + CTC interaction

This is the most-misunderstood piece. The Apple Small Business Program (15% rate for apps under $1M annual proceeds) interacts with CTC in three specific ways:

Standard terms + SBP = 15% commission on all App Store IAP. No CTC applies. This is the default and the right answer for most indie devs. Unchanged in 2026.
EU alternative terms Tier Two + SBP = 10% App Store + 5% CTC on external sales.If you earn $500K annual and opt in to Tier Two under SBP, you pay 10% on App Store revenue and 5% CTC on whatever external sales you promote in the app.
EU alternative terms Tier One = 0% App Store + 5% CTC. SBP rate does not apply to Tier One because Tier One App Store commission is already 0%.

The Apple developer portal tracks your election and applies the right rate per transaction. No manual calculation required. Revenue reports clearly label the rate applied.

External Purchase Link setup if you opt in

Mechanically, if you decide Tier Two with external links is right:

Accept the EU alternative addendum in App Store Connect.
Apply for the External Purchase Link entitlement.
Set up a web checkout (Stripe, Paddle, or similar). For indie apps Paddle is often simpler because it handles EU VAT automatically.
Implement the com.apple.developer.storekit.external-purchase-link entitlement in your Xcode target.
Add the required Apple-mandated disclosure sheet that appears before linking externally.
Report external sales to Apple monthly via the developer portal so CTC can be calculated.
Handle refunds, chargebacks, and support emails yourself for anyone who paid externally.

The Apple-mandated disclosure sheet is non-negotiable and cannot be styled to match your app. It explicitly tells the user they are about to leave the App Store and that Apple cannot help them if something goes wrong. Conversion impact is real; most apps see 10-25% drop at that sheet.

Common mistakes indie devs make

Opting in because YouTubers say to. The fee math rarely justifies the ops cost for apps under $30K MRR. Run your own numbers.
Not accounting for VAT compliance. If you take payment directly in the EU, you are a Merchant of Record for VAT. Paddle and Lemon Squeezy handle this. Stripe does not.
Assuming external links convert as well as in-app IAP. They do not. Expect 10-25% drop at the disclosure sheet.
Forgetting that CTC reporting is monthly. Miss two months and Apple will suspend your external link entitlement. Not a warning, a direct suspension.
Mixing external and in-app offers without clear separation. Apple guidelines require the external offer to be visually distinct from in-app purchase options. Ambiguous paywalls get rejected.

What happens if the DMA changes

The EU and Apple are still negotiating. The CTC structure is Apple's current compliance answer, but the EU has publicly signaled that 5% on external sales is still anti-competitive. Realistic 12-month outlook:

CTC percentage may drop. Plausible the EU pressures Apple to lower the 5% rate, possibly to 3% or even 0% for certain categories.
More services become billable. Apple is testing whether things like Search Ads promotion, certain APIs, or expedited review can carry per-feature fees.
Core commission converges. The gap between standard (30%) and EU alternative could narrow if the EU forces lower standard rates globally.
Ternus era signals. John Ternus takes over as Apple CEO September 1, 2026. No signal yet on whether he will pursue a different EU strategy.

What The Swift Kit ships

The Swift Kit ships StoreKit 2 plus RevenueCat pre-wired for standard terms with Small Business Program support. When and if you want to add external links under EU alternative terms, the RevenueCat integration already supports external purchase reporting so the CTC calculation happens automatically in your RevenueCat dashboard. Compliant disclosure sheet UI and regional routing (EU users see external, non-EU see in-app) are also supported.

$99 one-time, unlimited commercial projects. See every integration on the features page or jump to pricing.

Final recommendation

For most indie iOS developers in 2026, the correct choice is: stay on standard App Store terms, qualify for the Small Business Program at 15%, and ignore CTC entirely. Reassess when your annual proceeds cross $1M (at which point standard commission jumps to 30%) or when your EU revenue share exceeds 40 percent of total. Until then, the CTC is news for larger developers, and your time is better spent on product, marketing, and retention.