Driving growth on Google Play: The next era of subscriptions

Posted by Sheenam Mittal, Senior Product Manager, Google Play The subscription landscape is evolving rapidly, especially with the surge of generative AI and increasingly sophisticated app experiences. As the ecosystem shifts, we recognize that developers need more flexible and solid tools to monetize effectively while improving the LTV of recurring purchases. On Google Play, we are continuously expanding our subscription platform to help you drive growth, adapt to new business models, and meet your users exactly where they are.

Here is a look at the capabilities we are testing and rolling out to support the next generation of subscriptions, along with powerful existing features designed to maximize your conversion and retention. Unlock new ways to sell and grow with flexible monetization models As we look at the next few years of the subscription business, flexibility is paramount. Developers building GenAI tools, entertainment, educational platforms, and business solutions need adaptable pricing and packaging models to scale access beyond the individual user and capture higher cart value at checkout.

Multi-Quantity Subscriptions: Scale subscriptions to teams To support collaborative and team-wide or group usage, Play is introducing Multi-Quantity Subscription Purchase. This lets users make multiple subscription purchases in a single transaction and easily assign those as seats or subscriptions to team members or students. This is a game-changer for productivity, EdTech, and GenAI developers looking to sell team-wide subscription access smoothly.

New tools also add bundles, team seats, and smarter payment recovery. Your next Google Play subscription could work very differently.

Mobile Your next Google Play subscription could work very differently New tools also add bundles, team seats, and smarter payment recovery. New options will also support team subscriptions, mixed subscription/one-time purchases, and cross-app bundles.

Google is also testing smarter grace periods, cancellation discounts, cheaper-plan offers, and Play Store winback deals. Google Play’s billing story changed earlier this year when Google opened the door wider to alternative billing systems and external web payments, giving Android users more choice over how they pay.

Now it is turning its attention to subscriptions that still run through Google Play itself, with new billing options that could make AI apps, bundles, and failed payments work very differently for users. In a blog post, Google says it is testing and rolling out several new subscription options, including Usage-Based Billing.

The new system targets services with variable costs, such as generative AI apps, and it lets users maintain a prepaid balance that can automatically top up when it drops below a set threshold.

Usage-Based Billing: Support AI and variable-cost features For apps with variable computing costs—like AI generation tools or other usage-based services—rigid recurring subscriptions do not always fit. Usage-Based Billing enables you to set up prepaid metered billing where users can automatically top up their balance whenever it falls below a set threshold.

This ensures uninterrupted service for your users while protecting your margins. Beyond these flexible models, we are also making it easier to package your products and upsell creatively at checkout: Mixed Carts: Sell subscriptions and one-time products in a single checkout Historically, subscriptions and one-time products were purchased in separate transactions.

If a user wanted to buy a monthly membership alongside a starter pack of in-app currency or bonus credits, they had to complete two separate checkout flows. Mixed Carts bridges this gap for developers who want to sell both auto-renewing subscriptions and one-time products (OTPs).

By enabling you to process an auto-renewing base subscription alongside OTPs in a single API call and unified checkout sheet, Mixed Carts streamlines the transaction process. This unified experience also opens up powerful upsell opportunities for your business—such as offering targeted discounts if an end user purchases a complete bundle of a subscription and complementary in-app items together.

Cross-Developer Bundling: Partner across apps to unlock shared growth Partnerships are a proven strategy for acquiring new users and driving growth. With Cross-Developer Bundling, you can create and sell a hard bundle of two or more complementary subscriptions in your own catalog.

This capability allows you to team up with other developers—or combine offerings across your own portfolio of apps—to deliver massive value through a single purchase. For example, if you manage a language learning app, you can now create a single SKU that bundles your monthly membership with a partner’s premium travel guide subscription, offering users a combined subscription at a discounted rate.