Facebook Ads Cost Per App Install Benchmarks for E-commerce

Introduction

The headline: E-commerce cost-per-app-install (CPI) in All countries available started the period well below the global benchmark, then fractured into extreme volatility with multiple mega-spikes that pushed its average far above the baseline. This analysis is based on $3B worth of advertising data from our dataset, which provides strong directional benchmarks. This analysis explores ad performance trends for E-commerce in All countries available compared to the global benchmark.

The story in the data

E-commerce CPI began July 2025 at $2.64 and finished April 2026 at $1,572.24 — a story of deep troughs and sudden surges. Across the ten-month sample the E-commerce series averaged roughly $1,319 per install, driven by three outsized peaks: December 2025 ($7,597), March 2026 ($2,900) and April 2026 ($1,572). The low point was $2.64 (July 2025), and the median-like behavior before the spikes sat under $20 for several months. By contrast, the global baseline over the same months averaged about $15.78 per install (monthly baseline medians ranged roughly $9.36–$30.13).

Magnitude and volatility stand out: month-to-month swings in the E-commerce series reached more than +43,000% (November→December) and +32,600% (February→March). Absolute month-to-month moves averaged about $2,156, versus about $5.6 average monthly change in the global baseline — a gap of roughly three orders of magnitude. In simple relative terms, the E-commerce average was about 84× the global median for this window, but that multiple is driven almost entirely by a handful of extreme months.

Seasonal and monthly dynamics

Early-season rhythm (July–October 2025) showed consistently low CPIs — a gentle lift from $2.64 to $4.97 — a pattern of below-average costs. November brought the first meaningful uptick to $17.58, then an abrupt and anomalous December spike to $7,597. January 2026 retraced substantially to $1,076, February dropped back under $9, then March and April saw renewed, large elevations. The cadence is irregular: quiet early months, an enormous December outlier, partial normalization in late winter, then another high-cost spell in spring.

These monthly dynamics contrast with typical seasonal behavior seen in many ad markets, where costs often rise into Q4 and stabilize in Q1; here the Q4–Q1 transition is punctuated by extreme, non-linear moves rather than a smooth seasonal curve.

Country vs. Global

Across the window, E-commerce CPIs in All countries available oscillated between being materially below and dramatically above the global benchmark. For July–October and February the series was below global medians (e.g., $2.64 vs $9.95 in July), while November, December, January, March and April were above baseline (December’s $7,597 vs baseline $9.36 is an extreme outlier). The global trend showed moderate month-to-month variability (average monthly change ≈ $5.6), whereas E-commerce performed far more volatile and episodic — “more volatile” in both absolute dollars and percentage change.

Understanding Cost Per App Install, Facebook Ads benchmarks, CPC trends, CPM analysis, CTR performance, country-specific ad costs and industry ad performance for E-commerce in All countries available highlights how a small number of outlier months can reshape averages and interpretation of performance.