Google rolls out user choice billing on Google Play in the UK

Google said today that it will start offering user choice billing in the U.K., giving Google Play developers the ability to use other billing options instead of Google’s own system. The change kicks in on March 29, initially only to non-game developers.

If developers opt for it, they cannot replace Google Play billing altogether. Instead, the third-party route will be offered as an option.

Developers who opt to use an alternative billing option get a 4% discount from the fees they pay to Google (to account for the fees that third parties may also charge). Google typically gets a cut of up to 30% on in-app transactions and paid downloads.

In a blog post announcing the change, Google claimed that more than 90% of developers on its platform are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with Google Play’s native billing. However, it added, “We recognise that some developers may want more choice in how they process payments. This launch enables developers to offer an additional billing system alongside Google Play’s billing system and users can choose which option to use at checkout.”

The backstory is a little less rosy than Google just being a Nice Guy.

Google’s move is actually a long-awaited response to a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation dating back to 2022.

At that time, the competition watchdog published a report based on a year-long study of the mobile ecosystem and noted that both Google and Apple’s power in the market could be subject to regulatory scrutiny. The companies’ app stores — where they were the sole in-app billing providers for their respective platforms — was a particular point of focus when investigating Google and Apple’s anticompetitive duopoly status.

That was only the start. In 2023, Google proposed that it could offer user choice billing to developers to settle the antitrust probe. In response, the CMA opened up a consultation and invited developers to provide feedback on Google’s proposal.

The CMA ultimately closed the probe against Google and Apple last year, noting that it planned to use regulatory reforms, such as the digital market competition bill, to regulate these companies in the mobile market.

In the meantime, Google has been permitting billing from third parties elsewhere in response to regulatory pressure to open its app store to more competition.

Countries where Google already offers user choice billing include the U.S., India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, and the European Economic Area (EEA), which all follow the same commissions and charges as in the U.K.