Here’s what it costs to crack the top 25 mobile apps around the world

It can cost $200,000 in advertising expenses to push an app into the top 25 ranks in the U.S., according to data from mobile marketing firm Fiksu.

Fiksu analyzed what it costs to reach the top ranks in the iOS app store around the world. While the U.S. is the most expensive, it costs only $15,000 to hit the top 25 ranks in Canada.

Meanwhile, it costs $65,000 for Germany; $45,000 for the United Kingdom, $30,000 for France; $10,000 for Thailand; and $35,000 for Brazil.

Tom Cummings, director, account management at Fiksu, said in a statement, “Visibility in the iOS App Store is a great way to get more organic downloads — but climbing the ranks can be hard. Paid app promotion to generate downloads can help propel you to the top of the charts – but cracking the top 25 overall free apps in the U.S. is an expensive proposition. We’ve calculated what it takes to get to the most visible ranks in App Stores around the globe and complied the results to give you some alternatives to the pricey U.S. market. While the U.S. App Store remains the most lucrative, marketers with the option of promoting in other countries should at least consider app marketing that takes advantage of much lower costs to get top 25 visibility or better.”

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.