How Much Do Apps Make With 1,000 Downloads?
In our model, 1,000 downloads of a typical app earn between $121 and $663 from ads over their first year, depending on the category. Downloads only pay while people keep opening the app, so retention decides most of the result. A casual game lands near $458.
Updated · Every figure on this page is an estimate from our benchmark tables, not a quote from any network.
Ad revenue from 1,000 downloads, by app category
AdMob, typical ad setup for each category, balanced region split, blended platform. Revenue per install multiplies revenue per daily user by the expected active days per install.
| Category | Active days per install (1 year) | Per install (1 year) | Total, first 90 days | Total, first year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hypercasual Game | 5.8 | $0.23 | $143 | $225 |
| Casual Game | 13.3 | $0.46 | $241 | $458 |
| Mid-core / Strategy | 16.8 | $0.66 | $331 | $663 |
| Puzzle Game | 17.2 | $0.61 | $309 | $607 |
| Utility App | 11.0 | $0.12 | $64 | $123 |
| Social / Lifestyle | 12.9 | $0.27 | $137 | $269 |
| Finance App | 18.3 | $0.31 | $147 | $305 |
| Entertainment App | 11.2 | $0.27 | $143 | $270 |
| Education App | 11.1 | $0.12 | $64 | $121 |
Mid-core / Strategy gets the most out of 1,000 downloads at about $663 over a year, mostly because its players come back for longer, while Education App brings in about $121. That is a gap of about 5.5 times on the same number of installs.
Most of the money arrives early. For a casual game, the first 90 days produce about 53% of the first-year total from these 1,000 installs, because day-30 retention is already low.
How 1,000 downloads turn into daily users
A casual game. The left columns assume every install happens on day one; the last row assumes the installs arrive evenly over one month.
| Day | Daily active users | Ad revenue that day |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 380 | $13.05 |
| 7 | 140 | $4.81 |
| 30 | 60 | $2.06 |
| 90 | 35 | $1.19 |
| 180 | 24 | $0.84 |
| End of month, installs spread evenly | 146 | $5.00 |
All 1,000 installs at once leave about 380 people playing the next day, 140 after a week and 60 after a month. Spread evenly over a month, the same installs give roughly 146 daily users by the end of it, which is the number to type into a calculator.
1,000 downloads on each ad network
Casual game, first-year ad revenue, same audience on every network.
| Network | First-year revenue | Per install |
|---|---|---|
| AppLovin MAX | $560 | $0.56 |
| Google AdMob | $458 | $0.46 |
| ironSource / LevelPlay | $455 | $0.45 |
| Unity Ads | $449 | $0.45 |
| Vungle / Liftoff | $390 | $0.39 |
| Meta Audience Network | $377 | $0.38 |
| Chartboost | $338 | $0.34 |
| InMobi | $325 | $0.32 |
AppLovin MAX comes out ahead at about $560 for the year, against InMobi at about $325. Running several of these through mediation usually beats any single row.
Where the downloads come from
Casual game, first-year revenue from 1,000 downloads with three audience splits.
| Total, first year | |
|---|---|
| Emerging-market lean | $287 |
| Balanced global mix | $458 |
| Tier 1 lean | $683 |
Moving the same 1,000 installs from an emerging-market audience to a Tier 1 one multiplies first-year ad revenue by about 2.4, from $287 to $683.
Platform matters too: a casual-game install is worth about $0.41 on Android and $0.54 on iOS over a year in our tables, so 1,000 iOS downloads would bring in about $539.
To earn $1,000 a month from ads once installs have settled into a steady flow, a casual game needs about 2,200 new downloads a month, and a Mid-core / Strategy app about 1,600.
At 10,000 downloads the casual-game total for the first year would rise to about $4,584.
All figures come from our benchmark tables: Android eCPMs by tier, category or niche multipliers, modelled fill and the iOS multiplier. They are estimates for planning, not quotes.
Questions people ask
How much money does an app with 1,000 downloads make?
From ads alone, roughly $121 to $663 over the first year in our tables, depending on category. A casual game sits around $458, and most of it is earned in the first three months.
How much does an app earn per download?
About $0.12 to $0.66 per install over a year from ads, on our numbers. Finance and mid-core apps sit at the top because their users stay longer and attract higher bids.
Is 1,000 downloads enough to live on?
As a one-off batch, rarely: a casual game would make about $458 across a full year. What pays the bills is a steady monthly flow of installs and good retention, not a single total.