How to use the app ARPU calculator
ARPU (average revenue per user) divides by every active user, not just the ones who paid. Confusing it with ARPPU, which counts only payers, changes the number by an order of magnitude: at a 3% paying share, ARPPU is roughly 33 times ARPU. The two are linked by ARPU = ARPPU x paying share, so entering paying users shows all three figures together on this page. Rounding can leave a cent or two between the product and the ARPU shown.
Enter in-app purchases, ad revenue and subscriptions as gross revenue, and put refunds and chargebacks in their own field to be subtracted. If refunds exceed revenue, net revenue and ARPU display as negative amounts, which does happen in a month with heavy refunds. Use an active user count from the same period as the revenue: dividing a quarter of revenue by monthly MAU inflates the result threefold.
Enter the length of the period in months and the calculator divides the period ARPU shown above by that number for a monthly figure. ARPU norms differ sharply by genre, country and monetization model, so no average is presented here. Comparing against your own previous period is far more useful.
Frequently asked questions
ARPU when comparing against the cost of acquiring a user, ARPPU when reviewing the pricing of paid items. The denominators differ, so the two values must not be compared with each other.
Include it when measuring whole-app monetization. To isolate in-app purchases, enter only purchase revenue and record which basis you used so every period matches.