Mobile Game CPI Benchmarks 2026: Why One Average Is Useless
There is no answering "what is the average mobile game CPI." In 2026 the real range runs from $0.08 for casual Android in India to $60 for social casino on Tier 1 iOS — a 750x spread. A meaningful benchmark only exists once three axes are specified: genre, platform, and region.
This post is the table for those three axes. Tactics for lowering CPI are in How to Lower Game CPI: Proven Strategies for Mobile Marketers, the calculation itself in How to Calculate Game CPI, and last year's movements in 2025 Mobile Game CPI Trends: Global Cost Shifts and Strategic Insights. Here we focus on the 2026 numbers and how to read them.
Axis 1: Genre × Platform (Tier 1)
Genre is the largest variable. Within the same Tier 1 markets, the spread between genres runs to dozens of times.
Genre | iOS (Tier 1) | Android (Tier 1) |
|---|---|---|
Hypercasual | $0.80-2.50 | $0.30-1.20 |
Casual / Puzzle | $2.50-6.00 | $1.20-3.00 |
Idle RPG | $4.00-9.00 | $2.00-5.00 |
Mid-core / Strategy | $8.00-18.00 | $4.00-10.00 |
Slots / Social casino | $20.00-60.00 | $10.00-30.00 |
Two things to read here. First, Android runs 40-60% below iOS in the same genre (some sources report the gap as 3-4x). The background on platform cost structure is in Mobile eCPI by OS Platform: iOS vs Android. Second, genre CPI is the market price of that genre's LTV — social casino CPI is $60 not because it is expensive, but because it pays back.
Axis 2: Region (Casual / Puzzle Android)
Hold genre and platform constant, change region, and the gap still exceeds 20x.
Region | CPI range |
|---|---|
United States | $1.50-3.50 |
UK / Canada / Australia | $1.00-2.50 |
Western Europe | $0.60-1.50 |
Southeast Asia | $0.20-0.60 |
LATAM | $0.15-0.60 |
India | $0.08-0.30 |
This table is the starting point for budget allocation — but cheap is not the same as efficient. India and SEA sit at a fifth to a twentieth of US CPI because ARPU sits there too; the real judgment is CPI relative to LTV, never CPI alone. The specific terrain of both markets is covered in India's Mobile Game Market and Southeast Asia's Mobile Game Market.
Axis 3: Time — CPI Rose 30% in 2026
The third axis is the year. Gaming CPIs increased roughly 30% year over year in 2026, driven by intensifying platform competition. If you are still working from last year's benchmark sheet, you are judging against a bar that is already 30% off.
The increase squeezes low-LTV, low-CPI models like hypercasual first. Models with LTV high enough to leave headroom in the CPI ceiling absorb it better — which is the economic reason the shift to hybrid-casual keeps accelerating, a structure we detailed in Hybrid-Casual Monetization: The Economics Behind the Genre Everyone Is Converting To.
Three Rules for Using These Benchmarks
First, fix your coordinates before comparing. A comparison without genre, platform, and region specified means nothing. "Our CPI is $3, is that good?" is unanswerable; "Tier 1 Android casual at $3" is answerable.
Second, never judge CPI alone. CPI acquires meaning only paired with LTV. The frame for deriving your affordable ceiling from LTV is in LTV vs CPI Strategy: What Should Drive Your Mobile Game UA Plan?, and the first-week payback verdict in D7 ROAS Benchmarks: The Targets That Tell You a Campaign Will Pay Back.
Third, do not mistake a cheap CPI for performance. CPI can always be pushed down, but if retention collapses in exchange, total cost rises. The structure of that trap is in Low CPI vs. High Retention: Why Optimizing for the Wrong Metric Costs More, and whether your acquired cohorts clear the bar can be checked against D1/D7/D30 Retention Benchmarks for 2026.
What Is Left When CPI Inflates: The Playio Perspective
When CPI rises 30%, there are only two responses: buy cheaper, or raise the value of what you bought. The first has hit its ceiling under competitive pressure, which leaves the second.
Playio sits on that second path. Matching users by genre taste and play history inside a community of five million gamers changes the retention probability from the moment of acquisition, and playtime-based and in-game action-based rewards build post-install engagement directly. CPE pricing in particular ties cost to completed engagement rather than the install — structurally avoiding the CPI-inflation trap of having bought installs but not players. Being Android-only globally, it also overlaps precisely with the low-CPI Android markets in the table above. Campaigns run on CPI or CPE pricing.
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Key Takeaways
As of August 2026, mobile game CPI spans a 750x range — $0.08 for casual Android in India to $60 for Tier 1 iOS social casino. A meaningful benchmark exists only once genre, platform, and region are fixed; Android runs 40-60% below iOS in the same genre; and regional gaps put India at a twentieth of US levels. CPI itself also rose about 30% year over year, so last year's sheet is already 30% wrong. Three rules cover the rest: fix your coordinates first, judge CPI only alongside LTV, and never mistake a cheap CPI for performance.
For inquiries about Playio's advertising solutions, reach out at: [email protected]
Sources
Admiral Media, Mobile App Marketing Benchmarks 2026 (genre × platform CPI, Android 40-60% below iOS, gaming CPI +30% YoY): https://admiral.media/mobile-app-marketing-benchmarks-2026/
Game Growth Advisor, Mobile Game User Acquisition CPI Benchmarks 2026 (regional casual/puzzle Android ranges, the "no single average is useful" caveat): https://gamegrowthadvisor.com/blog/2026-03-17-user-acquisition-cpi-benchmarks-2026/