Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

ARPU (average revenue per user) is total revenue in a period divided by the number of active users in that same period, including users who paid nothing. It answers one question: on average, how much money does each user bring in?

What is ARPU?

What sets ARPU apart from other revenue metrics is that the denominator includes every active user. A free app that lives on ads still has an ARPU, because every person who sees an ad generates revenue. An app where 2% of users pay still divides its revenue across 100% of its users.

Before you calculate it, agree on two things:

• Denominator: monthly active users (MAU), average DAU, or everyone who has installed the app. Games often use ARPDAU, revenue per daily active user.
• Numerator: gross revenue paid by customers, or the amount actually received after taxes and store fees. Apple calls the amount received proceeds, which equals the customer price minus taxes and Apple’s commission (Apple, App Store Connect metrics, accessed October 2026).

ARPU formula

ARPU = Total revenue in the period / Number of active users in the period

GA4 has a built-in ARPU metric. Its numerator covers ad revenue, purchase revenue, in-app purchases and subscriptions, minus refunds, and its denominator is active users (Google Analytics Help, accessed October 2026). If your app does not yet send ad revenue to GA4, the ARPU in your reports will be lower than the real figure.

A public example: Meta’s ARPP

Meta does not use the term ARPU. It reports ARPP (average revenue per person): Family of Apps revenue for the quarter divided by the average of daily active people (DAP) at the start and end of the quarter. ARPP was $13.65 in Q2 2025 and $16.86 in Q2 2026, up about 23.5% (Meta, Earnings presentation Q2 2026, July 2026). Over the same period, daily users grew only 3% while total revenue grew 28% (Meta, Q2 2026 results, July 2026). Put those two numbers side by side and you can see that Meta’s growth right now comes mostly from earning more per person, not from adding people.

2026 update: Apple’s revenue per download benchmarks

In March 2026, Apple added two monetization benchmarks to App Store Connect: download-to-paid conversion and proceeds per download (Apple Developer News, March 2026). Day 35 Proceeds per Download is the average amount earned in the 35 days after a download, shown against the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles of peer apps. It is a form of ARPU calculated per download, and it helps when you need to know what each install from an ad is worth after a little more than a month.

ARPU calculation example (hypothetical)

An English-learning app has 50,000 MAU in September. Course revenue is VND 300 million, in-app ad revenue is VND 20 million, and refunds are VND 10 million.

Monthly ARPU = (300,000,000 + 20,000,000 – 10,000,000) / 50,000 = VND 6,200.

If it costs VND 40,000 to acquire one active user, the app needs about 6.5 months of ARPU to break even, provided the user sticks around. That is why ARPU is always read together with retention and LTV.

ARPU vs ARPPU vs LTV

The paying group is covered in detail in the ARPPU entry.

Frequently asked questions

Is rising ARPU always good news?

Not necessarily. If many low-value users leave the app, MAU drops and ARPU goes up on its own even though total revenue has not changed. Always read ARPU alongside the number of active users.

Should I compare my ARPU with other apps?

Only when the denominator, the revenue definition and the market are the same. The App Store Connect benchmarks are a comparison source with a clearer method than the aggregated numbers you find online.

If you need to recalculate ARPU by ad source to decide where budget goes, see our App User Acquisition solution or contact Adtek.