type: decision
status: active
timestamp: 2026-06-22
tags: [decision, monetisation, per-surface, recommendations, playbook]

Per-surface monetisation recommendations — what rail to use where

Payment rail per distribution surface (Play, MS Store, web, etc.)

Per-surface monetisation recommendations

Lookup-table view of playbook-no-card-rails.md. Every row is no-card-on-file safe.

Pick	Rail	Why	Cut
Primary	One-time paid app + one-time IAP “Pro unlock” via Play Billing in TWA	Native to Play, no external checkout to maintain, refunds handled by Google	15% (under $1M/yr)
2nd	Free app + single-base-plan subscription via Play Billing (Digital Goods API in TWA)	Recurring revenue without needing our own MoR	15%
3rd	Free app + AdSense on the underlying web PWA + Play just as a distribution shell	Avoids AdMob-in-TWA policy risk; ad rev comes from `*.oriz.in` traffic	AdSense rev share

Hard caveat: multi-base-plan subscriptions are not supported in TWA — keep one base plan per product.

Pick	Rail	Why	Cut
Primary	Free app + external link to Razorpay/LS for Pro unlock (BYO commerce)	Keep 100% non-gaming revenue; MS only takes a cut if we use MS commerce	0%
2nd	MS Store IAP for IN-app one-time unlock	Native UX, one purchase = one MSFT account licence	12%
3rd	Paid app via MS commerce	Simpler than IAP if no free tier needed	12%

CWS Payments shut down in 2020 — no in-store paid extensions possible.

Pick	Rail	Why	Cut
Primary	Free + Razorpay/LS license-key on extension’s website + extension validates via API	Same flow as the rest of the family; reuses keygen.sh fulfilment	2-5% transaction fee
2nd	Free + Gumroad license-key product link	Lower friction for global buyers; Gumroad handles checkout + tax	10%
3rd	Free + Ko-fi/BMC donation link on options page	For extensions that don’t justify a paid tier	0-5%

AMO does not support paid extensions natively. Add a “Contribute” button to the listing pointing to your donation provider.

Pick	Rail	Why
Primary	Liberapay button (0% platform, recurring)	Aligns with FLOSS ethos; Mozilla-friendly
2nd	Ko-fi (tips + Gold tier)	Wider audience awareness
3rd	GitHub Sponsors	Already wired for the rest of the family

Same as AMO — no native payments. Donation-link only. Same three picks.

Already locked by max-payment-methods.md. Quick re-statement:

Pick	Rail	Why
Primary (IN buyer)	Razorpay Payment Pages	UPI + cards + netbanking + wallets; no-code hosted pages
Primary (RoW buyer)	Lemon Squeezy	MoR handles VAT for no-entity seller
OSS sponsor (any geo)	Polar.sh	4% + 40¢; GitHub-native
Donations grid	GH Sponsors + Ko-fi + BMC + Liberapay + Open Collective + PayPal.me + UPI QR + crypto	Maximum donor choice

Pick	Rail	Why	Cut
Primary	Leanpub (git push from manuscript repo)	80% royalty, lifetime updates, MEAP-style early access	20% + 50¢
2nd	Gumroad	Instant payout, weekly Friday transfer; same checkout as Pro-tier app unlocks	10%
3rd	Amazon KDP	Reach + discoverability; pays via wire to Indian bank in INR	30%
Fan-out	Draft2Digital ? B&N/Kobo/Scribd	Single upload ? multiple stores	~40% (channel-dependent)
Skip	Apple Books	Requires Mac + $99/yr ADP = card-on-file. Hard blocked.

Pick	Rail	Why
Primary	AdSense on apex web app	Already approved per `adsense-apex-application`
2nd	Affiliate inline (Amazon Associates / Cuelinks / Skimlinks where TOS allows)	Per `monetisation-channel-matrix.md`
3rd	Substack newsletter capture ? paid tier 10% cut	Long-form readers self-select into paid digest

Single Substack for the family per newsletter-substack.md.

Pick	Rail	Why
Primary	Substack free tier; flip on paid tier when there’s >1k subs	10% Substack + Stripe fee; no upfront cost
2nd	Ko-fi Gold monthly tier	Same audience; lower platform fee at 5%
3rd	Liberapay weekly/monthly tips	For donors who hate cards

Pick	Rail	Best for
Primary	Amazon Associates (.in + .com)	Book recommendations, scribe-text, paisa-finance
2nd	Cuelinks	India e-commerce/finance (cards-site, paisa-finance)
3rd	Skimlinks	Global outbound links on blog content
4th	Impact Radius	Direct-brand SaaS affiliate (when specific tool wanted)