Every founder running paid app installs eventually asks the same question — "is my CPI any good?" The honest answer requires three follow-up questions. What vertical are you in. Are you mostly Android or iOS. Are you targeting Tier 1 cities or going broader. Without those three pieces of context, "is Rs. 45 a good CPI" is unanswerable. With them, you can benchmark your install cost against the rest of the Indian market in 30 seconds.

This piece breaks CPI down across the seven app verticals we work in most often — fintech, edtech, gaming, D2C/grocery, healthcare, B2B SaaS, and lifestyle/social. For each, we cover the typical CPI band on Android, the iOS premium, the city-tier variance, and the retention signals that tell you whether the install was worth the money.

If you haven't yet read our broader take on cost per install in India or the playbook on increasing app installs without burning cash, those provide the foundation. This piece goes deeper into vertical-specific benchmarks.

"Average CPI in India" is a meaningless number. Vertical-specific CPI is the only benchmark that tells you whether you're being run well or being burned.

Fintech — the premium install

Fintech is the most expensive consumer app vertical in India by CPI, and one of the most profitable on a per-user basis when retention works. Lending and credit apps are the priciest, followed by trading and investment apps, then payments and wallets.

CPI bands

What pulls CPI up

KYC requirements thin the funnel — not every install converts to an active user, so Meta and Google have to bid more aggressively to find qualifying users. Regulatory creative restrictions (e.g., RBI guidelines on lending claims) limit what messaging can be used. Tier 1 city concentration is heavy — fintech's best-paying users are in metros, which is where competition is fiercest.

Edtech — the seasonal install

Edtech CPIs in India are highly seasonal, with admission cycles (May-July, October-December) pulling rates up 30-60%. Test prep apps face the steepest auctions; K-12 and language learning are more stable.

CPI bands

What pulls CPI up

Cohort-based monetisation means the first install is rarely the revenue event — users have to enrol in a course to monetise. So the CPI is usually 1.5-3x lower than the cost-per-paid-user, which is the metric that actually matters. Test prep faces extreme seasonality; running steady spend year-round wastes 25-40% of budget in low season.

Gaming — the volume install

Gaming is the lowest-CPI vertical in India by a wide margin, but also the lowest-LTV in most subgenres. Hyper-casual is cheapest; mid-core and strategy command higher CPIs because of stronger monetisation.

CPI bands

What pulls CPI up

Auction density is brutal in gaming — there are thousands of advertisers globally bidding for similar audiences. iOS is structurally hard for Indian gaming because the audience is small and the highest-paying users are heavily contested. Live-service games with ongoing content updates can sustain higher CPIs because retention is stronger.

The cheapest install isn't the most valuable install. LTV-adjusted CPI is the only number that matters at the bank.

D2C and grocery — the repeat-purchase install

D2C and grocery apps in India range across a wide CPI band depending on category and basket size. Quick commerce is the most expensive subset; specialty D2C (beauty, food, fashion) sits in the middle.

CPI bands

What pulls CPI up

Quick commerce has high installation, low retention dynamics — most users install for a single use case and uninstall. Fashion and beauty face seasonal spikes (Diwali, EOSS) where CPIs jump 40-80%. The right metric here is cost-per-first-purchase, not raw CPI — paying Rs. 60 for an install that converts to a Rs. 800 first order is a fundamentally different deal than Rs. 30 for an install that never purchases.

Healthcare — the booking-driven install

Healthcare apps span clinic booking, consultation, pharmacy, fitness, and wellness. CPIs vary widely because the conversion event varies — appointment booking, prescription order, gym membership.

CPI bands

What pulls CPI up

Trust signals are critical — people don't install random healthcare apps. App store reviews, ratings, and brand familiarity carry more weight here than in any other vertical. Tier 1 city concentration is heavy, particularly for consultation and mental health. Retention for fitness drops sharply after the new-year spike, distorting CPI calculations across the year.

B2B SaaS — the low-volume install

B2B SaaS apps in India have the highest CPIs of any vertical because the addressable audience is small (decision-makers within target companies) and competitive density per user is high. But LTVs are also dramatically higher.

CPI bands

What pulls CPI up

Tight ICP targeting (specific industries, company sizes, job titles) shrinks the audience pool. iOS is heavily over-indexed in B2B SaaS — most decision-makers carry iPhones — so iOS spend is justified despite the higher CPI. Cost per qualified demo or trial signup is the real metric, not CPI.

Lifestyle and social — the broad install

Lifestyle, social, dating, and content apps face moderate CPIs with very high creative dependency.

CPI bands

The quick-reference CPI table

Vertical Android CPI (Rs.) iOS CPI (Rs.) iOS Premium
Hyper-casual gaming10-2235-702.5-3.5x
Edtech (K-12)18-3550-902.5-2.8x
Lifestyle / content22-5060-1302.5-2.8x
Fashion D2C22-4555-1102.4-2.5x
Test prep edtech35-6080-1402.2-2.4x
Quick commerce35-7080-1602.2-2.3x
Fintech (payments)35-6580-1402.2-2.3x
Healthcare consult45-90100-2002.2x
Mid-core gaming25-5070-1402.7-2.8x
Lending / credit55-120130-2802.3x
B2B SaaS (SMB)60-130140-2802.2-2.3x

Three signals your CPI is off

  1. Your CPI is dramatically below the lower bound for your vertical.If your B2C lending app is hitting Rs. 18 CPI on Android when the band is Rs. 55-120, the installs are almost certainly incentivised — users who installed for a points reward and will never KYC. The cost-per-KYC will tell the truth.
  2. Your CPI is climbing without creative or audience changes.If you haven't refreshed creative in 6+ weeks and CPI is up 25-40%, creative fatigue is the cause. Test 4-8 fresh variants before assuming the auction has shifted.
  3. Your CPI on iOS is identical to Android.iOS CPI should run 2-3x Android CPI in almost every vertical. If the gap is smaller, you're either underbidding on iOS (so spend is starving and iOS volume is artificially low) or you're missing iOS-specific tracking (so installs aren't being attributed properly).

Frequently asked questions

Across verticals, the average CPI in India is roughly Rs. 25-45 on Android and Rs. 70-150 on iOS in 2026. But the average is misleading — actual CPIs range from Rs. 10 (gaming on Android) to Rs. 250+ (B2B SaaS on iOS). The right benchmark for your app depends on vertical, platform, geography, and the conversion event you're optimising for.
Hyper-casual gaming and entertainment apps have the lowest CPIs in India — typically Rs. 10-25 on Android. The trade-off is low LTV; users install easily but monetise weakly. Higher-CPI verticals (fintech, B2B SaaS, healthcare) have lower install volumes but dramatically higher per-user value, so the unit economics often work better despite the higher CPI.
Two reasons. iOS users represent only 5-15% of India's smartphone base, so the audience pool is much smaller and competitive density is high. iOS users also have higher purchasing power on average, so advertisers bid more aggressively to reach them. Together this pushes iOS CPI to 2-3x Android CPI in most verticals. The good news — iOS users typically generate 2-4x the LTV, so the unit economics often justify the higher CPI.
For fintech apps in India in 2026, a good CPI is Rs. 40-90 on Android and Rs. 80-180 on iOS for prospecting campaigns. Lending and credit apps typically run 20-30% higher (Rs. 55-120 Android) due to stricter conversion requirements. Anything below Rs. 30 on Android typically signals incentivised or lower-quality installs that won't convert through KYC.
For edtech apps in India in 2026, a good CPI is Rs. 18-40 on Android and Rs. 50-110 on iOS. Test prep apps (UPSC, JEE, NEET) typically run higher (Rs. 35-60 Android) due to highly competitive auctions. K-12 and language learning apps can hit Rs. 18-30 on Android with strong creative. Cost per first-paid-user is the more meaningful metric than raw CPI for edtech.
Yes, significantly. Tier 1 cities (Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai) carry premium CPIs — typically 30-60% higher than Tier 2-3 cities — because audiences have higher purchasing power and competitive density is higher. Tier 2-3 cities deliver volume at lower CPI but often lower retention. Most apps benefit from segmenting these into separate ad sets and optimising each independently rather than running "India-wide" campaigns.
Six factors drive CPI up — competitive density in your vertical (highest in fintech and gaming), seasonal auction pressure (Q4 is brutal across all verticals), creative fatigue (the same ads age out at 4-8 weeks), poor store-listing conversion rates (low ASO scores), low retention rates (Meta and Google deprioritise apps with poor retention signals), and platform mix (iOS-heavy is structurally more expensive).
Five highest-leverage levers: refresh creative weekly (4+ new variants per month minimum), optimise the Play Store and App Store listing aggressively (ASO lifts conversion 15-35%), build lookalikes off paying users not signups, segment Tier 1 vs Tier 2-3 cities into separate ad sets, and switch the ad campaign optimisation event from "install" to a downstream in-app event once you have 50+ events per week.

In closing

Use these benchmarks as sanity checks, not as targets. Your actual CPI will land somewhere within the band based on creative quality, account history, and execution discipline. The teams that consistently land near the lower bound of their vertical's range are the ones who treat ASO, creative refresh, and audience structure as ongoing weekly work — not as set-it-and-forget-it.

If your CPI is above the upper bound for your vertical and you're not sure why, the diagnosis is the work. We run that diagnosis as part of the audit — pulling your account, comparing to vertical benchmarks, identifying which lever is broken.

Our app marketing service handles paid acquisition end-to-end on hybrid commercial models. The audit (free) maps your current numbers and the gap to your vertical's benchmark.