For Freemius plugin developers, there are two distinct revenue numbers that matter: the gross revenue your customers pay (the amount your plugins earn before Freemius takes its commission) and the net revenue that Freemius actually pays you. These two numbers diverge based on Freemius’ commission rate, payment processing fees, VAT and tax amounts collected on applicable transactions, and any refunds issued during the period. Tracking both — and knowing your current unpaid balance and upcoming payout timeline — is essential for cash flow planning.
The Earnings & Payouts module in Freemius Checkout for WooCommerce fetches this data from the Freemius earnings API and displays it in a clean WordPress admin dashboard — your complete earnings statement and payout history without navigating to freemius.com.
Earnings Overview: Gross, Net & Unpaid Balance
The Earnings overview fetches data from Freemius’ /earnings.json endpoint — a developer-level earnings summary that provides:
Total Gross Earnings
Total revenue generated by your plugins/themes before Freemius commission and payment fees. The top-line number.
Total Net Earnings
Gross minus Freemius commission, payment processing fees, and refunds. The amount you actually received or will receive.
Unpaid Balance
Net earnings accumulated since the last payout that are pending your next Freemius payment disbursement.
Total Paid Out
Total amount Freemius has already disbursed to you across all historical payout events.
Payout History: Transaction IDs and Dates
Below the earnings overview, the module displays a complete payout history table — every time Freemius has sent a payment disbursement to your bank account or PayPal, displayed with:
- Payout Date: The date the disbursement was processed
- Amount: Net amount paid in that disbursement
- Transaction ID: The unique reference for the bank transfer or PayPal transaction — essential for reconciling against your bank statements
- Status: Whether the payout has been completed or is pending
The payout history is particularly valuable for accounting purposes — matching Freemius disbursements to your bank transactions is significantly easier when the transaction IDs are visible alongside dates and amounts in a structured table, rather than requiring you to navigate through individual payout emails or the Freemius payout history page.
Understanding the Freemius Earnings vs Payout Gap
A common source of confusion for new Freemius developers is the difference between earnings visibility and payout timing. Freemius processes payouts on a schedule (typically monthly for developers above the minimum payout threshold), meaning your “unpaid balance” may accumulate for several weeks before the next disbursement.
The Earnings & Payouts dashboard makes this gap explicit: you can see both your current unpaid balance (what’s accumulated and awaiting disbursement) and your total paid out (what’s already been sent). The difference between total net earnings and total paid out equals your current unpaid balance — a cross-check that confirms data integrity.
Freemius Earnings vs Lemon Squeezy & Paddle Payout Transparency
Both Lemon Squeezy and Paddle provide earnings and payout views in their own dashboards. Lemon Squeezy is particularly transparent about balance and payout timing with a clean dashboard UI. Paddle’s earnings reporting is more comprehensive but also more complex.
None of these platforms provide a WordPress admin plugin for accessing earnings data. Freemius Checkout for WooCommerce is unique in bringing this payout visibility directly into the WordPress environment where plugin developers do most of their daily work — making financial monitoring a natural part of the WordPress workflow rather than a separate tab-switching exercise.
Accounting tip: Use the payout transaction IDs from this module to annotate your bank statement entries. When filing taxes or preparing financial statements for your plugin business, having pre-matched Freemius payout records significantly reduces the effort required to reconcile your revenue figures.
FAQ: Freemius Earnings & Payouts
What is Freemius’ commission rate?
Freemius charges approximately 5% plus payment processing fees. The exact commission rate depends on your developer account tier and agreement. Your net earnings in this module reflect the actual amount after all Freemius fees — the most reliable way to see your true take-home revenue per sale.
When does Freemius pay out earnings?
Freemius processes payouts monthly for accounts above the minimum payout threshold (typically $100). The payout history in this module shows the exact dates of all past disbursements, so you can project when your current unpaid balance will be paid based on the historical cadence.
Does this module show earnings by product?
The Earnings & Payouts module shows developer-level aggregate earnings from the /earnings.json endpoint. Per-product earnings breakdown is available in the Sales Analytics Dashboard module, which calculates gross and net revenue per plugin from payment and subscription data.
Track Your Freemius Earnings & Payouts Inside WordPress
Gross earnings, net revenue, unpaid balance, and complete payout history with transaction IDs — all in your WordPress admin.
