IAP conversion / payer %

Formula

Paying users / active users

Unit

%

Models

Gaming

What it is

IAP conversion / payer % measures the share of active users who make at least one in-app purchase, calculated as paying users divided by active users.

How to calculate it

Divide the number of users who completed at least one IAP in a given period (or on a lifetime basis) by the total active user count for that period, then multiply by 100. The metric is most commonly reported as a lifetime payer rate or a daily conversion rate depending on the context.

Why it matters

For free-to-play mobile games, payer conversion drives the entire monetization model. Because the vast majority of players never pay, small improvements in conversion percentage compound significantly into ARPU and LTV. It is also the denominator anchor for average revenue per paying user (ARPPU).

Benchmarks & pitfalls

Business of Apps and Udonis (2025) report lifetime payer rates of roughly 2–5% across F2P mobile games, with ~5% representing a strong F2P average. Daily payer conversion above 0.5% is considered a good threshold. These are published benchmarks. Key pitfalls: 'active users' must be defined consistently (DAU vs. MAU changes the rate materially); lifetime payer rate inflates over a game's life as more users eventually convert, so cohort-based rates are more actionable than blended totals. IAP conversion also varies significantly by genre — strategy and RPG titles tend toward higher payer rates than casual games.