TLDR;
- Global averages are a trap: There is no such thing as a "standard" global CPI. Costs can range from £0.10 in developing nations to £10+ in competitive Tier 1 markets like the US or UK.
- Budget by Tier, not by World: Group your target countries into economic tiers. Allocate distinct budgets for high-value regions vs. volume-heavy regions to stop cheap, low-quality traffic from eating your spend.
- LTV dictates your budget: You can't set a realistic acquisition budget without knowing your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). I've included a calculator below to help you figure this out.
- Google UAC needs boundaries: Universal App Campaigns are powerful but lazy. If you don't restrict them, they will find the cheapest (and often worst) users.
- Start small, scale what works: Don't launch everywhere at once. Pick 3-5 core markets, validate your CPA, and then expand.
Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out! It’s a bit of a tricky spot you’re in, trying to forecast a budget for a "global" launch without clear data. Tbh, I see this all the time with app developers and founders. You’ve built something great, you want the whole world to see it, but when you look for pricing benchmarks, you just find a massive range of numbers that don't really help you plan anything.
The short answer is that you can’t find clear data on "no location specified" pricing because, frankly, it doesn't exist in a useful way. Or rather, if you do run a campaign with no location constraints, Google’s algorithm is going to take your budget and dump it wherever clicks are cheapest—usually in places where the users might install the app but never spend a penny.
I’m happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on how to tackle this. I’ve managed app growth campaigns where we drove over 45k signups, and another for a software client getting users at under £0.96, so I’ve seen firsthand how wildly these costs swing depending on how you structure things. We'll need to look at breaking down the world into manageable chunks rather than treating it as one big market.
Below, I’m going to walk you through exactly how I’d approach budgeting for this, how to calculate what you should be paying based on your own business metrics, and how to avoid the common money-pits of international app campaigns.
The Myth of the "Global Average" CPI
I’d say the first thing we need to do is debunk the idea of a global Cost Per Install (CPI). If you look for an average, you might find a stat saying "global average is $2.00". But that number is dangerous. It’s an average of a $15 install in New York and a $0.05 install in rural India.
If you budget $2.00 per user and launch globally, here is what usually happens:
- Google’s UAC (Universal App Campaigns) sees you are willing to pay $2.
- It notices it can get users in Tier 3 countries for $0.10.
- It spends 90% of your budget getting 20,000 users in those cheaper regions to maximise the "number of installs" reported in your dashboard.
- You get almost zero users from the US, UK, or Europe because the algorithm avoids expensive auctions.
- Your backend analytics show high installs but near-zero revenue or engagement.
I remember one client who came to us after burning through their seed funding doing exactly this. They had impressive download numbers, but their retention was awful because the users weren't their actual target demographic—they were just the people Google could acquire most cheaply. You have to be smarter than the algorithm.
Tier Your Countries
You'll need to create specific "buckets" for your rollout. This is how we handle international campaigns to ensure we get data that is actually useful for projecting costs. You can't just set "All Countries" and hope for the best. You need to explicitly target groups of countries with separate budgets.
Here is a rough breakdown of how I usually split them up:
Tier 1: The Expensive Western Markets
USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.
Expect high competition. CPIs here are the highest, often £2 to £10+ depending on your niche (FinTech is pricier than a casual game). However, the LTV is usually highest here too. If you can make the math work here, you can scale.
Tier 2: Wealthy Non-English / European Markets
Germany, France, Nordics, Japan, South Korea, Singapore.
Still expensive, but sometimes slightly cheaper than the US. Localization is key here. If your app is English-only, your conversion rates might suffer, driving up your effective cost per acquisition.
Tier 3: Volume & Testing Markets
India, Brazil, Philippines, Indonesia, parts of Eastern Europe.
You can get massive volume here for pennies. If your app relies on ad revenue (showing ads to users) rather than in-app purchases, this might actually be your goldmine. But if you need users to pay £10/month, the conversion rates here will likely be very low.
I'd suggest picking one or two countries from Tier 1 to start your "realistic" budget testing. If you can acquire a user in the UK for £3, you can roughly estimate the US might be £3-£5, and Germany might be £2.50-£4.
Calculating What You Can Afford (Not What It Costs)
Instead of asking "How much does an install cost?", you probably should be asking "How much can I afford to pay for a customer?". This shift in thinking is massive.
In paid advertising, the winner is usually the company that can afford to pay the most to acquire a customer. If your competitor monetizes better than you, they can bid higher and push you out of the auction.
To do this, you need to know your LTV (Lifetime Value). I know it’s hard when you are just launching, but you must have some projections. What is your monthly subscription price? What is your expected churn?
I’ve put together a little calculator below to help you visualise this. It’s crucial to get these numbers straight before you spend a penny.
Once you run these numbers, you might realise that if your LTV is £200, you can actually afford to pay £50 for a customer. This opens up a lot of doors. Suddenly, those "expensive" Tier 1 countries aren't so scary because you know the math works.
The Google Ads Ecosystem for Apps
A few things specific to Google Ads that you need to watch out for. Google UAC is heavily automated. You don't pick keywords like "fitness app" or "accounting tool" in the same way you do for Search ads. You give it assets (text, images, video), a budget, and a goal (Install or In-App Action).
The "In-App Action" Trap
If you optimise just for "Installs," Google will find people who install apps but never open them. I've seen this happen so many times. It's usually better to optimise for an "In-App Action" (like "completed registration" or "finished tutorial") as soon as you have enough data. This forces the algorithm to find quality users, not just volume. This will raise your cost per install (CPI), but it usually lowers your Cost Per Paying User, which is what actually matters.
Also, don't forget the operating system variance. iOS traffic is generally more expensive than Android, but iOS users historically spend more money. If you are launching on both, split your campaigns. Don't lump them together or Android will eat the whole budget because it's cheaper.
Strategy for Your Rollout
So, here is my concrete advice for your situation. You are unsure of the budget, so you need to buy data. You have to treat the first month or two as an investment in intelligence, not just growth.
Phase 1: Validation (Weeks 1-4)
Don't launch globally. Pick 3 distinct markets to test your assumptions.
- 1 Tier 1 country (e.g., UK or Canada - often cheaper than US for testing).
- 1 Tier 2 country (e.g., Netherlands or Sweden - high English proficiency).
- 1 Tier 3 country (e.g., India or Brazil - for volume testing and bug squashing).
Phase 2: Optimisation (Weeks 5-8)
Look at your ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) for each region. You might find that India gives you users for £0.20 but they never subscribe. Meanwhile, the UK gives you users for £4.00 but 10% of them subscribe.
Cost per subscriber in India: £0.20 / 0.1% conversion (hypothetical) = £200.
Cost per subscriber in UK: £4.00 / 10% conversion = £40.
Suddenly, the "expensive" country is 5x cheaper for your bottom line.
Troubleshooting High Costs
If you start running these tests and find your costs are just astronomically high—way above what your LTV calculator says you can afford—then we need to look at the funnel. It’s rarely just "ads are expensive." It’s usually a mix of targeting, creative, and the app store listing itself.
I'd say you need to look at your App Store Optimization (ASO) just as much as the ads. If your store page doesn't look trustworthy, or the screenshots are boring, your conversion rate from "ad click" to "install" tanks, and your CPI skyrockets. Google gives you a "quality score" essentially; if people click your ad but don't install, Google charges you more to show the ad.
Don't Forget Competitor Research
One sneaky way to get benchmarks is to look at public companies in your niche if they exist, or just general industry reports (e.g. from AppsFlyer or Adjust). They often publish "State of App Marketing" reports that give regional breakdowns. It won't be exact for your specific app, but it's better than "no location specified."
Also, check out the Google Ads Keyword Planner. Even though you are running App campaigns, you can type in keywords related to your app to see the estimated CPC (Cost Per Click) for Search ads in different countries. If "accounting software" is £5 a click in the UK and £0.50 in India, you can infer that app installs will likely follow a similar ratio.
We've worked with a software client where we used this exact logic. We identified markets where costs were lower and launched an aggressive campaign there, managing to get over 3,500 users at roughly £0.96 each. But for their higher value segments, we focused solely on Tier 1 markets, accepting a much higher CPI because the LTV was there.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:
| Area | The Problem | Actionable Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Location Strategy | "No location specified" leads to budget waste in low-quality regions. | Group countries into Tiers (1, 2, 3) and run separate campaigns with separate budgets for each. |
| Budgeting | Unknown costs make budgeting a guess. | Calculate your max affordable CPA using LTV logic (see calculator above). Base budget on how many paying users you need. |
| Optimisation | Optimising for "Installs" brings in low-quality users. | Switch campaign goals to "In-App Actions" (e.g. Registration, Trial Start) as soon as you have ~50 conversions. |
| OS Targeting | Android cheap clicks eating iOS budget. | Split iOS and Android into separate campaigns to control costs and messaging. |
This stuff can be a bit of a minefield if you haven't navigated it before. It’s very easy to burn through a few thousand pounds learning these lessons the hard way. But if you start with a tiered structure and focus on LTV rather than just "cheap installs," you'll be miles ahead of most launches.
If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by the setup or just want a second pair of eyes on your projections before you hit the "launch" button, it might be worth getting some expert help. We offer a free initial consultation where we can look at your specific app category and help you sketch out a more realistic budget roadmap. No pressure, just a chat to make sure you aren't throwing money into the void.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
