Per-surface monetisation recommendations — what rail to use where
decision
decisionmonetisationper-surfacerecommendationsplaybook
Per-surface monetisation recommendations
Lookup-table view of playbook-no-card-rails.md. Every row is no-card-on-file safe.
Play Store apps (AAB built via PWABuilder/Bubblewrap ? TWA)
| 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.
Microsoft Store apps (MSIX built via PWABuilder)
| 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% |
Chrome Web Store extensions
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% |
Firefox Add-ons (AMO)
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 |
Microsoft Edge Add-ons
Same as AMO — no native payments. Donation-link only. Same three picks.
Web PWA on *.oriz.in (free + Pro tier)
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 |
Books
| 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. |
|
Blog (oriz.in/blog, dev.to, Hashnode, Medium)
| 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 |
Newsletter
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 |
Affiliate (cross-cuts content + tools)
| 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) |
Cross-refs