by mdwh » 23 Oct 2015, 14:58
It's a bit odd paying to write free software (whilst Google have running costs for Google play, they benefit if people write for their platform). The way I looked at it was that Google give android away for free (at least as part of AOSP), so they are giving something back. At least a one off fee is much better than a higher yearly fee like some platforms have...
One option is to accept donations, to help cover the fee.
Whether you do or don't release on Google play, I'd certainly recommend fdroid - whilst there are fewer users, there is also less competition, so it's still viable to get plenty of downloads. And you probably get a better class of user - people who report bugs, rather than moaning and leaving 1 star reviews on free apps because they couldn't be bothered to read.
Fdroid is great as a user too - finding free apps that aren't infested with ads is hard on Google play, but easy with fdroid.