# Is the Apple Developer Program Worth It for Mac Apps? (2026) Canonical page: https://macbase.app/blog/is-apple-developer-program-worth-it **Quick answer:** Yes, for most Mac developers. The $99 a year Apple Developer Program gets you Developer ID signing and notarization, without which Gatekeeper blocks your app on first launch, and since macOS Sequoia people have to allow it in System Settings. It also lets you sell in the Mac App Store and includes TestFlight, 25 Xcode Cloud hours a month, up to 1 PB of CloudKit storage per app and 500,000 WeatherKit calls a month. Skip it only for a free, open source app used by developers. Is the $99 Apple Developer Program worth it for a Mac app? What it includes, from notarization to Xcode Cloud and CloudKit, with Apple's limits and my verdict. Development, Nov 4, 2026, by Atta 🐬. Apple charges $99 a year for its Developer Program, and most people know it as the price of getting into the App Store. It includes a lot more than that, and most of it gets overlooked. On the Mac, the answer to whether it's worth it is different from the iPhone. Most of the apps on [MacBase](https://macbase.app/) aren't in the Mac App Store at all, and for them the $99 buys one thing above everything else: an app that opens without a warning. I've shipped three Mac apps since September, [Flit](https://macbase.app/apps/flit), [Vitals](https://macbase.app/apps/vitals) and [Levers](https://macbase.app/apps/levers), all sold from my own site and none of them in the Mac App Store. So here is what the membership gets you on the Mac, with Apple's own numbers, and which parts you'll actually use. | What you get | Apple's limit | For a Mac app | |---|---|---| | Developer ID and notarization | Included | The main reason to pay | | Mac App Store | 15% or 30% of sales | Yes, if your app can be sandboxed | | TestFlight | 10,000 external testers | Yes, for Mac App Store builds | | Xcode Cloud | 25 compute hours a month | Yes | | CloudKit | Up to 1 PB of storage per app | Yes | | WeatherKit | 500,000 calls a month | Yes, on macOS 13 or later | | Apple-hosted Background Assets | Up to 200 GB | For apps with big downloads | | MapKit JS | 250,000 map views a day | For your website | | Offer codes | 1 million redemptions a quarter | For App Store purchases | | Product page tests, custom pages, in-app events | 3 tests, 70 pages, 10 events | iPhone and iPad only | All the limits come from Apple's pages, read on 4 November 2026. The membership costs $99 a year in the US, or the local price where there is one, and nonprofits, schools and government bodies can ask Apple to waive the fee. ## Developer ID and notarization This is why most Mac developers pay. When someone downloads your app from your site, Gatekeeper checks it before it opens. A [Developer ID certificate](https://developer.apple.com/developer-id/) tells it who made the app, and notarization means Apple has checked it for malicious software. Only the Account Holder of a membership can create the certificate, so there's no way to do this without paying. Without it, macOS won't open the app the first time. Since macOS Sequoia, people can't Control-click their way past the warning anymore, [as Apple put it](https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=saqachfa). They have to go to System Settings, then Privacy & Security, and allow the app there. Most people won't, and many will assume something is wrong with it. Notarizing is quick once it's set up. Sign the app with your Developer ID, upload it with `xcrun notarytool`, and staple the ticket with `xcrun stapler`. It works with ZIP, PKG and DMG files. It matters outside your own site too: - **Homebrew's main list** only accepts apps that [pass Gatekeeper](https://docs.brew.sh/Acceptable-Casks). - **MacBase** lists an app downloaded from the web only once it's notarized, and every listing shows it. - **Reviewers and press** will try your app, and a warning on first launch is a bad start. ## One deadline to know: February 1, 2027 The authority Apple first used to issue Developer ID certificates [expires on February 1, 2027](https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=w4atic4c), and every certificate it issued stops working that day. - **Installer packages** (.pkg) signed with one of those certificates won't install after that date, including the ones already out there. Re-sign them before then. - **Apps** you've already signed, notarized and timestamped keep opening, so there's nothing to do for those. Sign your next update with a new certificate. To check yours, open the certificate in Keychain Access, expand Issuer Name and look at Organizational Unit. "Apple Certification Authority" means it needs replacing, and "G2" means it's fine. Create the replacement in Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles and choose **G2 Sub-CA** when asked, following [Apple's steps](https://developer.apple.com/help/account/certificates/replace-developer-id-certificates/). Certificates from G2 last a year, so you'll renew yours every year from now on. ## The Mac App Store Membership lets you sell in the Mac App Store, where people buy with one click and Apple's editors can feature you. Apple takes 15% under its [Small Business Program](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program/), for developers under $1 million in proceeds, and 30% above that. Your app has to be sandboxed, which rules out many utilities. An app that reads other apps' processes or controls the system often can't be sandboxed, so check before you plan on the store. ## TestFlight [TestFlight](https://developer.apple.com/testflight/) works on the Mac for apps built with Xcode 13 or later. You can add up to 100 people from your team and invite up to 10,000 external testers. Each build lasts 90 days, and you can share up to 100 builds. It's for apps going through App Store Connect. If you sell from your own site, you'll more likely hand testers a notarized build directly. ## Xcode Cloud [Xcode Cloud](https://developer.apple.com/xcode-cloud/) builds and tests your app on Apple's machines, and the membership includes 25 compute hours a month. More costs $49.99 a month for 100 hours, up to $3,999.99 for 10,000. 25 hours goes a long way for one small app. If you'd otherwise build releases by hand on your own Mac, it's worth setting up. ## CloudKit [CloudKit](https://developer.apple.com/icloud/cloudkit/) gives each app up to 1 PB of free storage for its public data. Private data is stored in each person's own iCloud account, so it doesn't count against yours. It syncs across the Mac, iPhone, iPad and the web. For a Mac app that syncs settings or documents between someone's devices, that means no server to run and no bill for it. ## WeatherKit [WeatherKit](https://developer.apple.com/weatherkit/get-started/) includes 500,000 calls a month, and works on macOS 13 or later. More starts at $49.99 a month for 1 million calls. Unused calls don't carry over to the next month. A menu bar weather app could run on the free calls for a long time. ## Apple-hosted Background Assets Membership includes up to 200 GB of Apple-hosted Background Assets. These are files your app downloads after it's installed, like game levels or models, served by Apple instead of by you. Most Mac utilities won't need it, but for a game or an app that ships large models, it saves paying for hosting. ## MapKit JS and Maps snapshots These are for the web, not your app. [MapKit JS](https://developer.apple.com/maps/web/) includes 250,000 map views and 25,000 service calls a day, and Maps snapshots, which are static map images, include 25,000 requests a day. If your app's website needs a map, you have Apple Maps for free. ## Offer codes Offer codes let people redeem a free or discounted subscription or In-App Purchase. Apple allows up to 1 million redemptions per app per quarter, shared across all of the app's subscriptions and purchases. They're for purchases made through the App Store, so they don't help if you sell licenses from your own site. ## The App Store page tools are for iPhone and iPad Apple also has three tools for your App Store page: - **Product page tests**, up to three versions against your original, for up to 90 days. - **Custom product pages**, up to 70 per app. - **In-app events**, up to 10 shown on the App Store at once. They're useful, but Apple describes all three for the App Store on iPhone and iPad, and doesn't list the Mac App Store. If your Mac app also has an iPhone version, you can use them there. ## The rest Membership also gets you code-level help from Apple's engineers. It covers capabilities like Sign in with Apple, push notifications, In-App Purchase, and System Extensions with DriverKit, which apps that work closely with the Mac sometimes need. Beta versions of macOS and the developer forums are free to anyone with an Apple Account. ## When it isn't worth it If your app is free and open source, and the people using it build it themselves or are happy to allow it in System Settings, you can skip it. Plenty of open source Mac apps do. The cost shows up later. Every new user meets the warning, you can't get into Homebrew's main list, and directories that check for notarization won't list you. Once you want people who aren't developers to use your app, $99 a year is cheap. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can I notarize a Mac app without paying? No. Notarization needs a Developer ID certificate, and only the Account Holder of a paid membership can create one. Without it, you can still build the app and give it to people, but macOS will warn them before it opens. ### Is there a free Apple developer account? Yes. Registering with your Apple Account is free. It lets you download Xcode and beta versions of macOS, use the developer forums, and build and run apps on your own Mac. It doesn't let you sign apps with a Developer ID, notarize them or sell them in the App Store. ### Do I need it to sell a Mac app from my own site? Not to take payments, since stores like Paddle or Lemon Squeezy handle that without Apple. But people won't get past the first launch easily without it, so in practice you need it to sell to anyone who isn't a developer. ### Is the $99 a one-time fee? No, it's $99 every year. If it lapses, apps you've already signed with your Developer ID keep working for the people who have them. You can't sign new versions, notarize or sell in the App Store until you renew. ### Should I enroll as an individual or an organization? As an individual, your own legal name is shown as the seller in the App Store. As an organization, your company's name is shown, but it has to be a legal entity with a D-U-N-S number and a website, and Apple doesn't accept trade names. If you want your company's name on the store, enroll as an organization from the start. ### Does the Mac App Store cost extra? No. The same membership covers the App Store on the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple's other platforms. Apple's cut of sales, 15% or 30%, comes out of what you earn there. ### Can students get it for free? Not as individuals. Apple waives the fee for nonprofits, accredited schools and universities, and government bodies, but not for individual students. Students can use a free account to learn, and pay when they want to ship. ## So, is it worth it? For me, notarization alone is worth the $99. Flit, Vitals and Levers are all sold from my own site, and none of them could be if Gatekeeper blocked them on first launch. I don't use CloudKit or WeatherKit in any of them yet, so everything else on the list is a bonus. So the answer for most Mac developers is yes. Pay for it the week you want someone else to use your app, notarize every build, and look through the list above before you pay for a server or a service Apple already includes. If you've made a Mac app, you can [list it on MacBase](https://macbase.app/submit) for free.