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How to Monetise Chrome extension

Hello everyone! It’s extension.expert here and I would like to share with you my 5 years experience of monetizing browser extensions and difderent methods.

Why are extensions different from websites?

  • Extensions not allowed to place adds on
  • It’s easier to make plugin popular due to lower competition
  • Extensions are more similar to Mobile Applications by User Experience

Method #1 using AdSense

As mentioned above we can’t place ads directly into extension. But we still have some stuff to turnaround here…

Redirect users to your website

  1. If your extension has an options page you might change it to your website page and implement functional using externally_connectable parameter. So you will be able to inject advertise!
  2. Redirect users to your website after uninstalling your addon. You might do it using chrome.runtime.setUninstallURL function. In my case I redirect users left a page where they are able to answer some questions and watch some ads.
  3. Inject some Chrome specialised advertise aggregator. (There are a chance to be banned)

Extension expert’s income in this case is about 20-30% of total.

Method #2 Make your extension Freemium or Premium

I won’t repeat official Chrome post. There are still plenty to talk about but not in this article.

The best solution for Chrome Extensions here is Freemium. It’s mean that your add-on remain free but you charge for additional features or PRO/PLUS/Premium version. That’s it!

Expert’s income in this case is about 50-60% of total.

Method #3 PR of your project / company

It’s a very good way to promote your baby. There are plenty of ways for promotions, some of them are:

  1. Specify your website on the Chrome WebStore DevConsole
  2. Place your logo on promo images in the Console
  3. Mention who is developer in the popup window (Made with 💚 by extension.expert)

In this case expert has constant clients whose order browser plugin development. (about 20%)

Method #4 Sell your extension

If the plugin becomes popular, then it can be sold, and new owners will not do very good things for the user.

+ Big money in few clicks
– You won’t be able to earn anymore from it
– Users will be disappointed by very aggressive adds

Conclusion

Due to the low competition of Chrome Extensions and the variety of ideas that Google provides to us. It may be very good start in the world of software distribution.