What Does App User Acquisition
Cost in 2026?

A low cost per install can look like a win, until those new users fail to subscribe, return, or generate enough revenue to pay back the ad spend. That is why app marketers need to read cost per install (CPI) alongside return on ad spend (ROAS), and give subscription cohorts enough time to show their value.

There is no single “good” CPI or ROAS for every app. Results vary by category, market, operating system, channel, and campaign objective. The benchmarks below are useful planning anchors, not promises of campaign performance.

What are typical app CPI and subscription ROAS benchmarks?

The CPI figures are category-level U.S. search-results campaign medians, not subscription-only or cross-channel averages. The ROAS ranges are target guidance from a separate industry source, so do not treat the CPI and ROAS rows as one matched dataset. AppTweak’s 2026 Apple Ads benchmark reports 2025 campaign data; Admiral Media’s 2026 mobile app benchmarks labels its subscription ROAS figures as targets.

Why subscription performance takes longer to read

A subscription app’s value does not stop at the install. RevenueCat’s 2025 report covers 75,000 subscription apps and more than $10 billion in tracked revenue. At day 60, median revenue per install was $0.31 across apps and $0.63 for Health & Fitness. RPI is a monetization measure—not ROAS—and should not be compared directly with media cost unless cohort, attribution, and revenue definitions match. RevenueCat, State of Subscription Apps 2025

The time lag matters, too. In AppsFlyer’s app-monetization dataset covering January 2025–March 2026, 52% of day-60 subscription revenue had arrived by day 7. A week-one read can therefore miss a material share of subscription value. Match the evaluation window to the product’s conversion and renewal curve. AppsFlyer, State of App Monetization 2026

Campaign examples can add context, but they are not category averages. In a U.S. app-install A/B test, Supercell’s Snapchat Playable Ads delivered 19% higher ROAS and 37% lower CPI than its business-as-usual strategy. That is one advertiser’s test result—not an industry or subscription-app benchmark. Snapchat for Business: Supercell success story

How to use these benchmarks in your next campaign

1. Compare CPI within the same app category, country, OS, channel, and optimization event.

2. Track install-to-trial, trial-to-paid, payer CAC, and cohort revenue alongside CPI.

3. Report ROAS at agreed windows (for example, D7, D30, and D90) using one attribution source and a consistent gross- or net-revenue definition.

4. Scale only after the cohort has had time to generate the value your business model depends on. A cheaper install is not necessarily a more efficient customer.

Definitions: CPI = paid media spend ÷ attributed installs. ROAS = attributed revenue ÷ paid media spend, shown as a percentage or multiple. For subscription apps, specify whether revenue is billed, net of refunds/store fees, or modeled lifetime value, and state the attribution method and cohort window.

Sources and methodology

• AppTweak, Apple Ads benchmarks 2026: U.S. search-results campaigns in 2025; category medians.

• Admiral Media, Mobile App Marketing Benchmarks 2026: published target ranges; not presented as universal measured medians.

• RevenueCat, State of Subscription Apps 2025: subscription-app dataset and D60 revenue-per-install context.

• AppsFlyer, State of App Monetization 2026: verified revenue data, January 2025–March 2026.

• Snapchat for Business, Supercell success story: advertiser-specific U.S. app-install A/B test.