

Ask HN: App Store developers -- do you prefer Paid or Free+IAP? - jmduke

I&#x27;m creating a simple app for an under-addressed App Store niche (more as a way to learn iOS development than anything else) and I&#x27;ve spent the past few weeks going back and forth between going paid (likely $2.99) or free+IAP (it&#x27;s essentially modular content, so I&#x27;d be giving around half the content away for free and then groups of additional content for $.99-$1.99).  I&#x27;ve read a lot about free+IAP being the way to go but a surprising amount of top-grossing Apps that aren&#x27;t Games&#x2F;Social are paid-up-front.
======
jankins
One idea is it might not necessarily be either/or -- I'd suggest that you
first release one version, whichever payment model your gut is pulling you
toward. Wait until you have some data, maybe 4-6 months of sales history. If
sales are gangbusters, maybe you'll feel that you've already got the right
sales model. If you have a hunch that sales could be better and that a
different sales model may be a major driver of additional revenue, you can
release another version under the opposite payment model, and observe what
happens to overall sales.

Personally I've preferred the Paid model. I have one app in the store, and the
main driver of revenue increase has come from delivering updates which give
more value to the user, and increasing the price accordingly (monthly revenue
is up 8x on average since a major update & a price increase from 2.99 to
8.99). I haven't taken my own advice above yet, though I have built the IAP
version -- I haven't released it yet because so far other experiments have
been effective in increasing sales and less risky. I recall Marco Arment
mentioned a major source of revenue increase for Instapaper was when he killed
the free version. [1]

[1] [http://www.marco.org/2011/04/28/removed-instapaper-
free](http://www.marco.org/2011/04/28/removed-instapaper-free)

------
tagabek
If you're making an app for a niche audience (ie. Bird Watching Enthusiasts),
make it paid. These are people that are very excited about their interest and
would be happy to give you $2.99 for an app that supports it. I would even
consider raising the price to $4.99+.

If your niche is something that helps people save or make money, charge a lot
more.

------
jordsmi
I feel like it depends on the niche. IAP is the way to go for games or
something with a broad audience that will deal with lots of pirating. If its
more for a certain community who will gladly pay for it then I'd go with paid.

------
danellis
I don't like the bait-and-switch games, but I recently downloaded Avia for
free and paid for the Chromecast feature. That seemed like a good use of IAP.

