Starting on March 13, 2024, developers offering alternative billing as part of the user choice billing pilot must use the alternative billing APIs. See details below and visit our alternative billing API integration guide to get started.
This pilot is designed to test offering an alternative billing option next to Google Play's billing system and to help us explore offering this choice to users. We are looking to gain feedback in different markets and ensure we can maintain a positive user experience. Service fees, which support our investments in Play and Android, will continue to apply, and developers must pay Google the applicable service fees.
Developers who meet the below eligibility and requirements may join the pilot.
Eligibility
In order to be eligible for this pilot:
- Your app must be:
- An app or game across any form factors offering user choice billing to users in the EEA; or
- A non-gaming mobile or tablet app with users in all other locations listed below.
- Developer must be registered as a business.
Requirements
Developers participating in this pilot must comply with the following requirements:
- Only offer user choice billing to eligible users in announced pilot markets, currently:
- European Economic Area (EEA) countries
- Australia
- Brazil
- Indonesia
- Japan
- South Africa
- United Kingdom (available March 29, 2025)
- United States
- Only offer alternative billing systems within the app.
- Comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) (if handling credit and debit card data).
- Provide customer support for users of the alternative billing system (including any products sold using the alternative billing system), and the alternative billing system must provide a process to dispute unauthorized transactions.
- Pay Google the applicable service fees. When a consumer purchases through an alternative billing system, the standard service fee the developer pays will be reduced by 4%.
- Integrate the alternative billing APIs, which streamline implementing user experience requirements and reporting.
- Notify us in advance of intended changes to your app enrollment preferences, such as disabling or enabling user choice billing in a particular app or eligible market. For more details on how to submit changes, visit our FAQ.
Please note that eligibility and requirements are subject to change and we expect the pilot details to continue to evolve as we learn more and receive additional feedback.
Integrating with alternative billing APIs
If you would like to offer user choice billing and will be using the alternative billing APIs from the date of your offering, you must complete the following steps:
- Review the requirements on this page to determine if your app(s) meets the eligibility criteria.
- Open Play Console, go to the Alternative billing page (Settings > Alternative billing) and complete any onboarding steps required to enroll in the program (for example, accept the Terms of Service and set up a payment profile as required).
- Complete the integration of the alternative billing APIs as described in this API integration guide.
- Manage your Play Console alternative billing settings to opt in/out each of your apps, upload payment method logos, and subscription management URLs.
- Report to Google Play all authorized transactions from users in pilot markets within 24 hours using alternative billing APIs.
- For any active subscriptions that started while you were offering alternative billing without automation, you will be required to migrate these subscriptions through the ExternalTransactions API prior to reporting the recurring transactions through the API. This one-time migration must be done prior to the March 13, 2024, alternative billing API migration deadline. For more details, visit our FAQ.
If you have any additional questions, you can contact our support team here.