Onside iOS marketplace: a developer's guide to listing in the EU and Japan

Direct answer — how do you list and monetize a game on Onside’s iOS marketplace? You need an Apple Developer Program membership, an App Store Connect account with alternative distribution enabled, and an Onside developer account. Your build clears Apple first — full App Store Review, which lists you on both stores, or Notarization, which produces an Onside-only build — then you add Onside’s marketplace token in App Store Connect, set price and availability in the Onside Console, and publish. Onside’s documentation states that payments processed through Onside carry a 10% commission with no separate payout fee; Apple’s charge stacks on top, and it differs between the EU and Japan.

This is the operator’s version of the question. Whether a curated marketplace deserves a slot in your channel mix at all is a different piece — we argued that one in what Skich and Onside mean for publishers.

Who can distribute, and what Apple still gates

The Apple gate. You need a paid Apple Developer Program membership — Apple states enrollment is “99 USD (or in local currency where available) per membership year” — and you submit through App Store Connect as you would for the App Store. In the EU it is opt-in at account level: “after agreeing to the Alternative Terms Addendum for Apps in the EU, developers can access alternative app marketplace distribution in App Store Connect.” Onside sees the same gate from the other side — its Alternative Distribution controls are “only visible to accounts that are eligible for alternative marketplace distribution under Apple’s terms for the EU.” Japan has no addendum: Apple folded those terms into the standard agreement, which “has been updated to include new options and business terms for apps distributed in Japan”, with all current members required to agree by 17 March 2026.

The Onside gate is lighter. Its console asks you to “choose between a Business or Individual account type”, with a D-U-N-S number for businesses. Compare Apple’s bar for the marketplace operator — a stand-by letter of credit of €1,000,000 in the EU or USD 1,000,000 in Japan, or two continuous years of Apple Developer Program good standing plus an app that cleared one million first annual installs in the prior calendar year, counted across the EU for the EU route and worldwide for the Japan route — and you see why there are a handful of iOS marketplaces rather than hundreds.

The device floor differs by market. Onside’s docs put the store on iPhone (iOS 17.6+) and iPad (iPadOS 18+) for users physically located in an EU country excluding the UK, and in Japan on iPhone (iOS 26.2+) only — “not available on iPad.” That is a real addressable-market haircut in Japan, and it belongs in the forecast before the integration sprint, which is the kind of modelling our distribution practice does across channels.

What the submission flow actually looks like

Apple first, Onside second. No path skips Apple.

1. Pick your review type. App Store Review: “once approved by Apple, it will appear on both stores.” Notarization: “a lighter, automated review focused primarily on security”, producing a build distributable on Onside only.
2. Submit for Notarization in App Store Connect. Under App Review Information you “select ‘Notarization’ and click Save”, then “Add for Review” and “Submit to App Review”. Apple evaluates the build against “the Notarization Review Guidelines”, “a subset of the App Review Guidelines”. On acceptance, “an alternative distribution package automatically generates.”
3. Register the marketplace. Copy your Developer ID, give it to Onside, then go to Users and Access → Integrations → Marketplace, enter Onside’s marketplace token and select which apps are eligible. Apple’s caveat is worth reading twice: any app not selected will not be eligible for distribution there.
4. Finish the listing in the Onside Console and publish. Onside then runs its own moderation: “this review can take up to 24 hours.”

On timing, marketing and mechanics diverge. Onside’s developer site advertises “launch in 30 minutes” and “2-3 hours through Apple’s streamlined Notarization process”. Apple publishes no notarization SLA and calls Notarization “a baseline review that applies to all apps, regardless of their distribution channel”. Onside’s own docs are more measured: “while the first notarization can sometimes take longer, subsequent ones are often very quick.”

Rejection reasons are familiar: crashes, a login-gated app with no demo credentials, metadata that does not match the app, hidden monetization terms. If this is your first alternative-distribution build, our third-party iOS marketplace checklist covers the entitlement-to-token sequence in order.

The money: Onside’s cut, and what Apple takes on top

Onside’s cut. Its monetization docs state that “payments processed through Onside are subject to a 10% commission” and that “no separate payout fee applies.” Its developer site puts the same number in the shop window — “our standard developer-friendly commission is 10%” — while noting the final rate is individually negotiated by company size and app category. Bringing your own payment stack is allowed, but Onside is upfront that “the commission rate will be higher”, and that you “must report every successful purchase or subscription renewal made by users” through its Transaction Reporting API.

Apple’s cut in Japan is unambiguous: a Core Technology Commission at “rate: 5%”, applying to “alternative app marketplaces or apps distributed through them… on the sales of paid apps and digital goods or services (including one-time purchases and auto-renewing subscriptions)”. A digital sale through Onside’s payments in Japan therefore carries 10% to Onside plus 5% to Apple — roughly 15% all-in platform take, before your own tax, refund and support costs.

Apple’s cut in the EU depends on which regime your account is on, and Apple’s page is not currently self-consistent. It still describes the Core Technology Fee — “developers will pay €0.50 for each first annual install per year over a one million threshold” — while also saying “by January 1, 2026, Apple plans to move to a single business model in the EU for all developers”, transitioning “from the Core Technology Fee (CTF) to the CTC”. Future tense against a past date, read in August 2026. Do not model the EU from a blog post, ours included: open your Alternative Terms Addendum and check which one you are charged. We ran the arithmetic in what the Core Technology Fee costs an EU studio — the fee punishes high-volume, low-monetisation titles and a commission inverts that, so the switch is not cosmetic for free-to-play.

Tax and payouts. Where Onside processes payments it “handles the collection and remittance of Value-Added Tax (VAT) for sales made through the platform in the EU”. What the documentation nowhere publishes is a payout schedule, a minimum threshold, or supported currencies. Settle that before you scope the work: 10% at ninety days is a different business to 10% at thirty.

How the terms compare to Aptoide and AltStore PAL

	Published terms	Hosting & payments	Regions per the operator
Onside	10% on payments processed through Onside, no payout fee; higher undisclosed rate for third-party PSPs	Onside hosts and processes; handles EU VAT	EU excluding the UK, and Japan
Aptoide (iOS)	“80% to the Developer”, “20% to Aptoide”	Aptoide hosts and processes, with Apple-approved native IAP	EU
AltStore PAL	”AltStore takes 0% commission”	You self-host the “Alternative Distribution Package (ADP)” on your own server; bring your own payment provider	”the EU, Japan, and Brazil”

Read the middle column, not the left one. AltStore PAL’s 0% is priced in engineering: you run the infrastructure, the payment rail and the compliance surface. Onside’s 10% buys the opposite trade. Aptoide’s 20% adds native in-app purchase, which we broke down in our guide to Aptoide’s iOS IAP model. Apple’s charge sits underneath all three.

One correction, because the claim circulates: Onside is not the only alternative iOS marketplace live in both the EU and Japan. AltStore PAL’s own developer FAQ states its coverage as the EU, Japan and Brazil.

What changes between the EU and Japan

If you are listing in both, treat them as two launches sharing a build.

• Legal basis. The EU route exists because of the Digital Markets Act; Japan’s because of the Mobile Software Competition Act, which the JFTC confirmed on 17 December 2025 would “enter into full enforcement tomorrow, December 18.” We covered that regime in Japan’s MSCA distribution opening.
• Paperwork and charge. The EU needs the addendum and lands you in the CTF/CTC transition. Japan needs no addendum and charges a flat 5% Core Technology Commission.
• Platform floor. Apple’s Japanese changes arrive with iOS 26.2; the EU path opened in the iOS 17.x cycle.
• Calendar. TechCrunch reported that Onside is “an alternative iOS app store available in both the EU and, now, Japan, as of February 17, 2026.” A Japanese catalogue built in 2026 is a young catalogue.

The HTML5 route, and what the Playgama deal shows

Onside documents a PWA Wrapper Service that “can quickly convert it into a native iOS app, ready for distribution on our marketplace.” You supply “a single, public URL where your web application lives” plus metadata; the requirements are ordinary web hygiene — “mobile-ready”, “served over HTTPS”, navigation handled in-app.

That page never mentions games or HTML5; it is a generic web-to-app wrapper. The games angle comes from the partnership, where Onside’s developer site advertises “100+ html5 games automatically launched” via Playgama and says “more than 200 apps are already with Onside.” Both are Onside’s own unaudited figures, and the second tells you the catalogue is small. The mechanism is proven; the audience is not — neither company publishes install or active-user data for the store. If you already ship through a multi-portal HTML5 pipeline, our breakdown of Playgama’s Bridge SDK covers that side of the contract. One caveat: a wrapped PWA inherits your web performance envelope and monetises through Onside’s payment queue, not StoreKit.

FAQ

What does it cost to sell a game on Onside?

Onside’s docs state a 10% commission on payments processed through Onside, with no separate payout fee. Apple stacks on top: in Japan, a 5% Core Technology Commission on sales through alternative marketplaces; in the EU, either the Core Technology Fee of €0.50 per first annual install above one million or the Core Technology Commission, depending on your terms.

Do I still need Apple’s approval to publish on Onside?

Yes. Every build clears Apple first — either full App Store Review, which lists you on both stores, or Notarization, which produces an Onside-only build evaluated against the Notarization Review Guidelines, “a subset of the App Review Guidelines”. Onside then runs its own moderation, which its docs say “can take up to 24 hours.”

Is Onside available in Japan and the EU on the same terms?

The commission is the same; the regime around it is not. The EU requires Apple’s Alternative Terms Addendum; in Japan those terms sit in the updated Apple Developer Program License Agreement, due by 17 March 2026. Apple’s Japanese charge is a flat 5% CTC; the EU charge is mid-transition. Onside runs on iPhone and iPad in the EU, iPhone-only in Japan.

How does Onside compare with Aptoide and AltStore PAL on fees?

Aptoide publishes an 80/20 split in the developer’s favour on iOS. AltStore PAL states it takes 0% commission, but you self-host your Alternative Distribution Package and bring your own payment provider. Onside sits between them at 10%, with hosting, payments and EU VAT handled.

What should I ask Onside before signing?

Three things its documentation does not answer: the payout schedule and any minimum threshold, the supported payout currencies, and the commission rate if you bring your own payment provider.

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If you want a candid read on whether Onside earns a slot in your channel mix, we’d be glad to talk. Early-stage teams can see how we share the operational load in our founding developer programme.