Apple Developer Account: Individual or Organization?

Pick the individual account if you publish on your own, under your own name or as a French micro-entrepreneur. In that case it's actually mandatory, and your legal name shows up as the seller. Pick organization only if a legal entity, like a company, will own the app. You'll then need a D-U-N-S number, a website in its name and the authority to bind it legally. The price is the same: 99 dollars per membership year.

My account is individual. Devoria is a sole proprietorship, so I signed up as an individual, and my name is the one that appears under Solys, TradaZen and Nolera. This guide compares the two membership types, based on Apple's pages as I reread them on November 3, 2026. The price and the step-by-step signup are in Apple developer account: price and signup.

What Apple says, one sentence per case

Apple's help page on enrollment decides based on your situation:

• Individual, sole proprietor or single-person business: you enroll as an individual, and your legal name shows as the seller. For single-person businesses, Apple's help page on D-U-N-S makes it an instruction: enroll as an individual.
• Employee of a company, nonprofit, joint venture or government agency: you enroll the organization, and the entity's name shows as the seller.

So the criterion isn't the size of your project, it's whether a legal entity separate from you exists. Apple also rejects DBAs, trade names and branches: only the legal entity counts.

The full table of differences

Criterion	Individual	Organization
Who it's for	You, in your own name	A legal entity
Seller name	Your legal name	The entity's name
Different developer name	Not possible	Registered trade name
D-U-N-S number	No	Yes, except government
Website and domain email	No	Yes
Membership payment	At signup	After Apple's verification
Development team	Just you	Invited members, with roles
Published address (DSA)	Address or PO box	The D-U-N-S one
Fee waiver	Not possible	Nonprofits, schools, government
Price	$99 per year	$99 per year

The sections below go through each point, with its source.

The name shown on the App Store

This is the difference everyone sees. According to the enrollment page, as an individual, your legal name shows as the seller of your apps. Apple requires your real first and last name on your Apple Account: a nickname, an alias or a company name delays approval.

As an organization, the entity's name shows. You can also display a different developer name under the app name, as long as it's a registered trade name. App Store Connect Help gives three rules:

• You enter this name only once, in the Company Name field, when you create your very first app.
• You can't change it afterward. Check the spelling before you confirm.
• As an individual, the option doesn't exist: your developer name is your legal name.

Creating a company just to hide your name is expensive and slows everything down. And if its registered office is your home, its address can end up published on your EU listing, as we'll see below.

When I researched a new niche in October 2026, the top app in the German charts and a dozen competing apps were published by individuals. Having a person's name as the seller doesn't stop you from topping the charts.

What enrolling an organization requires

Apple lists five requirements:

1. A legal entity able to sign contracts with Apple.
2. A D-U-N-S number in its name, except for government agencies.
3. The authority to bind it: founder, executive, senior project lead, or an authorized employee.
4. A work email on the organization's domain name.
5. A public, working website on that same domain. A social media page, a nearly empty site or a registrar parking page won't do.

The D-U-N-S number is free. According to Apple, allow up to 5 business days to receive it from Dun & Bradstreet, then up to 2 business days for Apple to receive the information. All the details are in Apple D-U-N-S number.

After that, the organization only pays once Apple has verified it, and Apple sends an email with the next steps. Notarized documents may be requested. As an individual, you accept the agreement and pay right at signup.

Teams: the real limit of the individual account

This is the point comparisons forget. As an individual, you can add users in App Store Connect, for sales or marketing for example. But Apple's roles table is clear: these users only access your content in App Store Connect, without being part of your program team.

Direct consequence: Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles, the area for signing certificates and profiles, is only open to the Account Holder and to members of an organization team. As an individual, you're the only one with access to your account's certificates and profiles.

For a solo developer, that's not a problem. My individual account actually uses a team API key for my Expo builds: automation doesn't require an organization. But if several developers need access to certificates and profiles, you need an organization.

Another difference: the Account Holder role. In an organization, it can be transferred to another authorized employee. For an individual account, Apple only grants this transfer case by case, with its support.

The address published in Europe

If you're a trader under the DSA, Apple publishes your address, phone number and email on your listings in the 27 European Union countries. Apple's help page treats the two accounts differently:

• As an organization, the address linked to the D-U-N-S number shows automatically. To change it, you have to contact Apple.
• As an individual, you enter an address or a PO box. An alternative address requires proof, like a utility bill.

The paradox: the individual account protects your home better than a company registered at your home. I declared my trader status on my individual account. The details are in DSA trader status.

Switching from one to the other

From individual to organization, Apple has a dedicated request. According to the help page on updating your account, you must be the founder or co-founder of the organization and provide its D-U-N-S number. Business documents may be requested.

From organization to individual, Apple's pages describe no conversion. The documented way to move an app between two accounts is an app transfer. The Account Holder starts it, and the receiving account's Account Holder accepts it. The app keeps its bundle ID, ratings and reviews. You have to turn off TestFlight first, and prepare the shared secret if you sell subscriptions. The requirements and steps are in transfer an app to another Apple Developer account.

One last trap concerns renaming an organization. Apple warns that it updates the seller name on all your apps and resets your users' IDFV at their next update. Your analytics tools may then count them as new installs. The change is irreversible.

Which one to pick as a French indie developer

Apple doesn't mention any French legal structure. Here's how I read it, based on its rules:

Your situation	Account to pick
Private individual, no structure	Individual
Micro-entreprise	Individual
Standard entreprise individuelle	Individual
EURL, SASU, SARL, SAS	Organization, with D-U-N-S
Association (nonprofit)	Organization, fee waiver possible
Company being set up	Individual, then convert

The micro-entreprise isn't a legal structure. Service Public Entreprendre describes it as a simplified tax and social security regime for the entreprise individuelle (sole proprietorship), with no separate legal personality. So for Apple, it's a single-person business: you enroll as an individual. Your SIRET number changes nothing.

For the fee waiver, Apple excludes individuals, sole proprietors and single-person businesses. It targets nonprofits, accredited educational institutions and government agencies. They also must not sell anything in their apps.

My advice: enroll based on your situation on the day you publish, not the one you imagine two years from now. If your company doesn't exist yet, publish as an individual. Conversion will be there the day it's created.

Publish your first app, whatever your account

The account type is just one checkbox. The iOS & Android Kit starts from the Starter Code of my apps, subscriptions included, and walks you through four steps all the way to the App Store, at your own pace.

If you're still unsure, take your free diagnostic: it tells you what's really holding you back and sends you my Apple anti-rejection checklist. The page publish an app on the App Store covers every step, from the account to approval.

Frequently asked questions

Should I pick individual or organization for an Apple Developer account?

Individual if you publish on your own, under your own name or as a micro-entrepreneur: Apple requires it for single-person businesses. Organization if a legal entity, like a company or a nonprofit, will own the app. The price is the same, 99 dollars per year.

Can a French micro-entreprise enroll as an organization with Apple?

No. The micro-entreprise is a regime of the sole proprietorship, with no separate legal personality. Apple asks sole proprietors and single-person businesses to enroll as individuals, with their legal name as the seller.

What name shows on the App Store with an individual account?

Your legal name, as the seller and as the developer name under your apps. As an individual, you can't display a trade name instead. Only an organization can display a registered trade name.

Can you switch from an individual account to an organization account?

Yes. Apple offers a conversion request. You must be the founder or co-founder of the organization and provide its D-U-N-S number. Business documents may be requested.

Can you work as a team with an individual account?

Partly. You can add users in App Store Connect, but they aren't part of your program team. They can't access signing certificates and profiles: for several developers, pick organization.

Does the organization account cost more?

No. Both cost 99 dollars per membership year. The only difference is that an organization can request a fee waiver if it's a nonprofit, an accredited educational institution or a government agency that sells nothing in its apps.