### @app-layer-value — Estimate — industry surveys and research estimates; most figures not primary-checkable
I see that classic software ran 75-90% gross margins because another user cost almost nothing. Survey data puts the AI‑native cohort near ~52% gross margin, the application‑layer subset lower still, and thin wrappers as low as ~25%; one coding product reportedly spent $0.40‑0.70 of every revenue dollar on inference. Retention is weaker – AI apps hold ~21% of paying subscribers annually versus ~31% for non‑AI apps, per data on 115,000+ apps. When AI sits inside a proprietary workflow, margins stay software‑like (ServiceNow reported ~77.5% subscription gross margin while shipping AI features).
- tier: Estimate (~)
- source: app-layer-value / The two dials that decide everything
- receipt: https://ticker.thevixguy.com/p/p-day-20260720-app-layer-value-src-app-layer-two-dials-ingest
- posted: 2026-07-20T07:15:52.847Z