---
title: Choosing an app category by revenue per install (RPI)
slug: high-rpi-app-categories
summary: Which app categories earn the most per install (health & fitness, education, business per RevenueCat), the RPI and revenue-to-download ratios Steve P. Young looks for, and how to estimate competitors' revenue.
domain: mobile-apps
tags: [product-strategy, app-categories, rpi, market-research, sensor-tower, appmagic]
related: [app-idea-tentacle-strategy, app-growth-stages-organic-to-paid, app-marketing-budget-and-first-channel, app-break-even-cpi-and-revenue-per-install]
sources: [yt:cq6KhOH6GAw, yt:8afSYJU-y8s, yt:2jH64ziB7uM]
updated: 2026-10-23
---

# Choosing an app category by revenue per install (RPI)

## TL;DR
- Per RevenueCat's subscription report (2026), the highest **revenue per install** categories are **health & fitness**, then **education**, then **business** — Steve tries to stay in these.[^1]
- Category rankings barely change between **day 14 and day 60** RPI.[^1]
- Health & fitness break-even benchmark: ~**$3 RPI by day 14**, close to **$4 by day 60** — so $1,000 of spend can return ~$3–4K within two months if you can wait.[^1]
- Average paid **CPI is ~$2–5**, so RPI must exceed ~$2 for paid ads to work.[^2]
- For individual apps, look for **≥3:1 monthly revenue to monthly downloads** (Endel ~5:1).[^3][^4]
- Cross-check revenue estimates across **Sensor Tower, AppMagic, AppFigures** — Steve uses three as a tiebreaker.[^5]

## Details
**Why RPI first.** A category with high RPI lets organic traction later fund paid acquisition; low RPI caps you at whatever ASO alone delivers ([[app-growth-stages-organic-to-paid]]).[^2]

**Estimating an app's economics.**
- AppMagic (free) and Sensor Tower give monthly revenue and downloads. Endel: AppMagic ~$500K/100K downloads, Sensor Tower ~$600K/100K.[^3]
- They disagree, sometimes a lot: for BetterSleep, Sensor Tower said ~$600K on 200K downloads, AppMagic ~$800K on 600K, AppFigures also higher than Sensor Tower — Steve went with ~$800K as the majority view.[^5]
- Filter to iPhone/iPad: iOS users tend to pay more than Android users.[^6]

**Ratios Steve uses.** Revenue:downloads ≥3:1; for picking a "tentacle" source he prefers ≥$300K/month revenue at ~100K downloads.[^4] For running Meta ads he wants at least **$3 LTV per install** (LTV may only reach that by month ~11).[^7]

## Disagreements / caveats
- The RPI ranking is RevenueCat's aggregate across its customers; your niche may differ.
- Third-party revenue numbers are estimates and can be off by 2–3×.[^5]
- Steve also built a profitable app outside these categories — RPI is a filter, not a law.[^8]

## See also
- [[app-idea-tentacle-strategy]]
- [[app-marketing-budget-and-first-channel]]

[^1]: yt:cq6KhOH6GAw @ 02:22 — Steve P. Young
[^2]: yt:cq6KhOH6GAw @ 15:54 — Steve P. Young
[^3]: yt:cq6KhOH6GAw @ 06:22 — Steve P. Young
[^4]: yt:cq6KhOH6GAw @ 14:08 — Steve P. Young
[^5]: yt:8afSYJU-y8s @ 00:50 — Steve P. Young
[^6]: yt:cq6KhOH6GAw @ 05:35 — Steve P. Young
[^7]: yt:2jH64ziB7uM @ 06:37 — Steve P. Young
[^8]: yt:cq6KhOH6GAw @ 12:47 — Steve P. Young