Alexa Skills Kit > Grow Your Business > Alexa Developer Rewards
Every month, we select skills to be rewarded from among the top performing custom skills in eligible categories based on customer engagement. No application is needed. If a skill qualifies for rewards, the developer will be notified via email.
Developers can increase their level of skill engagement and potentially earn more by building more skills, improving their skill, leveraging the latest features, and making their skills available in additional countries where Alexa Developer Rewards are offered.
Available Countries
Developers can earn Alexa Developer Rewards for skills that are published in the following countries:
*Rewards for India are only available to developers located in India, and rewards for other locales are available to developers located in any locale other than India. See Frequently Asked Questions for more details.
Available Categories
Developers can earn Alexa Developer Rewards for skills in the following categories:
- Education & Reference
- Food & Drink
- Games
- Trivia & Accessories
- Health & Fitness
- Kids
- Lifestyle
- Music & Audio
- Productivity
Get tips from developers who have earned Alexa Developer Rewards.
Tom Hewitson
labworks.io
When Tom Hewitson began tinkering with the Alexa Skills Kit, he never imagined his skills would make enough money for him to build a six-person studio in just six months.
Oscar Merry and Jess Williams
Opearlo
Oscar Merry and Jess Williams say Alexa Developer Rewards have helped them perfect some of the “secret sauce” necessary to building profitable Alexa skills.
Paul Wehner
Stop, Breathe & Think
Paul Wehner has been able to bring the power of meditation to the masses with voice and make enough money through the Alexa Developer Rewards program to scale and enhance his company’s skills.
Gal Shenar
Stoked Skills
Gal Shenar had no idea that building a skill for fun would earn him more than $25,000 in only six months. With more than 30 published Alexa skills, Shenar has “cracked the code” for building top-earning skills.
David Markey
David Markey built his first custom skill in only one day. Within a month of launching his second skill, he had earned almost $1,500 in Alexa Developer Rewards.
Want to earn Alexa Developer Rewards? Learn how to build engaging skills with these resources.
7 Tips for Building Standout Skills
Get a deep dive on the characteristics of highly engaging skills.
Keep Users Engaged over Time
Keep customers coming back to your skill again and again with fresh content.
Add the Latest Features
Add new and improved features to optimize your skill experience.
Which Alexa skills are eligible?
We will select skills to be rewarded from among the top performing custom skills based on customer engagement. Skills must be appropriately categorized in one of the eligible skill categories.
How will I know if my Alexa skill has earned money?
If your Alexa skill qualifies, you will receive an email from the Alexa team by the middle of the following month.
How much will I get paid?
Payment is based on the skill’s customer engagement. If your skill qualifies, the email you receive from the Alexa team will include your payment amount.
Will I continue to get paid every month?
We evaluate customer engagement on a monthly basis. As customers discover and share new skills, the top engaging skills will change, allowing new developers to earn money. Additionally, we continually review the program and reserve the right to make changes at any time. In-skill purchasing (ISP) is another way to generate revenue from your skill.
I have skills in Australia/New Zealand, France, Japan, Germany, India, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US. Am I eligible to receive payments for each geography?
Yes. Depending on your country of residence, you may be eligible for rewards in a subset of locales, or in all locales. Specifically, rewards for India are only available to developers located in India, and rewards for other locales are available to developers located in any locale other than India. You can receive rewards in each locale where you are eligible when you have a skill in that locale that is among the top engaging skills. The email you receive from the Alexa team will include detail about payment for each skill.
When will I get paid?
If your payment and tax information is up-to-date, you will be paid no later than the last day of the month in which you were notified that your skill has earned rewards. You will need to ensure that your payment and tax information is up-to-date in the Amazon Developer Portal.
How do I set up my payment information?
You can add your payment and tax information to your Amazon developer account by following these steps:
- Log in to developer.amazon.com and under the Settings section go to the Payment information tab (or follow this shortcut).
- Select Yes to the question: “Do you plan to monetize your digital content, such as charging for apps or games or selling in-app items or in-game items, or by receiving cash rewards for your skills?"
- Complete your payment information.
- Under the Settings section, go to the Tax identity tab (or follow this shortcut).
- Update the details in the Royalty Tax Identity Interview section.
What happens if I do not provide my payment information?
If you do not provide payment and tax information within 90 days from when you were notified by email that your skill has earned rewards, you will forfeit the reward.
How do you measure customer engagement?
We consider a variety of factors to measure customer engagement such as minutes of usage, new customers, recurring customers, sessions, and more.
How can I monitor my skill’s engagement?
Developers can sign into the Alexa developer console to view skill engagement data. The Alexa Skills Kit section lists your skills, whether completed or in-progress. Click the Metrics link for each skill to see data about: unique customers, sessions, utterances, and intents. You may view data for a select time interval (e.g., within the last 30 days, within a custom range) or aggregation period (e.g., hourly, weekly). You can also monitor customer reviews of your skill in the Alexa Skills Store.
Can I make money through in-skill purchasing and Alexa Developer Rewards for the same skill?
At this time, yes, you can. Please note that in-skill purchasing is currently only available in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US.
I work for Amazon, can I earn Developer Rewards?
No, at this time Amazon employees are not eligible to earn Developer Rewards.
