You can't count on selling a bare app idea. We found no verified buyer or dependable market for one. What you can sell, license or protect is something you hold rights in, such as written work, a prototype or code. Copyright covers the expression and the code, not the idea. Patents depend on the country and the claims. This page gives general information, not legal advice.
Can you sell an app idea?
Not reliably. We found no verified buyer or dependable market for a bare app idea.
A popular idea is not an asset someone has to pay for. People do negotiate a sale or a licence, but what changes hands is rights or work you control, not the idea alone.
Can you get paid for an app idea? Only if someone agrees to pay you, under an agreement. Nobody owes you payment for an idea, and nobody is bound to buy it. Any agreement to sell or license goes to a lawyer.
What can you actually sell?
Something you hold, not something you thought of.
Most people with an idea hold one of five things. Each one is worth something different to a person on the other side of the table.
| What you hold | What the other side would care about | What the law covers (general information) |
|---|---|---|
| A concept | Very little. They have no proof it works or that anyone wants it. | Copyright does not protect the idea itself. |
| Evidence of a real problem | It shows people have the problem. That is worth more than the idea. | Copyright can cover your written description, not the idea in it. |
| A prototype | It shows the idea working, so they can judge it. | Software is a kind of work that copyright can cover. The idea behind it is not covered. |
| Rights you hold | Rights you own can be sold or licensed. | Depends on who owns what. Ask a lawyer. |
| A finished app | It has users and a track record. | It has its own market, and that is another page. |
The right-hand column is general information. S3 says where each statement comes from.
A finished app can be sold on its own market, through acquisition marketplaces. That is a different asset from an idea, and this page is not about it.
What does the law protect?
This page gives general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by country and by the facts of your situation.
These decisions need a lawyer or a patent professional, not a web page:
- Telling anyone about an invention that might be patentable.
- Patents.
- Writing or signing an NDA.
- Who owns the work, especially if someone else builds your app.
- Licensing or selling rights.
- Suspecting that someone has copied your work.
Copyright is the one every founder meets first. In all four countries below, the official guidance says copyright covers how something is expressed, not the idea behind it. Each line is dated.
- United States. Copyright can protect an original written or artistic description, but not the idea, system or method it describes (U.S. Copyright Office, checked 20 Oct 2026). Original fixed work, including software, can be protected, and those rights can be sold or licensed (USPTO, checked 20 Oct 2026).
- United Kingdom. Software gets copyright automatically, and copyright protects the expression, not the idea behind it. The IPO says to agree who will own the copyright before work is created (UK IPO, checked 20 Oct 2026).
- Canada. Software can be a protected work, and ideas are not. Registering is voluntary, and CIPO does not verify ownership claims in an application (CIPO, checked 20 Oct 2026).
- Australia. Copyright protects the code, not the ideas or methods the program uses (IP Australia, checked 20 Oct 2026).
Registering a copyright does not prove that nobody else can build a similar app. Copyright covers your work, not a whole kind of app.
Can you patent an app idea?
A bare idea is not enough. Some inventions that run in software may qualify, depending on the country and the claims. It is not "always" and it is not "never".
Each office looks at what the invention does, not at the fact that it is an app. The same app could be treated differently in different countries.
- United States. Abstract ideas alone are not eligible. Software is not automatically an abstract idea, and each claim gets an eligibility analysis (USPTO, MPEP §2106, checked 20 Oct 2026).
- United Kingdom. The invention must be new and inventive. Software with no technical purpose is excluded, and the page points software inventors to professional advice (UK IPO, checked 20 Oct 2026).
- Canada. A computer-implemented invention needs its claims interpreted and checked for something physical. Running an abstract algorithm on a computer is not enough (CIPO, March 2026 practice notice, checked 20 Oct 2026).
- Australia. Eligibility turns on the substance of the invention, including a technical improvement. An app that applies standard phone functions to a business idea generally isn't patentable, unless it solves a technical problem (IP Australia, checked 20 Oct 2026).
Whether your own invention can be patented is a question for a patent professional. We can't answer it here.
Do you need a patent? That depends on the country, the claims and your plan. A patent professional can tell you.
How much does a patent cost? We give no figure. A patent professional can quote you.
Can someone steal my app idea?
Copying a concept is not the same as copying written work or code, or misusing information you shared in confidence.
If you think a real case of copying has happened, speak to a lawyer.
Do I need an NDA?
UK guidance (UK IPO, published 12 March 2015, checked 20 Oct 2026): an NDA is a contract that sets rules for sharing information in confidence, such as what it covers, what it can be used for and who may see it.
The guidance doesn't say an NDA gives you ownership of every similar idea, or that it makes sure you are protected or paid. Take advice on any agreement before you sign or send one.
Can you sell an app idea to Google or a company?
We found no programme that buys ideas.
We looked for an open purchase programme at Google and at other companies. We did not find one, and we did not find a verified buyer for a bare idea. Investors and app-acquisition marketplaces are not buyers of ideas either.
Before you share anything with a company, read its submission and confidentiality terms. Companies set their own, and they can change. Send any agreement to a lawyer.
What do founders ask when they try?
Three posts. Each is one person's story, not proof of how often ideas sell. The roles are our reading of each post, not verified identities.
- "How to sell an idea of an app?" (r/Entrepreneur, 24 Sep 2025). An idea-holder asks whether sharing an idea could earn money, or a share, without putting in their own time. No completed sale is reported.
- "Protecting my idea" (r/SaaS, 28 Mar 2025). A prospective SaaS creator fears that a large company will copy the concept.
- "Advice for selling an app idea to a company" (r/reactnative, 11 Aug 2022). A would-be developer wants to offer to build an app for a gym. This is the counterexample: that is selling services, not selling an idea. It is also an older post, so it says nothing about current prices.
The replies on these posts are not legal advice, and we don't use them as such.
What if you want to know whether the idea is worth building?
Whether the idea is worth building, and how to start with no money or coding experience, are different questions from this one.
Want to build it after all?
Send us your idea. A person on our team tells you what it will take to build.