ARPU: What Average Revenue Per User Tells You

ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) is total revenue divided by total users in a given time period. If your app generated $50,000 in a month from 200,000 monthly active users, your monthly ARPU is $0.25.

It sounds simple, but the denominator choice changes everything. ARPU calculated on installs tells you average revenue per download. ARPU on monthly active users tells you revenue per engaged user. ARPU on paying users (sometimes called ARPPU, Average Revenue Per Paying User) tells you revenue per customer. All three numbers are valid; they just answer different questions.

How to Calculate ARPU Correctly

The formula: ARPU = Revenue / Users in Defined Period

You need to be specific about both halves. "Revenue" should include all monetization channels: in-app purchases, subscriptions, ad revenue, and any other in-app income. Excluding ad revenue understates ARPU for ad-supported apps, sometimes substantially.

"Users" is where teams diverge. Common choices:

Total installs gives you ARPU across your entire user base, including users who installed years ago and never opened the app again. It's the most conservative number and the one most comparable across apps if you're benchmarking.

Monthly active users (MAU) gives you ARPU for users who actually engaged during the period. This is more useful for monetization optimization because it reflects what engaged users are generating.

New installs in the cohort lets you track how ARPU develops over time for users who installed in the same period. Day 7 ARPU, Day 30 ARPU, and Day 90 ARPU for the same install cohort shows you how monetization ramps, which is directly usable in LTV modeling.

ARPU vs. LTV

ARPU is a snapshot. LTV is a projection. The distinction matters when you're deciding how much to spend on acquisition.

ARPU tells you that users who installed in January generated an average of $1.20 by Day 30. LTV modeling takes that trajectory and estimates that the same cohort will generate $4.80 over their lifetime with the app. You then compare that $4.80 LTV to your CAC to determine whether acquisition is profitable.

The problem with LTV models is that they require assumptions about future retention, future monetization, and future behavior — all of which may not hold. For apps newer than 12-18 months, using observed ARPU curves with conservative extrapolation is usually more reliable than complex LTV models built on limited data.

Heroes of Mavia, a blockchain mobile game, tracks Day 7, Day 30, and Day 60 ARPU for every install cohort separately by acquisition source. This lets them see that Google UAC installs have a 30-day ARPU of $1.80 while organic installs run $3.40 — organic users monetize better, but there aren't enough of them at scale, so the team uses paid acquisition to drive volume while optimizing onboarding to close the ARPU gap.

ARPU Benchmarks by Category

These are approximate ranges based on public data:

Casual games: $0.10-$0.50 (30-day ARPU on installs) Mid-core strategy games: $1-5 Hardcore/shooter games: $5-30 Social casino: $3-15 Fitness/health subscriptions: $5-15 Productivity SaaS (consumer): $3-10 Dating apps: $2-10

These ranges are wide. The top 10% of payers in any gaming category can generate 50-80% of total revenue (the "whale" dynamic), which means average ARPU is pulled by a small group of high spenders. If you're optimizing acquisition toward users who resemble your top payers, your effective ARPU from paid acquisition can look quite different from the overall average.

Why ARPU Matters for Paid Acquisition Decisions

The relationship between ARPU and CAC determines whether your paid acquisition is sustainable.

If your 30-day ARPU is $0.60 and your CAC is $1.20, you need users to stay long enough and spend enough to generate at least $1.20 in lifetime revenue. Whether that's realistic depends on your Day 60 and Day 90 ARPU trajectory. If ARPU grows significantly beyond Day 30 (because subscriptions renew, or because late-stage purchasing behavior kicks in), you can sustain acquisition that looks unprofitable at Day 30 but becomes profitable over time.

Managed Growth tracks ARPU by acquisition source, channel, and cohort, so you can see whether the users you're buying are generating enough revenue to justify the CAC — and which channels are bringing in users who monetize at higher rates.