The 50% change
Envato's flat 50% revenue share, explained (2026)
On 1 July 2026 Envato moved every ThemeForest and CodeCanyon author to a flat 50% revenue share on the item price, and dropped the exclusivity requirement. Previously-exclusive authors who kept 55–87.5% lose 30–40 percentage points overnight; non-exclusive authors who were on ~45% gain slightly. You can still sell on CodeCanyon, and now you can sell anywhere else at the same time. Run your own number first.
What exactly changed on 1 July 2026?
Two things changed at once. First, the revenue split became a flat 50% of the item price for every ThemeForest and CodeCanyon author, replacing the old tiered system. Second, the exclusivity requirement ended: you are no longer tied to selling only on Envato, so you can list the same plugin on your own store or another platform and keep selling on CodeCanyon at the same time.
The split applies to the item-price component of the list price. Buyer-facing prices and Envato's handling fee are a separate line; the number that matters to you is that half of the item price now stays with Envato.
Who lost money, and who actually gained?
This is where most write-ups are lazy, and where it pays to be precise about your own situation.
| Author type before 1 July 2026 | Old share | New share | Net effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exclusive, top tier | up to 87.5% | 50% | Large loss (30–40 points) |
| Exclusive, mid tier | ~55–70% | 50% | Loss |
| Non-exclusive | ~45% | 50% | Small gain |
If you were a long-tenured, high-volume exclusive author, the flat 50% is a real cut and the maths is worth taking seriously. If you were non-exclusive, you were already on roughly 45%, so the flat 50% is a slight raise. We say this plainly because it is true, and because loss-framing an author who actually gained is the fastest way to lose the trust of a technical audience that fact-checks.
Can I still sell on CodeCanyon in 2026?
Yes. Nothing is shutting down. You keep 50% of the item price, and because exclusivity is gone you can run CodeCanyon as one channel among several. The real question is not "can I stay" but "for my next sale, is 50% the best deal I can get" — which is a numbers question, not a policy one. Work it out on the loss calculator, then read how much the cut actually costs you over a year.
Why did Envato do this?
Envato's stated rationale is that the industry has shifted toward subscriptions and bundles, and that a single flat model sits more closely with Envato Elements, its subscription product. The context most authors read into it: Shutterstock acquired Envato for $245M in July 2024 and has prioritised Elements, so the item marketplace feels deprioritised. You do not have to agree with the reasoning to plan around the outcome.
What should you do next?
In order: confirm whether the change is a loss or a gain for you, quantify it, then decide whether your next sale should keep paying 50%. Every new sale you move to Freemius or your own store stops paying the cut the day you go live. The honest, complete version of that move is the free 27-step migration checklist — and if you would rather someone did it for you, the three tiers are laid out here.
The share figures above are Envato's published rates and the widely-reported old tiers; verify the specifics for your account against the primary sources below before relying on them.