AdSitter

Apple Ads budgetand bid calculator.

Type in what a paying customer brings you and how many downloads pay. It works out what a download is worth to you, the most you can pay per download and per tap to break even, and a starting budget for a test. Free, no sign-up, and nothing you type leaves your browser.

Last updated Part of the AdSitter guides

What one paying customer brings you

For a subscription, use what one person pays before they cancel, if you know it. If not, try one year's price, then something lower.

How many downloads end up paying
From your own ads, if you have run any

Leave empty to use 54%, AdSitter's starting guess.

Leave empty if you haven't run ads yet.

What you can afford

Example numbers
A download is worth
$1.02You keep $25.50 from each paying customer, and 4% of downloads pay.
Most to pay per download
$1.02To break even. Pay more than this and the ads lose money.
Most to pay per paying customer
$25.50
Most to bid per tap
$0.55$1.02 × 54% of taps download, AdSitter's starting guess.

A starting test

$3 a day for 14 days, about $42 in all.

Enough for at least 30 downloads at $0.55 a tap, and at least 2 taps a day. Left running, Apple caps a month at 30.4 × $3 = $91.20.

A starting point, not a promise. Real costs come from Apple’s auction and change from search to search.

How it works it out

  1. What you keep. Apple takes a commission on paid apps and in-app purchases. The calculator takes off 15%, the rate in Apple’s App Store Small Business Program, for developers who made up to 1 million USD in proceeds the year before. If you pay a different rate, pick “already what I keep” and type your own figure.
  2. What a download is worth. What you keep from one paying customer, times the share of downloads that pay. With free trial numbers, that share is the share who start a trial times the share of trials that become paid. This is also the most a download can cost before the ads lose money.
  3. The most to bid per tap. What a download is worth, times the share of taps that become downloads. That is Apple’s own method: decide what you can afford per customer, estimate the share of people who tap and download, and pay up to that share of it per tap. Apple calls that share the tap-through conversion rate: downloads from taps, divided by taps. Your bid is a ceiling: you never pay more than it, and may pay less.
  4. A month, left running. A campaign’s daily budget is an average, and a month won’t cost more than the daily budget times 30.4, so a day can go over.

AdSitter's rule of thumb

Size the first test to learn, not to win. It should buy at least 30 downloads from people who weren’t searching for your app by name, over 14 days, and at least two taps a day. Under 30 downloads, what one costs is still mostly luck. The calculator rounds the daily amount up to a whole dollar. Apple adds that a new campaign’s numbers can take 24 to 48 hours to show, and a bid must be less than the daily budget.

Where the starting numbers come from

The form opens with made-up numbers so the answer isn’t blank. Replace them with yours. The one number that isn’t made up is the share of taps that download, and it is still a guess.

Example, with made-up round numbers

A paying customer pays $30, and 4% of downloads pay. Less Apple’s 15%, you keep $25.50, so a download is worth $1.02. If 54% of taps download, the most to bid is $0.55 a tap. A test of $3 a day for 14 days costs about $42.

AdSitter's rule of thumb

When you leave the tap field empty, the calculator assumes 54% of taps become downloads. That is the starting guess AdSitter uses for searches that aren’t your app’s name. It comes from a published industry median, not from Apple, and your app will differ. Once your own ads have 20 or more taps, type in your own share.

For how daily budgets, billing and a first campaign fit together, read how much to spend on Apple Ads when you start.

Questions

How do I work out my max cost per tap bid in Apple Ads?

Apple’s own method: decide what you can afford to pay for a new customer, estimate the share of people who tap your ad and then download, and multiply the two. In Apple’s example, $2.50 at 40% gives a $1.00 bid. The calculator does the same, starting from what a download is worth to you.

What is a download worth to me?

What you keep from one paying customer, times the share of downloads that pay. With the example numbers on this page, you keep $25.50 and 4% pay, so a download is worth about $1.02. That is also the most a download can cost before the ads lose money.

How much should I spend on a first Apple Ads test?

AdSitter’s rule of thumb is enough for at least 30 downloads over 14 days, and at least two taps a day. Apple doesn’t name an amount, and it says a new campaign’s numbers can take 24 to 48 hours to show, so give it several days before changing much.

Why did Apple spend more than my daily budget?

Apple treats the daily budget as an average over the month. A busy day can go over, but a month won’t pass 30.4 times the daily budget.

What if I don't know how many people pay?

Try a few values and see how much the answer moves. If you use RevenueCat, it shows how many new people start a trial and how many pay. For a paid app with nothing to buy inside it, every download pays, so enter 100%.

Is this a promise of what my ads will cost?

No. It is a starting point from your own numbers. What you pay for a tap is set in an auction, and your bid is a ceiling, so your real cost per download can be higher or lower.

Sources

Facts about how Apple Ads and the App Store work come from Apple’s own pages, listed below. We read them on . Apple changes them, so check the page itself before a big decision. Anything marked as AdSitter’s rule of thumb is our own judgment, not Apple’s.

Rather not do the math every week?AdSitter can do it for you.

You set a hard monthly limit. AdSitter picks the keywords, sets the bids, pauses what wastes money, and explains every change in plain English. You can set up and connect Apple Ads today, in about 5 minutes.

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