These CPI and ROAS benchmarks come from accounts I have run, not from industry averages, which I cannot verify. Each row is linked to the case or the post it comes from. Use them as reference points, not targets, because every one depends on the product behind it.
This page is for someone with their own numbers in hand, asking whether they are good. Every row has a source you can open. If you want the reasoning behind a row, the source is where it lives; if you want your own numbers read, that is the audit.
Return on ad spend
| Metric | From | To | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D0 ROAS | 20% | 43% weekly record | Videa AI and Cleaner Pure, subscription, spend past $200K a month | source |
| D0 ROAS | 8 to 12% | 17 to 23% | Horse Racing Solitaire, game, soft launch to scale over two years | source |
| Blended ROAS | 70% | 230% | EatBetter, subscription, in two months | source |
| ROAS by D28 | 100% | Honig Games, US cohorts, per the client | source |
D28 ROAS by channel, one subscription app
Four channels, one subscription app, same period, read as day 28 gross media ROAS. This is one app at unequal spend levels, a map of one account, not a randomized channel comparison. TikTok's cost was not tracked in the MMP, so its ROAS is an estimate. Gross media parity leaves out store fees, taxes and refunds, and attributed ROAS is not incremental ROAS.
Cost per install
| Metric | From | To | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blended CPI | £9.43 | £5.38 | Horse Racing Solitaire, in one month | source |
| Creative test, best ad | £0.65 | 175 ads from December 2025 to April 2026, 14 under £1.00 | source | |
| Creative test, blended | £1.22 | Same account, same period, all 175 ads | source | |
| UGC ad, product tried on camera | CPI down 40% | Diress, against the account baseline | source | |
| UGC talking head | CPI down 22% | A horse racing game, against the account baseline | source |
Revenue
The tests behind the bigger claims
I wrote these tests up in full. Each ran on one account, so read it as a direction, not a rule, and rerun it on your own data before you move budget.
| Test | Spend | Sample | What it found | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What predicts D28 ROAS, day zero value or cost per purchase? | $606,462 | 38 Meta app campaigns, April to June 2026 | Rank correlation with D28 ROAS was +0.96 for day zero value and -0.81 for cost per purchase. Backing the best 13 of 38, the day zero ranking returned 96.6% ROAS by day 28 and the cost per purchase ranking 85.9%. | source |
| Which Google Ads bid strategy works best for apps? | $73K and $27K, $100K in all | 6 campaign types on iOS and Android, then 6 bid strategies over 9 days in the US | Max Conversion Value beat tROAS on both platforms and in every market. Search took 58% of budget and returned 25% ROAS; Display took 32% and returned 43%. | source |
| Where does Meta miss its tROAS target, country by country? | $383K | Five tROAS campaigns, 200+ countries, March 1 to May 29 | 7% of spend, $27.6K across 17 combinations of country and campaign, was red on both D0 and All ROAS for three straight months. No dashboard flagged it. | source |
How to read these
Before you compare your own number to a row, check it in this order.
- Every row is one account, one period, one product. Treat it as a reference point, not a target.
- Check retention and price first. The ROAS a subscription app can reach depends on them before it depends on any campaign.
- Ask how fast your revenue arrives. A game with a live economy can look worse on day zero and better on day 28 than an app whose revenue arrives up front, so read the curve from day zero to day 28, not a single day.
- Judge CPI against the CPA ceiling from your unit economics, never on its own. A campaign can bring 10,000 cheap installs and zero subscribers.
- If your number still sits far from a row, bring it to the audit and I will read it.
What a ROAS gap costs
One figure on this page is arithmetic, not a result. On €100,000 of monthly spend, the gap between 107% and 132% ROAS is 25 points, or €25,000 of revenue a month, and what a mediocre ROAS is costing you shows the sum.
To price the gap on your own account:
- Take your monthly paid spend.
- Take your current blended ROAS.
- Take the ROAS you believe the account should reach at this spend level.
- Multiply the gap by the spend.
Questions people ask
What is a good CPI for a subscription app?
The one your payback can afford. CPI on its own tells you almost nothing; a campaign can bring 10,000 cheap installs and zero subscribers. I set the CPA ceiling from unit economics first and judge the rest on revenue.
What ROAS should I target on day zero?
It depends on how fast your revenue arrives. On the two accounts above, day zero ROAS settled at 17 to 23 percent on Horse Racing Solitaire, and Videa's best week reached 43 percent. What matters is the curve from day zero to day 28, and the post on day zero value versus CPA shows which one predicts it.
Why no industry averages?
Because the ones in circulation are unsourced or reported by the vendors themselves, and I would be repeating a number I cannot check. Every figure here has a case behind it that you can read.