How much does it cost to buy app installs?
What you pay to buy app installs on the App Store and Google Play: the price per install by store and type, what adds to it, and why the country does not change it.
When you buy app installs, you pay a fixed price for each one. With Rankforge that price depends on two things only: the store, and whether a person makes the install or it is generated automatically. The country and the way the install starts, from a search or from a link, do not change it.
Prices by store and type
| Store | Type | How the install is made | Price per install |
|---|---|---|---|
| App Store | Live installs | A person searches your keyword or opens your link, installs the app and opens it | €0.26 |
| App Store | Installs | Generated automatically, along the same path | €0.23 |
| Google Play | Premium | Generated automatically, for priority and competitive keywords | €0.17 |
| Google Play | Standard | Generated automatically, for testing and regular campaigns | €0.13 |
There are no live installs on Google Play. Every install there is automated, and the choice is between Premium and Standard.
What adds to the price
Two add-ons are charged per install, and both work on App Store live installs only, because an automated install leaves no rating and carries no retention.
- Rating, +€0.04. The person who installed the app leaves a rating.
- Retention checkpoint, +€0.02 each. The person opens the app again on the day you pick: day 2, 3, 8, 16, 23 or 31. You can add several.
The country does not change the price
One price in every country, and the same holds for the placement: an install from a search for your keyword costs the same as one through a direct link.
This is where buying installs differs most from ads. In an ad network the price of an install comes out of an auction for the audience in that country, so the same campaign costs a different amount in each market. With a fixed price per install, the budget for a new country is the same arithmetic as for the old one.
What a campaign costs: an example
Take one keyword, 50 installs a day for 10 days, which is 500 installs.
- App Store, live installs: €130. With a rating on every install, add €20.
- App Store, installs: €115.
- Google Play, Premium: €85.
- Google Play, Standard: €65.
There is no minimum order, so a first campaign can be a single keyword that you stop when you have seen enough.
Ad CPI and the price of an install measure different things
Cost per install, or CPI, is spend divided by installs over the same period. The formula is the same everywhere, but the number means different things in different channels.
In an ad network CPI is an outcome. You pay for impressions or clicks, and what an install cost becomes clear after the campaign, once you see how many people clicked and installed. When you buy installs, the price is known before you start, and you choose the keyword, the country and the volume.
The two also start differently. An ad install starts with a click on an ad. A keyword install starts with a search for your keyword in the store, and that search is the reason to buy it: the store sees the app found and installed for that query. So a lower number in one column says nothing about the other. Compare each against the job you need done.
Where Rankforge fits
- Buying installs for a keyword. Keyword installs run on the App Store and Google Play, at the prices above.
- Buying installs without a keyword. Direct installs go through a link to your store page and cost the same. They are for an app the store does not show for any search yet.
- Ratings and retention. Available on App Store live installs only. On Google Play we cannot add either.
- Estimating what ads would cost. We cannot do that: ad CPI comes from your ad account and changes with the auction.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does it cost to buy app installs?
- With Rankforge the price is set per install and depends on the store and on how the install is made. A live install on the App Store, made by a person, is the highest price in the list, and a Standard install on Google Play is the lowest. The full list is on our pricing page.
- Does the cost per install change by country?
- Not with us. One price in every country. In ad networks it usually does, because the price of an install there comes out of an auction for that country's audience.
- How do you calculate cost per install?
- Divide what you spent by the installs you got for it, both counted over the same period. $500 spent for 1,000 installs is a cost per install of $0.50. The formula is the same in every channel.
- Is there a minimum order?
- No. There is no minimum spend and no minimum term. You can run a single keyword and stop.
