Publishing Nexo cost me €124. Here's what you actually pay for.
A Play account, a certificate, a domain and the first month of server. What you pay once, and what comes back every month.
Nexo is free, carries no ads and has no paid features hiding behind it. That doesn't mean it costs nothing: it means I pay for it. Since the books are open on Nexo's own page, it makes sense to start this journal by breaking down those €124.
What you pay once
Before the app exists for anyone, there are four gates:
- The Google Play developer account. A one-off $25, and without it you can't upload so much as a test APK.
- The certificate. Publishing on iOS means being inside the Apple Developer Program, which is $99 a year. That's what signs the app: without that signature iOS won't install it, however clean the code is.
- The domain. Both stores require a public URL for the privacy policy and for support. A document on Drive doesn't count: they want a site.
- The first month of server. Nexo doesn't store your grades, but it does need something behind it for notifications and to serve those legal documents.
Added up, €124. That's student money, and I mention the number because it explains why there's a "support" section and not an ad banner.
What comes back every month
Publishing is the spike; keeping it up is the flat line. Right now that's €17 a month, split like this:
| Item | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Server and database | €7 |
| Apple Developer (the $99 a year, spread out) | €8 |
| Domain and email | €2 |
That's all of it. No salary, no advertising, and no Pro version waiting behind a door. When a month is covered I say so on Nexo's page and stop asking; if it runs over, I carry it to the next one.
Why I'm writing this down
Because "free" has lost most of its meaning on a phone. It usually means you pay with data, with attention, or with a reminder every three screens. Not here: the books are visible, all three lines of them, and if that ever changes it gets written here before it happens.