App Revenue per Download: What a Download Is Actually Worth
TrendApps Research · updated October 26, 2026 · 62,959 apps
Among 7,815 apps with both revenue and downloads above the floor, the median app makes $1.00 per download. A quarter of them make less than $0.45 per download. A quarter make more than $5.00. The median iOS app makes 2.0× as much per download as the median Android app. Store revenue only; advertising income is not included, so ad-supported apps show as not earning here.
- $1.00
- median revenue per download
- $5.00
- top quarter starts at
- 27.1%
- of earning apps make $5+ per download
- 2.0×
- iOS vs Android, per download
Median revenue per download
Bar = 25th to 90th percentile · dot = median
The median earning app makes $1.00 for every download it gets in a month; the bottom quarter makes $0.45 or less and the top quarter $5.00 or more.
Revenue per download is monthly store revenue divided by monthly downloads for apps where both are above the floor. Both inputs are bands, so the ratio is a band; and it is a monthly snapshot, not a lifetime value.
Data table
| Percentile | All | iOS | Android |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25th | $0.45 | $1.00 | $0.10 |
| 50th (median) | $1.00 | $2.00 | $1.00 |
| 75th | $5.00 | $10.00 | $1.67 |
The spread: from under $0.50 to over $5
- Under $0.501,961 · 25.1%
- $0.50 – $22,766 · 35.4%
- $2 – $5968 · 12.4%
- $5+2,120 · 27.1%
25.1% of earning apps make less than $0.50 per download and 27.1% make $5 or more; the two middle bands hold the rest.
The bands are roughly even: there is no "normal" revenue per download. $0.30 is a high-volume game with cheap consumables; $8 is a subscription app with a small, committed audience — the band where solo developers most often live.
Data table
| Revenue per download | Apps | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $0.50 | 1,961 | 25.1% |
| $0.50 – $2 | 2,766 | 35.4% |
| $2 – $5 | 968 | 12.4% |
| $5+ | 2,120 | 27.1% |
Revenue per download by platform
The median earning iOS app makes $2.00 per download; the median earning Android app $1.00. At the 75th percentile the figures are $10.00 and $1.67.
This is the cleanest single number behind "iOS users pay more". Android delivers more downloads; each is worth a fraction of an iOS one in store revenue, and the two effects partly cancel.
What 10,000 downloads are worth
At the median, 10,000 downloads a month is about $10,000 a month in store revenue — $4,500 in the bottom quarter, $50,000 in the top quarter.
Use the column that matches your model: consumables and cheap unlocks track the 25th percentile, a subscription with decent retention tracks the 75th. The revenue calculator does the same arithmetic with your own conversion rate and price.
Data table
| Monthly downloads | At 25th pct | At median | At 75th pct |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $450 | $1,000 | $5,000 |
| 10,000 | $4,500 | $10,000 | $50,000 |
| 100,000 | $45,000 | $100,000 | $500,000 |
| 1,000,000 | $450,000 | $1,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
Ads are not included
Every figure on this page is store revenue before the commission. Advertising revenue never passes through the store; an ad-supported app with 100,000 downloads a month shows here as zero revenue per download even if it earns thousands from ads. Benchmark ad-supported apps against network eCPMs instead.
What this means if you're building an app
Convert downloads to revenue with a band, not a point. The middle half of earning apps spans $0.45 to $5.00 per download, a 11× range, and where your app lands depends on the model more than the category.
Building for a small audience, aim for the $5-and-up band deliberately: a real subscription price and a free tier that proves the value. Building for volume, plan on the low band and make the volume real. At $0.45 per download you need roughly 2,222 downloads a month just to clear the $1,000 floor.
Questions developers ask
How these numbers are computed
- An app counts as earning when its estimated monthly store revenue is above $1,000. Estimates below that sit at a floor of $1,000, so medians across all apps would be meaningless; every ratio on this page is the share of a segment above that floor.
- Revenue and downloads are estimates in bands ($5k–10k by $1k, $10k–100k by $10k, then by $100k and $1M). Medians among earners are the median band.
- Store revenue only — paid downloads and IAP (in-app purchases, including subscriptions). Advertising income is never included, so ad-supported apps show as not earning.
- Apps enter the catalogue from the US top charts, including Top Paid, so paid apps are over-represented. Ratios by monetization model are unaffected; overall ratios lean slightly paid.
- Delisted apps are excluded; unrated apps are excluded from rating charts. Recomputed after every crawl — last data point 2026-10-26, 62,959 active apps.
Related reports
- How Much Do Mobile Apps Make? Revenue Data From Every Tracked App
17.7% of apps earn more than $1,000 a month; the rest sit at or below the floor.
- iOS vs Android App Revenue: Which Platform Pays Developers More?
Share of apps earning $1k+/month — Android 20.2%, iOS 15.9%.
- Free vs Paid Apps: Which Model Actually Makes Money?
Free + IAP: 45.7% of apps earn $1k+ a month.