Monetisation playbook — only rails that do NOT require a card on file
Monetisation playbook — only rails that do NOT require a card on file
The hard constraint: no recurring auto-debit card stored anywhere on our side. One-time prepaid fees are fine (Play $25, CWS $5). Bank-only payout rails are fine. KYC with PAN + bank is fine. UPI-autopay mandate (consent per debit) is fine.
Everything below is filtered against that rule. Card-required = YES rows are listed only for completeness with a "DO NOT USE" tag.
1. App store rails (one-time install / paid app / IAP)
| Rail | Card on file? | Setup fee | Cut | Region | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Play — dev account | NO (one-time $25, debit card OK, no recurring) | $25 lifetime | n/a | Global | Pay $25 once via debit/credit. No yearly renewal. | Play Console help |
| Google Play — paid app + IAP + subs | NO (payout via wire to bank; need PAN + bank only) | $0 extra | 15% (under $1M/yr), 30% above | Global | Merchant payouts to Indian bank via wire from US. No card-on-file. | Play merchant bank info |
| Google Play Billing in TWA (Bubblewrap/PWABuilder) | NO | included | included | Global | Works for one-time IAP + base subs via Digital Goods API + Payment Request API. Caveat: multi-base-plan subs are NOT supported in TWA — only the default base plan resolves. Use one-time IAP + one default sub. | chromeos/pwa-play-billing, Stack Overflow |
| AdMob in PWA-TWA | NO (payout-only) | $0 | Google takes ad rev share | Global | Officially unsupported via Web AdSense JS inside TWA (policy risk: "ads as a result of any action of a software application"). Use AdMob native SDK only if you eject from TWA ? native; otherwise stick to AdSense on the apex web app. | r/PWA discussion |
| Microsoft Store — individual dev | NO | $0 (fee removed Sept 2025) | n/a | Global | Microsoft removed the $19 individual fee in Sept 2025. | MS Learn, Extremetech |
| Microsoft Store — paid apps + IAP + subs | NO | $0 | 0% if you bring your own commerce (non-gaming); 12% if MS commerce | Global | "Choose your own commerce platform and keep 100% of the revenue for non-gaming apps." Or use MS commerce for built-in IAP/subs/ads/tips. | MS Learn — get-started |
| Chrome Web Store — dev fee | NO (one-time $5) | $5 lifetime | n/a | Global | Already paid per existing knowledge. | n/a |
| Chrome Web Store — paid extensions | DEAD (deprecated Feb 2020) | n/a | n/a | n/a | DO NOT USE. CWS Payments shut down. Use external license-key + Gumroad/LS/Razorpay for paid extensions; or donation link from listing. | The Verge 2020, Chromium groups |
| Mozilla AMO (Firefox) | NO | $0 | n/a | Global | Free to publish. Cannot charge on AMO. "Contribute" button on listing links to your donation provider. | Firefox Extension Workshop |
| Microsoft Edge Add-ons | NO | $0 | n/a | Global | Free dev account, free to publish. No native paid store. | MS Learn — Edge register |
2. Web payment rails (PWA on *.oriz.in)
| Rail | Card on file? | Setup fee | Cut | Region | KYC shape | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Razorpay (Payment Pages, no-code) | NO | $0 | 2% domestic / 3% intl (transaction fee, not subscription) | India primary; intl card accept | PAN + Aadhaar + bank proof; no card-on-file | Razorpay Payment Pages, Razorpay KYC docs |
| Lemon Squeezy | NO at signup ("no card required") | $0 | 5% + 50¢ | Global; MoR handles VAT | KYC + identity verify required before activation | LS help — sign up free, no card, LS verify identity |
| Paddle | NO at signup; identity check (sole-trader OK) | $0 | 5% + 50¢ (default) | Global; MoR | Sole-trader path: individual identity verification, no business reg required. Some solo founders rejected — pre-flight test recommended. | Paddle identity verification, Paddle sole-trader Reddit |
| Polar.sh | NO ("free signup, no credit card required") | $0 | 4% + 40¢ | Global; MoR | GitHub OAuth + bank/payout setup | Polar docs |
| Gumroad | NO ("no credit card or monthly fee is required to get started") | $0 | 10% flat | Global | PayPal or Stripe Connect for payout | Gumroad signup overview |
| Ko-fi | NO | $0 | 0% on tips (creator's PayPal/Stripe fees only); 5% on Gold features | Global | Direct PayPal OR Stripe Connect; no Ko-fi-side card | Ko-fi how I get paid |
| Buy Me a Coffee | NO | $0 | 5% on transactions | Global (Stripe-supported countries) | Stripe Connect Standard; payouts every Wednesday | BMC payouts setup |
| GitHub Sponsors | NO | $0 | 0% (GitHub waives) | Global (Stripe Connect Express, 30+ countries incl. India) | Bank account in same region as residence | GitHub Sponsors docs, r/developersIndia |
| Liberapay | NO (recurring tips, no cards from creator side) | $0 | 0% platform | Global; SEPA-friendly for EU | Email-only signup; payout via Stripe/PayPal/Wise | Liberapay sign-up |
| Open Collective | NO | $0 | 5-10% via fiscal host | Global | Fiscal-host-based; public ledger | (existing knowledge) |
| PayPal.me / UPI Direct QR / Crypto address | NO | $0 | 0% (PayPal F&F + UPI free; crypto = network fee) | Global / India / Global | Personal accounts only | (existing knowledge) |
| Patreon | NO (creator side); members pay with cards | $0 | 5–12% + processing | Global; Stripe/PayPal/Payoneer | Payoneer alt-payout for non-US | Patreon payouts |
| Substack (paid newsletter) | NO | $0 | 10% + Stripe (2.9% + 30¢ + 0.7% billing fee) | Global | Stripe Connect | Substack pricing |
3. Book channels
| Rail | Card on file? | Royalty | Region | KYC | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leanpub | NO | 80% minus 50¢ above $7.99 | Global | PayPal min $20 OR Wise min $100 payout | Leanpub royalties |
| Gumroad | NO | 90% (10% Gumroad fee) | Global | PayPal/Stripe Connect | (above) |
| Amazon KDP | NO | 35-70% depending on price band | Global (India: wire to local bank) | Tax interview (PAN for India) + bank | KDP India guide, KDP when paid |
| Google Play Books Partner Centre | NO | 70% | Global | Same payments profile as Play Console | (existing) |
| Draft2Digital (aggregator ? B&N, Kobo, Scribd, etc.) | NO | ~60% net (channel-dependent) | Global | EIN/PAN + bank or PayPal | (existing knowledge) |
| Apple Books | SKIP | n/a | n/a | requires Mac + $99/yr ADP recurring = card-on-file | per ios-pwa-only-no-mac memory |
4. Affiliate networks
| Network | Card on file? | Setup | Region | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Associates (.in + .com) | NO | PAN + bank for IN; ITIN/SSN for .com (or W-8BEN) | Both | Book pages, tools-site reviews, scribe-text reviews |
| Cuelinks | NO | PAN + bank | India aggregator | India-targeted content sites (cards-site, paisa-finance) |
| Skimlinks | NO | Bank payout via Tipalti | Global aggregator | Blog content, journal-site |
| Impact Radius | NO | Tax form + bank | Global | Brand-direct affiliate (specific SaaS) |
Source for Cuelinks-as-India-affiliate-route: Geniuslink guide.
5. Cards-required (DO NOT USE)
Listed once so future prompts don't re-suggest them:
| Service | Why excluded |
|---|---|
| Apple Developer Program | $99/yr recurring; requires card on file. Also need Mac. |
| Firebase Blaze | Card on file mandatory. See firebase-spark-forever. |
| X API Basic ($100+/mo) | Recurring card. |
| Stripe direct subscriptions (without an MoR wrapper) | Operationally fine, but we have no entity ? MoR via LS/Paddle/Polar handles VAT for us; Stripe direct dumps the burden on us. |
| Vercel Pro / Sentry Team / any paid SaaS dev tier | Recurring. See no-subscriptions-anywhere. |
6. UNKNOWNs — pre-flight test before relying on
| Item | Why UNKNOWN | Test |
|---|---|---|
| Paddle for Indian sole proprietor with no GST/no entity | Reddit reports inconsistent — some accepted, some rejected | Sign up and run identity verification before announcing; have LS as fallback |
| Lemon Squeezy KYC for Indian individual | KYC review is per-merchant manual; published policy says "individuals welcome" but India + no-entity is a thin case | Sign up, submit ID, see whether KYC clears within 7 days |
| Google Play subscription multi-base-plans in TWA | StackOverflow says base-plan selection unsupported in TWA | Use single-base-plan subs only; reject the feature if real product needs >1 base plan |
7. Lowest-friction picks per surface
(See per-surface-recommendations.md for the full per-surface breakdown.)
Top-3 per surface, ranked:
- Play Store AAB (PWA via PWABuilder) ? one-time paid app · one-time IAP (Pro unlock ?99) · single-base-plan sub via Play Billing in TWA
- Microsoft Store MSIX ? free app + own-commerce link to Razorpay/LS · MS Store IAP (12%) · paid app
- Chrome Web Store extension ? free + Razorpay donation link · free + Gumroad license-key for Pro · free + Ko-fi link
- AMO (Firefox) ? free + Liberapay button · free + Ko-fi button · free + GitHub Sponsors button
- Edge Add-ons ? same as AMO
- Web PWA on
*.oriz.in? Razorpay Payment Pages (IN) · Lemon Squeezy (RoW) · Polar.sh (OSS) — already locked bymax-payment-methods - Books ? Leanpub (git push, 80% royalty) · Gumroad (10% cut, instant payout) · Amazon KDP (reach)
- Blog / newsletter ? Substack 10% (paid tier on demand) · Ko-fi monthly Gold · Liberapay recurring tip
- Affiliate ? Amazon Associates (IN + .com) · Cuelinks (India aggregator) · Skimlinks (global)
8. Reconciliation notes against existing files
Read but NOT edited — these contradictions flagged for user reconciliation:
revenue-channels-2026.mdlistsMicrosoft Store cut: 12%. Update: Microsoft now allows 0% cut if you bring your own commerce platform for non-gaming apps. The 12% only applies if you use MS commerce. ? may want to switch to "bring own commerce" via Razorpay/LS link to keep 100%.revenue-channels-2026.mdlistsChrome Web Store: 5% Google fee. Update: CWS Payments were fully shut down in 2020 — no in-store paid extensions are possible. 5% is no longer a valid cut. ? External license-key flow only.razorpay-as-primary-billing.mdlists fallback order:Stripe ? Lemon Squeezy ? Paddle. Conflict: Stripe direct dumps VAT burden on us with no entity. Recommend fallback order be:Lemon Squeezy ? Paddle ? Polar.sh(all MoR). Stripe direct is incompatible with no-entity + no-card-on-file posture.monetisation-channel-matrix.mdis consistent with this playbook.no-subscriptions-anywhere.md— user-facing subs (Free/Pro/Ultra/Max) are explicitly allowed; this playbook only covers HOW to charge for them, not whether to.