AI-driven vibe coding has sharply lowered barriers to app development, but making real money requires market understanding, product completeness and distribution strategy more than code, an analysis showed.

Tech outlet TechRadar reported on Sept. 16 that Rocapine CEO Stan Marchand (스탠 마샹) said app development costs have become close to zero. He stressed that 80 percent of development work can be automated, but the remaining 20 percent handled by humans determines revenue.

Marchand pointed to insights that identify the value users want, a sense for building a differentiated product, and effective marketing and distribution. He said whether real users are willing to pay matters as much as whether the app works properly.

Measures used to judge profitability include cost per install, paid conversion rates and early user retention. Marchand said even a low-fidelity prototype can be viable if customer acquisition costs are low and paid users are secured, but a product that looks excellent lacks marketability if it does not lead to payments.

Market response has become more important than the quality of AI-generated code, but legal and technical verification cannot be skipped. Marchand advised checking licences for code and external assets, setting up a personal data protection framework, and securing verifiable data such as revenue and user retention.

Monetisation options presented included an outright sale of the app, publishing deals and revenue sharing. Unchaind, which Rocapine co-produced with a Singapore developer, achieved $1 million in annual recurring revenue 16 days after launch, or about 137.8 million won, and Rocapine later acquired it based on the developer's decision.

Marchand advised targeting a niche market you know well, launching a product within weeks and setting a price from the start. He also stressed that when negotiating with publishers, cohort data showing revenue and retention by user group should be presented rather than a list of features.