AppTweak’s Apple Ads benchmarks 2025: costs, best practices, KPIs

Apple Ads benchmarks are essential for app marketers optimizing their campaigns. With Apple Ads spend projected to grow beyond 2025, access to up-to-date performance data helps set realistic goals, allocate budgets effectively, and measure success against industry norms.

In this guide, we cover AppTweak’s Apple Ads benchmarks, key performance metrics, and 2025 trends that will influence your strategy. The benchmarks are based on data from AppTweak’s clients who run Apple Ads campaigns. Whether you’re launching a new campaign or fine-tuning existing ones, these insights will help you make informed, data-driven decisions.

Key takeaways

• CPT varies by market and vertical: The global median CPT is about $0.92. Costs differ meaningfully across categories (for example, higher in Finance and Games) and are best evaluated in search results campaigns.
  
• CPI benchmarks show clear variation: In the U.S., Sports and Games trend higher, while Music and Utilities are more cost-efficient. Globally, markets like the U.S. and Japan report higher CPIs, while the Philippines and Vietnam remain more affordable.
  
• Category differences matter: In the U.S., conversion efficiency is strongest in Photo & Video, Graphics & Design, and Music. Shopping and Finance trend lower, requiring more refined creative and CPP strategies.
  
• Geography impacts costs: CPI and TTR benchmarks vary significantly by country. The U.S. tends to show higher CPI, while several APAC and Latin American markets report lower costs, underscoring the importance of localizing benchmarks.
  
• Placement roles are distinct: Search results deliver intent-driven efficiency with stronger conversion rates and CPI. Search Tab and Today Tab support discovery and awareness, where CPM is most useful. Product Pages provide contextual reach with competitive CPI.
  
• Custom product pages improve outcomes: Tailored creatives mapped to keyword intent can lift conversion rates, improving CPI and downstream ROAS across both paid and organic.
• AppTweak Campaign Manager advantage: AppTweak’s Campaign Manager for Apple Ads integrates Apple Ads data, ASO insights, competitor intelligence, and MMP integrations in one place, enabling benchmarking, automation, impression share tracking, and ROAS optimization at scale.

What are Apple Ads benchmarks?

Apple Ads benchmarks are standard performance metrics marketers use to assess campaign effectiveness by category, geography, and campaign type. These benchmarks help contextualize performance metrics like cost per tap, conversion rate, and return on ad spend.

The Apple Ads benchmarks below are based on AppTweak data from nearly 3,500 apps, 50,000 campaigns, and $1B in ad spend in 2025. Note that you can always access Apple Ads performance metrics in AppTweak, including benchmarks in your category, including cost per tap, cost per install, tap-through rate, cost per mille, and conversion rates.

Apple Ads benchmarks vary strongly by country, category, placement (search results, Today tab, search tab & product pages) and campaign type (brand, generic, competitor).

Key Apple Ads metrics definitions

• Tap-through rate (TTR):
  Tap-through rate is the percentage of users who tap after viewing your ad. TTR is calculated by dividing the number of taps by impressions.
• Conversion rate (CR):
  Conversion rate is the percentage of taps that result in installs. To get your CR, divide your downloads by the number of taps.
• Cost-per-tap (CPT):
  Cost-per-tap is the average cost per ad tap. CPT is calculated by dividing spend by the number of taps
• Cost-per-acquisition (CPA):
  Cost-per-acquisition measures the total cost spent to acquire a new user. CPA is determined by dividing total spend by the number of installs.
• Cost-per-mille (CPM):
  Cost-per-mille measures the cost per one thousand impressions. CPM is most relevant for awareness-driven placements like Today Tab and Search Tab, where impression volume is high.
• Return on ad spend (ROAS):
  Return on ad spend is used to understand the efficacy of a campaign. You can calculate ROAS by dividing the revenue made from the campaign by the amount of ad spend spent on it.
• Retention rate:
  Your app’s retention rate measures the percentage of users who continue to use it over a set period of time. After you set the time period, you can find the retention rate (percentage) by dividing the remaining number of users by the end of this period by the number who started at the beginning, and multiply by 100.

Performance by placement

Apple Ads offers four key ad placements on the App Store: Search results, Search Tab, Today Tab, and Product Pages. Each placement serves a different purpose in the user journey, and their performance benchmarks reflect these differences.

Search results: high intent, high performance
With around 65% of all app downloads on the App Store happening directly after a search, search results campaigns are a key driver of installs and ROAS. Users here are actively searching with intent, which explains why benchmarks for conversion rate and CPI are typically strongest in this placement.

Search Tab: broad reach, moderate efficiency
Appearing before a user types a query, Search Tab ads offer prime visibility to help reach audiences early in the discovery funnel. As a result, tap-through rates are lower than in search results, but this placement remains valuable for reaching new audiences early in the discovery funnel.

Today Tab: awareness at scale
The Today Tab is one of the most visible placements on the App Store, offering premium exposure on the front page. Benchmarks typically show higher CPMs alongside lower conversion rates, making this placement best suited for awareness and brand-building.

Product Pages: contextual relevance
Product Page ads appear on the pages of apps similar to yours. While intent is not as strong as in search results, these campaigns can deliver solid conversion rates because they reach users who are already exploring apps in your category. They work well as a complement to search results campaigns.

Apple Ads cost-per-tap (CPT) benchmarks

The median CPT for search results campaign across countries and categories is $0.92. Since taps are the first step toward conversion, CPT is an essential metric to measure ad relevance, competitiveness, and overall campaign efficiency.

Below, we focus on CPT benchmarks for search results campaigns.

Apple Ads cost-per-tap by country

The following benchmarks are the median cost per tap (CPT) for search results campaigns.

• U.S.: $1.91
• U.K.: $1.35
• Canada: $1.17
• Australia: $1.15
• Japan: $1.11
• Germany: $1.11
• France: $0.92

Apple Ads cost-per-tap by category

In the table below, we have the cost-per-tap benchmarks for search results campaigns by category for the U.S. Apple Ads market, based on AppTweak data.

It’s important to note the median cost-per-tap of your app category so you can manage expectations and strategies when implementing your Apple Ads campaigns. For instance, in search results campaigns, we can see a difference in median cost-per-tap for shopping apps at $2.05 and finance apps at $3.55. 

Apple Ads cost-per-install (CPI) benchmarks

The median CPI for search results campaigns across countries and categories is $1.80. Cost-per-install (CPI) is one of the most important Apple Ads benchmarks because it shows how much, on average, you’re paying for each new user. Here we focus on search results campaigns because they capture high-intent users who are already browsing the App Store and actively searching for apps. Since installs are the main conversion event for this ad type, CPI is the most accurate and actionable metric to evaluate performance and compare acquisition costs across categories and markets.

Apple Ads cost-per-install benchmarks by category

The table below highlights median CPI benchmarks for search results campaigns in the U.S., broken down by app category.

Cost-per-install benchmarks vary significantly by app category. Sports apps ($26.81) and Games ($12.28) show higher CPIs, which reflect high visibility demand in these verticals.

By contrast, Music ($2.11), Utilities ($2.90), and Productivity ($3.13) apps report lower CPIs, indicating more cost-efficient opportunities to acquire new users. Categories such as Finance ($8.23) and Shopping ($6.20) sit in the mid-range, where advertisers balance acquisition costs with high long-term monetization potential.

Apple Ads cost-per-install benchmarks by country

Cost-per-install benchmarks vary widely by market, reflecting differences in competition, user purchasing power, and overall app demand.

The table below shows median CPI benchmarks for search results campaigns by country, helping you compare acquisition costs across key regions.

Cost-per-install benchmarks also highlight clear differences between markets. Countries such as the United States ($4.06), Japan ($2.57), and the United Kingdom ($2.60) show higher CPIs, reflecting strong demand for visibility in mature app markets.

Naturally, emerging markets, including the Philippines ($0.73), Vietnam ($0.86), and Colombia ($0.82), report lower CPIs, while mid-range markets like France ($1.78) and Germany ($2.14) reflect more moderate acquisition costs typical of mature European markets.

Apple Ads cost-per-mille (CPM) benchmarks

Cost-per-mille is particularly useful for understanding the competitiveness of high-visibility placements such as the Today tab or Search tab, where impression volume is high but user intent may vary. The median CPM for today tab campaigns across categories and countries is $3.53.

Apple Ads cost-per-mille by country

The table below shows median CPM benchmarks for different ad placements by country, helping you compare costs across key regions.

CPM benchmarks are most meaningful in awareness-driven placements such as the Today Tab and Search Tab.

• For example, Japan’s Search Tab CPM ($11.85) is among the highest, while countries like Brazil ($3.29) and Colombia ($2.92) show far lower costs.
• On the Today Tab, Australia ($4.61) and Norway ($4.94) stand out on the higher end, compared to Brazil ($0.74) and Vietnam ($1.44), which remain more cost-efficient.
• Product Page ads typically fall in the mid-range, such as Canada ($22.29) and the United Kingdom ($20.27), offering contextual visibility at moderate CPMs.

Apple Ads conversion rate (CTR) benchmarks

The global median conversion rate (CTR) for Apple Ads in search results campaigns is 56%, in Search Tab campaigns is 15%, Today Tab campaigns 7.7%, 15% for product pages campaigns, according to AppTweak’s Campaign Manager.

Apple Ads conversion rates by country

The table below shows median CTR benchmarks for different ad placements by country.

TABLE TITLE: Apple Ads conversion rate benchmarks by country and ad placement type

If you’re planning to run campaigns across multiple markets, we highly recommend you check out our guide to app store localization, which has tips for Apple Ads and Google Play platforms.

Apple Ads conversion rates by category

Here are the median conversion rates for search results campaigns in the U.S., by category, according to AppTweak data.

Conversion rates differ notably by category. Photo & Video (64%), Graphics & Design (63%), and Music (61%) lead with the strongest conversion efficiency. In contrast, Finance (46%), Health & Fitness (46%), and Shopping (41%) show lower conversion rates, underscoring the need for optimized creatives and tailored messaging in these verticals.

Apple Ads conversion rate by campaign type

Apple Ads offers different campaign types depending on your goals.

Here are the search results conversion rates by Apple Ad campaign type for the U.S.

• All campaigns: 55% CR
• Brand campaigns: 73% CR
• Competitor campaigns: 50% CR
• Generic campaigns: 54%

Want to learn more about the different Apple Ads campaign types? Read our ultimate guide to Apple Ads.

Custom product page conversion rate benchmarks

Custom product pages, which are alternatives to your default store page, are becoming increasingly important to improve your App Store visibility. In AppTweak, you can find the custom product page benchmarks for your region by campaign type (brand, generic, competitor).

For example, in the U.S., a generic campaign for apps with a custom product page has a conversion rate of 60.3% versus 51.7% without a custom product page.

In AppTweak, you can get custom product page benchmarks by country for brand, generic, and competitor campaigns for both apps and games.

Apple Ads tap-through rate (TTR) benchmarks

Below you’ll find the Apple Ads tap-through rate benchmarks by ad placement and country.

Apple Ads tap-through rate benchmarks by ad placement

Tap-through rate varies significantly across Apple Ads placements. The table below shows global median TTR benchmarks for search results, Search Tab, Today Tab, and Product Pages, highlighting how user intent influences engagement.

Search results campaigns consistently drive the highest TTR worldwide, reflecting strong user intent. Today, Tab and Search Tab ads are designed to drive awareness and discovery, with TTRs reflecting their upper-funnel role.

Apple Ads tap-through-rate benchmarks by country

Since most installs are driven by search results campaigns, TTR by country is typically measured in this placement. The table below shows search results TTR benchmarks across top markets, allowing you to compare performance by region.

Tap-through rates in search results campaigns show meaningful variation by market. Countries like Austria (10%), Romania (9.6%), and South Africa (9.8%) stand out with some of the highest engagement rates, well above the global median.

In contrast, markets such as India (5.2%), Vietnam (5.6%), and Saudi Arabia (5.5%) report lower TTRs, highlighting the importance of adjusting expectations — and creative strategies — based on regional benchmarks.

ROAS and CPA trends

As Apple Ads matures, advertisers are moving beyond surface-level metrics like cost per tap or tap-through rate and focusing more on profitability benchmarks such as return on ad spend (ROAS).

While many marketers also track cost per acquisition, in this guide, we use cost per install as a standardized proxy. Cost per install represents the acquisition cost at the install level, while CPA may also include deeper in-app events such as purchases or subscriptions, typically tracked via MMP integrations.

Here are the 4 key trends shaping ROAS and CPI in 2025:

1. Search results provide strong ROAS
   High-intent searches often deliver the most efficient return on ad spend. Marketers should make search results a key reference point for ROAS benchmarks, where user intent is strongest.
   
2. Competitor campaigns show varied ROAS
   While bidding on competitor keywords often leads to higher CPIs, these campaigns can still play a role in winning market share and attracting new audiences. They should be measured with expectations that reflect their exploratory nature.
3. Custom product pages lift profitability
   Custom product pages are becoming a key driver of ROAS improvements. By tailoring creatives to keyword or audience intent, advertisers see higher conversion rates, which directly improves CPI and downstream ROAS.
4. Shift towards outcome-based optimization
   With MMP integrations, more advertisers are moving from optimizing for installs (CPI) to optimizing for in-app events and ROAS. Campaign Manager automates this process, making it easier to tie bids to revenue-driving actions.

Together, these trends show that ROAS is becoming the north star metric for Apple Ads in 2025. CPI remains the most standardized proxy for acquisition costs, but ROAS reveals the true profitability of campaigns.

How to measure Apple Ads performance effectively

Measuring Apple Ads performance is about more than tracking a single metric. It’s important to utilize the right platforms and data sources to monitor your campaigns. Let’s review the tools needed to measure Apple Ads performance.

Native Apple Ads reporting

Apple Ads’ native reporting provides essential real-time campaign data: impressions, taps, tap-through rate, cost-per-tap, and tap-to-install conversion rate. This makes it a great tool for day-to-day optimizations, such as adjusting bids or reallocating budget when certain keywords underperform.

Third-party tools

App marketers also like to use third-party tools to contextualize performance data.

They help advertisers:

• Benchmark results against competitors and category averages
• Combine Apple Ads performance with other marketing signals, such as ASO or MMP data
• Automate campaign management and scale efficiently across countries or large keyword sets

AppTweak’s Campaign Manager for Apple Ads

While some platforms focus on a single piece of the puzzle, AppTweak’s Campaign Manager integrates Apple Ads data, App Store Optimization (ASO) insights, competitor intelligence, and Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) integrations in one place. This provides advertisers with a 360° view of acquisition performance.

With Campaign Manager, app marketers can:

• Uncover new growth opportunities. Expand beyond brand keywords with AppTweak’s keyword discovery tools, while tracking impression share to benchmark against competitors in your category.
  
• Optimize campaigns with confidence. Set up automation rules to adjust bids, pause underperformers, or reallocate budget in real time, ensuring spend is always aligned with your goals.
  
• Measure what really matters. Integrate with MMPs like Adjust or AppsFlyer to connect Apple Ads campaigns to downstream events such as retention, subscriptions, or in-app purchases.
  
• Save time at scale. Leverage bulk editing, smart bidding, and customizable dashboards to cut manual work and focus on strategy.
  

With this holistic approach, AppTweak’s Campaign Manager helps advertisers not only analyze and optimize Apple Ads but also connect paid and organic strategies, making it easier to drive profitable, sustainable app growth.

Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs)

MMPs such as Adjust or Appsflyer extend measurement beyond the install. They provide insight into retention, in-app purchases, and subscriptions, allowing advertisers to optimize for long-term value instead of just installs. AppTweak integrates with MMPs, meaning you can connect in-app event data with Campaign Manager’s automation rules—optimizing campaigns not just for cost-per-install (CPI), but for return on ad spend (ROAS) and lifetime value (LTV).

Other considerations: SKAdNetwork 4.0

Apple’s SKAdNetwork 4.0 plays a role in post-install attribution by offering longer measurement windows and more granular conversion values. While it isn’t a tool you “use” directly, advertisers should ensure their event mapping and MMP integration are correctly set up to take advantage of SKAN’s improvements.

Best practices for interpreting Apple Ads benchmarks

Apple Ads benchmarks are powerful tools, but it’s important to interpret them with context. Here’s how to use them effectively.

Compare within your category
Benchmarks for gaming apps look very different from finance or lifestyle. Comparing across categories could lead to misleading conclusions.

Account for seasonality
Metrics like cost per install and tap-through rate fluctuate around key moments such as Black Friday, back-to-school, or new device launches. A spike in costs during Q4 doesn’t necessarily indicate poor performance—it often reflects heightened competition.

Look for opportunities, not just validation
If your app’s cost per tap is slightly above category benchmarks but your conversion rate is higher, you may still be acquiring users efficiently. Benchmarks should guide where you can improve visibility or creative relevance, not just confirm results.

Factor in app maturity
New apps often face higher cost per install while building awareness. Established apps are likely more able to afford higher acquisition costs because of strong downstream monetization. Always assess benchmarks relative to your growth stage and retention model.

AppTweak’s view on Apple Ads trends for 2025

Here are the top Apple Ads trends we’ve observed for 2025 based on AppTweak’s data and partner insights.

Automation for discovery and scale

Automation is playing a bigger role in how advertisers structure their campaigns. A best practice is to use Search Match and broad match in dedicated discovery ad groups, then promote proven keywords to exact match campaigns for tighter control.

To protect efficiency as you scale, pair this setup with rule-based optimization. AppTweak’s Campaign Manager for Apple Ads helps advertisers automate these workflows by surfacing keyword opportunities, setting smart bidding rules, and optimizing towards ROAS at scale.

Custom product pages go organic

As we learned from Apple WWDC 2025, custom product pages are no longer limited to ads. Apple’s recent keyword mapping update allows custom product pages to potentially appear in relevant organic App Store search results.

This creates new opportunities to align creatives across both paid and organic, ensuring users see the most relevant product page variation for their intent. For marketers, it means custom product pages are now central to both Apple Ads and ASO strategies, helping boost conversion rates across channels.

Balancing discovery and creative relevance

Broad match and Search Match campaigns continue to be essential for keyword discovery, but they need to be paired with a structured approach. Advertisers should broaden reach responsibly, then transition high-performing terms into exact match campaigns. For a deeper dive, read Best practices to structure your Apple Ads search results campaigns.

At the same time, creative optimization through custom product page ad variations ensures ads stay relevant to the user’s query. Together, this approach lifts tap-through rates and conversion rates while keeping acquisition costs under control.

Auction dynamics and category-level cost shifts

With more advertisers investing in Apple Ads, auction dynamics continue to evolve. Instead of assuming costs will rise across the board, savvy marketers look at category-level benchmarks and impression share to evaluate performance.

Some categories may see higher cost per install, while others remain stable. The key is to monitor shifts by category and region, and use these insights to decide whether to adjust bids, reallocate budget, or refine creatives. AppTweak’s Campaign Manager helps advertisers track impression share over time to identify these opportunities.

Case study: How SoundCloud achieved 190% ROAS

SoundCloud, the world’s largest music and audio platform, relies heavily on the App Store as its primary acquisition channel, with 75% of its downloads driven by search. Despite this strong organic foundation, the brand’s Apple Ads campaigns struggled to scale. Daily budgets were consistently underutilized, with spend capped at only 56%.

Challenge: Find new keyword opportunities

The challenge was clear: SoundCloud needed to unlock new keyword opportunities and optimize campaign efficiency to maximize reach and profitability.

Solution: Use AppTweak to find top keywords

To address this, SoundCloud partnered with AppTweak’s App Growth Consultants and Data Science team, who implemented a structured, multi-step approach. Using Atlas AI, AppTweak’s proprietary language model, the SoundCloud team identified thousands of highly relevant keywords and clustered them into a dedicated discovery campaign.

By systematically migrating high-performing keywords into performance campaigns with tailored bids, and using negative keywords to avoid overlap, SoundCloud expanded reach while maintaining tighter budget control. This disciplined structure was key to balancing discovery and efficiency.

Made custom product pages part of the strategy

Custom product pages and outcome-based optimization rounded out the strategy. SoundCloud deployed CPPs in category and competitor campaigns, which improved conversion rates by 58%. At the same time, automation rules and ROAS-driven bidding allowed them to align spend with long-term value goals.

The results were striking: 

• Installs from non-brand keywords grew 4x
• Budget utilization tripled
• ROAS on non-branded campaigns increased by 190%.

This case study highlights how combining AppTweak’s automation, keyword intelligence, and creative optimization can turn underperforming Apple Ads campaigns into sustainable engines for growth.

Conclusion

AppTweak’s Apple Ads benchmarks give app marketers the context they need to evaluate performance and make informed, data-driven decisions. By looking at costs, conversion rates, tap-through rates, and return on ad spend across categories, markets, and placements, advertisers can set realistic goals and uncover areas of opportunity.

The 2025 data shows that efficiency varies meaningfully by vertical and region, and that each placement on the App Store plays a different role in the user journey. Custom product pages, automation, and structured discovery remain important levers for improving performance, while outcome-based measurement continues to gain traction.

With the right tools, such as AppTweak’s Campaign Manager for Apple Ads, marketers can benchmark against competitors, connect performance with downstream events, and automate optimizations to stay aligned with their growth objectives. Want to see the Apple Ads benchmarks that matter most for your app? Explore AppTweak now with a free trial.

Start free trial

FAQs

Below, we answer the most frequently asked questions about Apple Ads benchmarks.

What is a good conversion rate for Apple Ads?

According to AppTweak’s Apple Ads benchmark data, a good conversion rate for Apple Ads search results campaigns is above 60%. Note that conversion rates do vary by category.

How much do Apple Ads cost?

Apple Ads costs are based on a cost-per-tap (CPT) model. Actual costs vary by placement, app category, and market. For Search result campaigns, the median CPT is $0.92 across app categories and regions. The average CPI is $1.80 across app categories and regions.

What is the average CPI for Apple Ads?

While there isn’t one universal average CPI for Apple Ads, as benchmarks vary by category and market, according to AppTweak’s benchmarks, the global median CPI for search results campaigns is $1.80. And in the U.S. the median CPI is $4.06.

What is the average CPT for Apple Ads?

According to AppTweak’s benchmarks, the global median cost-per-tap (CPT) for Apple Ads is around $0.92, but actual costs vary by country and category—for example, CPT in the U.S. averages $1.91 while finance apps can exceed $3.50. AppTweak’s Campaign Manager provides detailed CPT benchmarks by market and category.

What is the average CPA for Apple Ads?

There isn’t a single average cost-per-acquisition, since it depends on each app’s business model and in-app events. As a proxy, AppTweak benchmarks cost-per-install (CPI), which typically ranges from under $1 in some categories to several dollars in highly competitive verticals.

How do custom product pages impact Apple Ads conversions?

Custom product pages can drive improvements in key performance metrics for both apps and games. According to AppTweak’s ASO trends and benchmarks report, apps saw conversion rates jump 5.9% and gaming experienced a 3.5% conversion rate lift.

How do I compare Apple Ads performance by category?

You can compare Apple Ads performance by category using benchmarks for cost-per-tap, conversion rate, and cost-per-install. AppTweak’s Campaign Manager provides category-level benchmarks so you can see how your app stacks up against competitors in your category

How do I measure ROAS for Apple Ads?

To measure ROAS for Apple Ads, divide the revenue generated from users acquired through your campaigns by the total ad spend. Use post-install event data from your MMP to capture full revenue, not just installs. You can do all this in AppTweak’s Campaign Manager.