Facebook Ads Cost Per App Install Benchmarks for E-commerce

Introduction

The main story is volatility: E-commerce cost-per-app-install (CPI) in All countries available shows a mostly low median with a handful of dramatic spikes that inflate the average. 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

Across the 11-month window (Jun 2025 → Apr 2026) the E-commerce CPI series begins at $28.87 (Jun 2025) and closes at $1,572.24 (Apr 2026). The median monthly CPI in the selected series is $17.58, while the arithmetic mean is approximately $1,202 — a gap driven by extreme outliers. The low point is $2.64 in July 2025; the high is $7,597.07 in December 2025.

Month-to-month swings tell the narrative: an initial drop from $28.87 to $2.64 (≈ −91%) in July is followed by modest recoveries into autumn (August ~$5.64; September ~$7.11). November ticks up to $17.58 (+254% vs October), then December explodes to $7.6K — the year’s defining spike. Early 2026 remains unstable: January falls to ~$1,076, February collapses back to single digits (~$8.87), March surges to ~$2,900, and April settles near $1,572. Measured as absolute monthly percent-change, the series averages extremely large swings (driven by three outsized jumps in Dec ’25, Jan ’26 and Mar ’26); excluding those three months, month-to-month movement is typically within a few dozen to a few hundred percent.

Seasonal and monthly dynamics

Seasonality is overshadowed by episodic volatility. There is a pronounced holiday-period disturbance: December 2025 contains the largest anomaly, with CPI at ~$7.6K — orders of magnitude above typical levels. The period from November through April shows greater amplitude than Jun–Oct 2025. In contrast, the mid-summer and early fall months (Jul–Oct 2025) display the most consistent, lower-cost rhythm, with median values under $10. The baseline global pattern shows a modest peak in February 2026 (baseline CPI ≈ $30.13) but nothing comparable to the selected market’s December and March spikes.

Country vs. Global

Comparing E-commerce in All countries available to the global baseline reveals two faces of the market. The baseline mean CPI across the broader dataset is roughly $15.6 per month; the selected series’ median ($17.58) sits slightly above that baseline level, but the selected mean (~$1,202) is orders of magnitude higher because of outliers. Month-by-month, the selected market is below baseline for several months (July–October 2025 and February 2026 — e.g., July selected ~$2.64 vs baseline ~$9.95) yet vastly above baseline in the spikes (December selected ~$7,597 vs baseline ~$9.34; March selected ~$2,900 vs baseline ~$16.57). In relative terms, the gap swings from roughly 50–70% below baseline in quieter months to multiple-thousand-percent above baseline at peak.

Closing

This summary highlights cost per app install volatility in E-commerce across All countries available versus a global benchmark — a series with low central tendency but extreme episodic spikes. Understanding Cost Per App Install benchmarks, CPC trends, CPM analysis and CTR performance context for E-commerce in All countries available and how country-specific ad costs compare to Facebook Ads benchmarks supports clearer interpretation of industry ad performance.