Geeknewz exclusive rate map built from Apple's August 18, 2026 Newsroom announcement and the live Changes for apps in the European Union developer support page. Sample math below uses Apple's published percentages; your real bill also depends on taxes, program membership, and how you report alternative payments.
Five calendar days from Saturday morning, Apple's unified EU business terms go live. October 1, 2026 is when the old Core Technology Fee (that €0.50-per-install tax for huge apps) disappears, a flat 5 percent Core Technology Commission takes its place for apps sold outside the App Store, and every developer distributing in the EU is supposed to sit on one set of rules instead of juggling addenda.
If you ship digital goods in Europe, this is the week to pick a lane. The interesting part is not the press language about collaborating with the Commission. It is how the percentages stack once you put real euro amounts next to them.
The rate table, side by side
Apple's own support page lists four main commission stories for EU digital sales. Here they are with the reduced tiers that apply to App Store Small Business, Mini Apps Partner, Video Partner participants, and auto-renewing subscriptions after the first year:
| Where the sale happens | Standard rate | Reduced rate | What it replaces / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| App Store + Apple In-App Purchase | 26% | 15% | Classic IAP path; still the default for many teams |
| App Store + alternative payment inside the app | 20% | 10% | You process the card; Apple still takes a cut |
| App Store + out-of-app offer with an actionable link | 15% | 10% | Only sales within 7 days of the link tap count |
| Alternative marketplace or Web Distribution | 5% CTC | No reduced tier (narrow waiver for small marketplace operators) | Replaces the Core Technology Fee on installs |
That 5 percent CTC applies to paid apps and digital goods or services for use on Apple platforms when you distribute through an alternative marketplace or your own website. It also covers some link-out sales from those channels, again with a seven-day window. You report the transactions; Apple is not processing the payment for you on that path.
Our own math on a €10,000 month
Take €10,000 of EU digital sales in a month (price paid by customers, before you argue about tax treatment). Apple's rates alone would look like this:
| Path | Rate used | Apple commission | You keep (before your own processor fees) |
|---|---|---|---|
| IAP standard | 26% | €2,600 | €7,400 |
| IAP reduced | 15% | €1,500 | €8,500 |
| In-app alternative payment | 20% | €2,000 | €8,000 |
| Link-out (actionable) | 15% | €1,500 | €8,500 |
| Alt marketplace / Web Distribution | 5% CTC | €500 | €9,500 |
Compared with standard IAP, the 5 percent CTC path saves €2,100 on that €10,000 example. The catch is everything that is not in the percentage: notarization, marketplace operator rules, monthly reporting within 15 days, collecting your own taxes, and the fact that App Store discovery and Apple's payment stack are no longer doing that work for you. Geeknewz is not telling you the 5 percent lane is "free money." It is telling you the arithmetic is finally simple enough to model.
The old CTF was a different animal. It charged €0.50 per first annual install above one million worldwide. A hypothetical app that crossed into two million first annual installs owed roughly €500,000 on the million installs past the threshold (1,000,000 × €0.50). Under CTC, that same €500,000 equals 5 percent of €10 million in digital sales outside the App Store. Install scale and revenue scale are no longer taxed the same way, which matters a lot if you are a free-heavy app with huge downloads and thin digital ARPU.
What else changes on October 1
Beyond the percentages, Apple is expanding who can run an alternative marketplace or use Web Distribution. The one-million-install bar is no longer the only door. Public companies, VC-backed startups, audited firms, nonprofits, government entities, Dun & Bradstreet-scored firms, and teams that can post a $1 million stand-by letter of credit can qualify. That is a real widening of the club, even if notarization still sits in front of every alternatively distributed binary.
Developers also get to offer Apple In-App Purchase alongside alternative payment options, which the EU previously treated more awkwardly. You pick your mix and must keep that choice for 12 months. Kids-category and under-18 rules tighten around parental gates for alternative payments. The Alternative Terms Addendum gets superseded by Attachment 14 of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement.
Geeknewz verdict
If most of your EU revenue already runs through IAP and you rely on App Store search, treat October 1 as a paperwork deadline, not a migration day. Sign the updated agreement, confirm which rate tier you actually sit in, and model the 26/20/15/5 ladder against your last quarter of EU digital sales before you rewrite checkout.
If you already sell outside the store, or you are close to marketplace/Web Distribution eligibility under the new criteria, run the €10,000-style math on your real numbers this weekend. The 5 percent CTC is the cleanest outside-store rate Apple has published for the EU, but it only pays off if your own payment stack, support burden, and discovery plan are ready. Geeknewz's view: do the spreadsheet before you celebrate the end of the install fee.