Food & Drink Apps: Revenue, Downloads and Monetization Statistics
TrendApps Research · updated September 11, 2026 · 2,224 apps
TrendApps tracks 2,224 Food & Drink apps across the App Store and Google Play. 8.5% of them earn more than $1,000 a month, below the 18.3% rate across all categories. Among Food & Drink apps that earn, the median is $10k a month. Free Food & Drink apps with IAP earn 18.1% of the time. Store revenue only; advertising income is not included, so ad-supported apps show as not earning here.
- 8.5%
- of Food & Drink apps earn $1k+ a month
- $10k
- median among earners
- 18.1%
- of free + IAP apps earn $1k+
- $1.20
- median revenue per download
How many Food & Drink apps make money?
- Earn more than $1k/month189 apps
- At or below the $1k floor2,035 apps
Bar = 25th to 90th percentile · dot = median
188 of the 2,224 tracked Food & Drink apps earn more than $1,000 a month from store sales and IAP. That is 8.5% of the category. Among those earners, a quarter make $7k or less and a quarter make $30k or more. The top 10% of Food & Drink earners clear $80k a month.
Revenue estimates below $1,000 sit at a floor, so "earning" means clearing that line. The comparison against all categories tells you whether Food & Drink is a category where store purchases are a normal way to pay, or one where users expect everything free.
Data table
| Percentile (earning apps) | Monthly revenue |
|---|---|
| 25th | $7k |
| 50th (median) | $10k |
| 75th | $30k |
| 90th | $80k |
Food & Drink apps: iOS vs Android
Bar = 25th to 90th percentile · dot = median
iOS Food & Drink apps earn more than $1,000 a month 9.7% of the time. Android Food & Drink apps earn 6.6% of the time. Among earners, the iOS median is $10k a month. The Android median is $10k. Android Food & Drink apps pass 1,000 monthly downloads 27.0% of the time, against 21.8% on iOS.
Read the two rows together: the earning rate tells you where a Food & Drink app is more likely to make anything, the median tells you where the earners are larger. Across the whole catalogue Android earns slightly more often and iOS earns more per app; the category-level split above is the one that should decide your first platform.
Data table
| iOS | Android | |
|---|---|---|
| Apps tracked | 1,318 | 906 |
| Earn $1k+/month | 9.7% | 6.6% |
| Median revenue (earners) | $10k | $10k |
| Pass 1k downloads/month | 21.8% | 27.0% |
| Median revenue per download | $1.33 | $0.90 |
Free vs paid Food & Drink apps
- Free + IAP1,023 · 46.0%
- Paid + IAP66 · 3.0%
- Paid, no IAP624 · 28.1%
- Free, no IAP511 · 23.0%
1,023 Food & Drink apps are free with IAP, and 18.1% of them earn more than $1,000 a month. 624 are paid with nothing to buy inside, and 0.5% of those earn. When a free-with-IAP Food & Drink app earns, the median is $10k a month.
A free Food & Drink app with no IAP has no way to earn store revenue, so its row reflects ads that this data cannot see, not failure. The fair comparison is between the models that sell something through the store.
Data table
| Model | Apps | Earn $1k+/mo | Median (earners) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free + IAP | 1,023 | 18.1% | $10k |
| Paid + IAP | 66 | 0.0% | — |
| Paid, no IAP | 624 | 0.5% | $10k |
| Free, no IAP | 511 | 0.0% | — |
Ratings and revenue in Food & Drink
- Under 100 ratings701 · 43.8%
- 100 – 1k308 · 19.2%
- 1k – 10k227 · 14.2%
- 10k – 100k214 · 13.4%
- 100k+151 · 9.4%
Food & Drink apps with fewer than 100 ratings earn more than $1,000 a month 3.4% of the time. With between 1,000 and 10,000 ratings, 26.4% earn. With more than 100,000 ratings, 7.3% earn.
Rating count is the public signal of whether a Food & Drink app has found its audience. Use it on competitors' store pages: the bands above convert a rating count into the probability that the app is clearing $1,000 a month.
Data table
| Ratings count | Apps | Earn $1k+/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Under 100 ratings | 701 | 3.4% |
| 100 – 1k | 308 | 16.2% |
| 1k – 10k | 227 | 26.4% |
| 10k – 100k | 214 | 20.1% |
| 100k+ | 151 | 7.3% |
How long Food & Drink apps take to earn
Food & Drink apps under a year old earn more than $1,000 a month 3.9% of the time. Between one and three years old, 10.4% earn. Past three years, 9.7% earn.
Age is time since the app first appeared on the store. Across the catalogue the earning rate roughly doubles after the first year and then flattens; the Food & Drink curve above shows whether this category rewards patience more or less than average.
Data table
| App age | Apps | Earn $1k+/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 688 | 3.9% |
| 1 – 3 years | 394 | 10.4% |
| 3 – 6 years | 339 | 9.7% |
| 6+ years | 803 | 10.8% |
Revenue per download in Food & Drink
Bar = 25th to 90th percentile · dot = median
Among 99 Food & Drink apps with both revenue and downloads above the floor, the median makes $1.20 per download. The middle half spans $0.60 to $3.33. 14.1% make $5 or more per download.
Multiply your download forecast by the band that matches your model. Subscriptions with good retention track the top quarter; cheap consumables track the bottom. Advertising revenue is not included.
Data table
| Revenue per download | Apps | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $0.50 | 13 | 13.1% |
| $0.50 – $2 | 45 | 45.5% |
| $2 – $5 | 27 | 27.3% |
| $5+ | 14 | 14.1% |
Where Food & Drink publishers are based
United Kingdom has the highest earning rate among Food & Drink publisher countries with at least 50 apps, at 21.8%. US follows at 7.0%.
Publisher country is where the company is registered, not where the developers are. High rates in small jurisdictions usually mean established studios incorporating there, not a local talent effect.
Data table
| Publisher country | Apps | Earn $1k+/mo |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 124 | 21.8% |
| US | 733 | 7.0% |
| China | 74 | 0.0% |
| India | 51 | 0.0% |
What this means if you're building an app
Food & Drink is below the catalogue average on earning rate, at 8.5%. When a Food & Drink app earns, the median is $10k a month.
The model that works here is free with IAP, at 18.1%. Start on the platform where Food & Drink earns more often — iOS at 9.7% versus Android at 6.6% — unless your model is ads, which this data does not measure.
Before building, open the top-trending Food & Drink list and check the rating counts of the apps already earning. That is the size of the audience you are competing for, and the ratings section above converts it into odds.
Questions developers ask
How these numbers are computed
- An app counts as earning when its estimated monthly store revenue is above $1,000. Estimates below that sit at a floor of $1,000, so medians across all apps would be meaningless; every ratio on this page is the share of a segment above that floor.
- Revenue and downloads are estimates in bands ($5k–10k by $1k, $10k–100k by $10k, then by $100k and $1M). Medians among earners are the median band.
- Store revenue only — paid downloads and IAP (in-app purchases, including subscriptions). Advertising income is never included, so ad-supported apps show as not earning.
- Apps enter the catalogue from the US top charts, including Top Paid, so paid apps are over-represented. Ratios by monetization model are unaffected; overall ratios lean slightly paid.
- Delisted apps are excluded; unrated apps are excluded from rating charts. Recomputed after every crawl — last data point 2026-09-11, 2,224 active apps.
Related reports
- Mobile App Revenue by Category: Which Categories Make the Most Money?
Highest share of earning apps: Dating at 60.4%.
- Free vs Paid Apps: Which Model Actually Makes Money?
Free + IAP: 47.1% of apps earn $1k+ a month.
- iOS vs Android App Revenue: Which Platform Pays Developers More?
Share of apps earning $1k+/month — Android 21.0%, iOS 16.4%.