{"id":6902,"date":"2026-10-20T21:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T14:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T21:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T14:36:15","slug":"average-revenue-per-user-arpu","status":"publish","type":"mona_glossary","link":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\/","title":{"rendered":"Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>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?<\/p>\n<h2>What is ARPU?<\/h2>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Before you calculate it, agree on two things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Denominator<\/strong>: monthly active users (<a href=\"\/en\/glossary\/monthly-active-users-mau\/\">MAU<\/a>), average DAU, or everyone who has installed the app. Games often use ARPDAU, revenue per daily active user.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Numerator<\/strong>: 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&#8217;s commission (<a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/help\/app-store-connect\/reference\/app-metrics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Apple, App Store Connect metrics, accessed October 2026<\/a>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>ARPU formula<\/h2>\n<p><strong>ARPU = Total revenue in the period \/ Number of active users in the period<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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 (<a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/9143382?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Google Analytics Help, accessed October 2026<\/a>). If your app does not yet send ad revenue to GA4, the ARPU in your reports will be lower than the real figure.<\/p>\n<h2>A public example: Meta&#8217;s ARPP<\/h2>\n<p>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% (<a href=\"https:\/\/s21.q4cdn.com\/399680738\/files\/doc_financials\/2026\/q2\/Earnings-Presentation-Q2-2026.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Meta, Earnings presentation Q2 2026, July 2026<\/a>). Over the same period, daily users grew only 3% while total revenue grew 28% (<a href=\"https:\/\/s21.q4cdn.com\/399680738\/files\/doc_financials\/2026\/q2\/Meta-06-30-2026-Exhibit-99-1-FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Meta, Q2 2026 results, July 2026<\/a>). Put those two numbers side by side and you can see that Meta&#8217;s growth right now comes mostly from earning more per person, not from adding people.<\/p>\n<h2>2026 update: Apple&#8217;s revenue per download benchmarks<\/h2>\n<p>In March 2026, Apple added two monetization benchmarks to App Store Connect: download-to-paid conversion and proceeds per download (<a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=hh6v4b55\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Apple Developer News, March 2026<\/a>). 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.<\/p>\n<h2>ARPU calculation example (hypothetical)<\/h2>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Monthly ARPU = (300,000,000 + 20,000,000 &#8211; 10,000,000) \/ 50,000 = VND 6,200.<\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"\/en\/glossary\/lifetime-value-ltv\/\">LTV<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>ARPU vs ARPPU vs LTV<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th><\/th>\n<th>ARPU<\/th>\n<th>ARPPU<\/th>\n<th>LTV<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Divided by<\/td>\n<td>All active users<\/td>\n<td>Paying users only<\/td>\n<td>One user (or one cohort)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Time frame<\/td>\n<td>One period: day, month, quarter<\/td>\n<td>One period<\/td>\n<td>Full lifetime or N days<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Answers<\/td>\n<td>How well the whole user base makes money<\/td>\n<td>How much paying users spend<\/td>\n<td>What one user is worth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The paying group is covered in detail in the <a href=\"\/en\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-paying-user-arppu\/\">ARPPU<\/a> entry.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n<h3>Is rising ARPU always good news?<\/h3>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h3>Should I compare my ARPU with other apps?<\/h3>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>If you need to recalculate ARPU by ad source to decide where budget goes, see our <a href=\"\/en\/solution\/app-user-acquisition\/\">App User Acquisition<\/a> solution or <a href=\"\/en\/contact\/\">contact Adtek<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_title":"ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): Formula, Examples","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"What is ARPU? Average revenue per user formula, how GA4 and Apple define revenue, Meta ARPP data, a worked example and ARPU vs ARPPU vs LTV.","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"category_glossary":[26],"class_list":["post-6902","mona_glossary","type-mona_glossary","status-publish","hentry","category_glossary-a"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): Formula, Examples<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is ARPU? Average revenue per user formula, how GA4 and Apple define revenue, Meta ARPP data, a worked example and ARPU vs ARPPU vs LTV.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): Formula, Examples\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is ARPU? Average revenue per user formula, how GA4 and Apple define revenue, Meta ARPP data, a worked example and ARPU vs ARPPU vs LTV.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Adtek Growth Marketing Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/101888089257566\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/og-default.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/glossary\\\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/glossary\\\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\\\/\",\"name\":\"ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): Formula, Examples\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-20T14:36:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"What is ARPU? Average revenue per user formula, how GA4 and Apple define revenue, Meta ARPP data, a worked example and ARPU vs ARPPU vs LTV.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/glossary\\\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/glossary\\\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/glossary\\\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/homepage\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Glossary\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/glossary\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Adtek\",\"description\":\"Adtek was founded in 2021 to help brands grow their businesses from branding building to revenue growth.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Adtek Growth Marketing Agency\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Adtek\",\"alternateName\":\"Adtek Growth Marketing Agency\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/logo-adtek.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/logo-adtek.png\",\"width\":440,\"height\":369,\"caption\":\"Adtek\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/adtek.agency\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/101888089257566\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/adtek-growth-marketing-agency\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tiktok.com\\\/@adtek.growth.marketing\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.google.com\\\/search?kgmid=\\\/g\\\/11x7pm71mh\"],\"email\":\"contact@adtek.agency\",\"telephone\":\"+84932349434\",\"legalName\":\"C\u00f4ng ty C\u1ed5 ph\u1ea7n Adtek Technology\",\"foundingDate\":\"2022-05-05\",\"description\":\"Adtek l\u00e0 growth marketing agency t\u1ea1i Vi\u1ec7t Nam, gi\u00fap th\u01b0\u01a1ng hi\u1ec7u t\u0103ng tr\u01b0\u1edfng t\u1eeb x\u00e2y d\u1ef1ng th\u01b0\u01a1ng hi\u1ec7u \u0111\u1ebfn doanh thu: Brand Commerce, qu\u1ea3ng c\u00e1o hi\u1ec7u su\u1ea5t, SEO v\u00e0 AI Search, d\u1eef li\u1ec7u v\u00e0 CRM, th\u01b0\u01a1ng m\u1ea1i \u0111i\u1ec7n t\u1eed.\",\"taxID\":\"0317120810\",\"address\":{\"@type\":\"PostalAddress\",\"streetAddress\":\"146 Bis Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n Th\u1ee7\",\"addressLocality\":\"Ph\u01b0\u1eddng T\u00e2n \u0110\u1ecbnh\",\"addressRegion\":\"TP. H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh\",\"addressCountry\":\"VN\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): Formula, Examples","description":"What is ARPU? Average revenue per user formula, how GA4 and Apple define revenue, Meta ARPP data, a worked example and ARPU vs ARPPU vs LTV.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): Formula, Examples","og_description":"What is ARPU? Average revenue per user formula, how GA4 and Apple define revenue, Meta ARPP data, a worked example and ARPU vs ARPPU vs LTV.","og_url":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\/","og_site_name":"Adtek Growth Marketing Agency","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/101888089257566","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/og-default.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\/","url":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\/","name":"ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): Formula, Examples","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-10-20T14:36:15+00:00","description":"What is ARPU? Average revenue per user formula, how GA4 and Apple define revenue, Meta ARPP data, a worked example and ARPU vs ARPPU vs LTV.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/average-revenue-per-user-arpu\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/homepage\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Glossary","item":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/","name":"Adtek","description":"Adtek was founded in 2021 to help brands grow their businesses from branding building to revenue growth.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Adtek Growth Marketing Agency","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/#organization","name":"Adtek","alternateName":"Adtek Growth Marketing Agency","url":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/logo-adtek.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/logo-adtek.png","width":440,"height":369,"caption":"Adtek"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/101888089257566","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/adtek-growth-marketing-agency\/","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@adtek.growth.marketing","https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?kgmid=\/g\/11x7pm71mh"],"email":"contact@adtek.agency","telephone":"+84932349434","legalName":"C\u00f4ng ty C\u1ed5 ph\u1ea7n Adtek Technology","foundingDate":"2022-05-05","description":"Adtek l\u00e0 growth marketing agency t\u1ea1i Vi\u1ec7t Nam, gi\u00fap th\u01b0\u01a1ng hi\u1ec7u t\u0103ng tr\u01b0\u1edfng t\u1eeb x\u00e2y d\u1ef1ng th\u01b0\u01a1ng hi\u1ec7u \u0111\u1ebfn doanh thu: Brand Commerce, qu\u1ea3ng c\u00e1o hi\u1ec7u su\u1ea5t, SEO v\u00e0 AI Search, d\u1eef li\u1ec7u v\u00e0 CRM, th\u01b0\u01a1ng m\u1ea1i \u0111i\u1ec7n t\u1eed.","taxID":"0317120810","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"146 Bis Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n Th\u1ee7","addressLocality":"Ph\u01b0\u1eddng T\u00e2n \u0110\u1ecbnh","addressRegion":"TP. H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh","addressCountry":"VN"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mona_glossary\/6902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mona_glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/mona_glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mona_glossary\/6902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category_glossary","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_glossary?post=6902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}