Short answer: nobody knows exactly — Apple discloses nothing Mac-specific. Here's the most honest picture you can build from public data.
estimate Apple does not break out Mac App Store revenue or app counts. Every Mac-only dollar figure on this page is inferred from Apple's ecosystem-wide disclosures plus third-party survey data — directional, not gospel.
The clearest strategic fact in the data: for Mac developers who sell through more than one channel, the majority of revenue now comes from direct distribution — not the Mac App Store.
Among multi-channel Mac developers · up from 44% direct in 2023. Only ~20% of Mac devs rely on the App Store alone. Source: MacPaw Developer Survey ↗ (~400 respondents).
Direct sellers keep ~100% of revenue (via Paddle / Lemon Squeezy / Stripe) vs. surrendering Apple's commission. A third of devs now find the App Store's cut "unappealing," up from 21% in 2023.
The vast majority of Mac App Store listings are free; paid apps are a thin slice — and the best-known paid utilities are largely sold off-store.
Most Mac developers also build for other platforms. Genuinely Mac-focused, native developers are a minority — which is part of why the niche is less crowded.
Hard data is rare — most studios are private. Every figure below is something a developer or company has publicly disclosed, and each row links to its source.
| App / developer | Disclosed figure | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astropad · Mac + iPad | ~$200K / month (~$2.4M/yr) | 2020 | Starter Story ↗ |
| Screen Studio · 3-person team | ~$30K / month · 8,000 customers in 9 mo | 2023 | Starter Story ↗ |
| Sensei · Cindori, solo | ~$300K revenue (sold direct via Paddle) | 2021 | Indie Hackers ↗ |
| Xnapper · Tony Dinh | ~$4–6K MRR → sold for $150K | 2024 | Founder newsletter ↗ |
| Black Magic · Tony Dinh | $14K MRR → sold for $128K | 2023 | Founder newsletter ↗ |
| CleanShot X | ~$100K / yr (pre-MacPaw) | 2019 | BoringCashCow ↗ |
| RocketSim · Antoine van der Lee | ~$4.5K MRR (Xcode dev tool) | 2024 | SwiftLee ↗ |
| DisplayBuddy | ~$1.5K MRR · 800+ customers | 2023 | Starter Story ↗ |
| menuBUS · audio utility | ~$1K / month | 2018 | Indie Hackers ↗ |
| Project Tapestry · Iconfactory | $177,840 crowdfunded · 3,369 backers | 2024 | MacStories ↗ |
Lands around $1–8K / month — solid and sustainable, but a lifestyle business.
Sold direct, can reach ~$200K–$2.4M / year (Sensei, Astropad). The ceiling rises with subscriptions or a multi-app studio.
The one large player in Mac software. These are company- or press-stated figures — not aggregator estimates.
| Figure | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|
| MacPaw revenue exceeded $23M | 2018 | Entrepreneur ↗ |
| CleanMyMac made ~$4K in its first month | 2008 | Entrepreneur ↗ |
| MacPaw software runs on ~1 in 5 Macs · 30M+ users | 2019+ | Entrepreneur ↗ |
| Setapp ~$1.5M ARR · 12.5K paying / 200K+ trials · 101 apps | 2017 | 9to5Mac ↗ |
| Setapp 15,000 subscribers (one year in) | 2018 | TechCrunch ↗ |
| Setapp 1M users · 160+ apps (Teams launch) | 2019 | MacRumors ↗ |
| Setapp catalogue 250+ Mac apps | 2024 | Wikipedia ↗ |
| Keyboard Maestro — first Kagi vendor past $1M | milestone | Wikipedia ↗ |
note Aggregator sites quote MacPaw at ~$35M (2025) and Setapp at higher ARR, but those lack a traceable primary source, so they're omitted here.
One large company and a long tail of tiny, beloved studios — with surprisingly little in between.
MacPaw (CleanMyMac, Setapp, Gemini) — ~500 staff, with disclosed revenue past $23M back in 2018src and growing since. Increasingly subscription/SaaS-driven rather than a pure one-time-license shop.
Rogue Amoeba, Bjango, Bare Bones, Many Tricks (literally two people), Stairways, folivora — 1–8 person, bootstrapped, profitable, and often 20–30 years durable.