App Install Ads in India: What an Install and a Sale Really Cost

1. By Platform

One wholesale e-commerce business's shopping app, November 2025 to October 2026. CPM is the cost of showing the ad 1,000 times.

These are installs as Google and Meta report them, and they count generously: Meta, for example, credited installs made within a day of someone just seeing the ad. Independent tracking is stricter, and an industry sample of Indian apps puts e-commerce at about ₹18 per install. Counting only installs that came after a tap on the ad, campaigns set to get installs cost about ₹1.27 on Google and ₹1.51 on Meta, so the low cost is not down to generous counting alone. None of this is retargeting: every campaign here went after people who did not have the app.

Installs cost the same on both. Do not read too much into the gap in cost per sale: almost all of Meta's app spend here went on campaigns set to get installs, while about half of Google's spend was on campaigns set to get sales, and each platform counts sales its own way.

2. By Campaign Goal

The same app, the same period. The goal is what you tell the platform to find for you.

On Google, asking for sales cost about 4 times more to show the ad (₹91 against ₹24 per 1,000 views), most likely because it goes after people who are more likely to buy. Installs cost a little more, but each sale was about 4 times cheaper. On Meta's install campaigns, 334 people installed for every one sale.

3. By Type of App

Google campaigns set to get installs. The two smaller rows are early tests, so treat them as a rough guide.

₹1 per install is not a normal Indian benchmark: the type of app changed the cost 5 to 9 times.

4. What It Means

• Judge app ads on cost per sale, not cost per install. On Meta, only 1 in 334 people who installed went on to buy.
• Set campaigns to get sales once the app has steady sales. Use install campaigns only at launch.
• Make sure the app reports sales to Google and Meta, or the ads cannot learn who buys.
• Work out what a customer is worth first. The ad profit calculator shows the most you can pay per sale.

How These Numbers Were Worked Out

Total spend divided by the installs and sales that Meta and Google reported, from apps I run or advise, shown by category only. Platforms can over-count sales, so use these to understand the pattern, not as targets. For the website side of the same business, see the India Meta Ads Cost Report. For setting up app campaigns, see how to build an app with Claude Code.