The issue is not that you have to pay to put your software on the App Store, it’s that the only way to run your software on the hardware you and your users own is to put it in the App Store.
Meanwhile, from just today: https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/07/android-malware-use...
They may also install porn, gambling, lgbtq apps or whatever else you don't approve of.
Apple lets the CCP access Chinese iCloud data. They takedown dissodent apps in foreign countries. They block perfectly legal non-malware apps.
Though I do note that one of these apps was on the curated store anyway!