Answers
How do you value a mobile app before buying it?
Short answer: Value a small app on 12 months of profit after app-store fees, ad spend and server costs. Flippa's H1 2026 report gives sold apps an average of 2.62 times annual profit and 5.46 times in the top quarter. Subscription apps need a churn test, because high monthly cancellation can erase the revenue you are paying for.
What profit figure do you use for an app?
Use 12 months of net profit after the app store's commission, paid user acquisition, server and API costs, and a wage for any hours the seller spends on support and updates. App store dashboards show proceeds after the store's cut; match those to bank deposits, and get ad-network revenue (for ad-supported apps) from the network dashboard itself.
What multiples do apps sell for in 2026?
Flippa's H1 2026 Insights Report gives sold apps an average multiple of 2.62 times annual profit, with the top quarter at 5.46 times, slightly above SaaS (2.47 times) and content sites (2.32 times). The wide gap between average and top quarter means the details of each app matter a great deal. Our October 2026 sample had only 1 mobile app listing in the $10k–150k band, so we publish no app median.
What moves an app toward the low or high end?
- Revenue model. Subscription revenue with low churn supports higher multiples than one-off purchases or ad revenue.
- Churn. Monthly cancellations decide how long the revenue you are paying for lasts. Run a churn test before an offer.
- Store and platform risk. One store, one ad network or one API is a single point of failure; our checker flags platform dependence.
- Paid installs. If growth depends on paid acquisition, check the cost per install and payback per user, not just total downloads.
- Code and transfer. Confirm the source code, signing keys, developer account and any third-party SDK licences can move to you.
What does a $40,000 subscription app with 7% churn pay back?
A composite subscription app makes $1,800 a month of recurring revenue at a 70% margin, adds $150 of new subscriptions a month, loses 7% a month to cancellations and asks $40,000. As listed, payback is about 31.7 months. In the churn stress test, new sales outrun churn slightly, so payback is 28.7 months and revenue grows toward $2,143. If new sales stopped, revenue would fall to $753 after 12 months and the price would never be repaid.
Composite example, run through the SaaS churn stress test
| MRR today | $1,800 |
|---|---|
| Monthly revenue churn | 7% |
| New MRR added each month | $150 |
| Profit margin | 70% |
| Asking price | $40,000 |
| MRR after 12 months, new sales continue | $1,999 |
| MRR after 12 months, no new sales | $753 |
| Payback if MRR stayed flat | 31.7 months |
| Payback with churn and new sales | 28.7 months |
| Payback with churn and no new sales | never |
| All future profit if sales stop | $18,000 |
The price is fair only if the new subscriptions keep coming. The question for the seller is where they come from, and whether that channel transfers to you.
Frequently asked questions
What multiple do mobile apps sell for?
Flippa's H1 2026 report gives sold apps an average of 2.62 times annual profit and 5.46 times for the top quarter.
Are apps valued on downloads?
No. Downloads say little about income. Value the app on 12 months of verified profit, and use downloads, retention and churn to judge whether that profit will last.
Can an iOS or Android app be transferred to a buyer?
Both stores have app transfer processes between developer accounts, with conditions. Confirm with the seller, before you sign, that the app qualifies and that keys, code and third-party accounts move too.
Sources
- Flippa, The New Era of Digital M&A: Flippa's H1 2026 Insights Report (updated 24 July 2026), read 7 October 2026
- FirstPass Memo, online-business listing benchmarks, October 2026, our own data, CC BY 4.0
- FirstPass Memo, free buyer calculators, our own calculators; the formulas are on each page
- FirstPass Memo, red-flag checker rules, our own rules, published as /rules.json
Related
- Is buying an app worth it?
- Churn stress test
- How to value a small SaaS
- Red flag: depends on a platform
- What churn rate is acceptable?
- Glossary of listing terms
- More questions buyers ask
Get the 47 seller questions for SaaS and software listings
Enter your email and the next page gives you the SaaS and software seller question checklist (web page and PDF) straight away, no waiting, along with the other free files: 11 seller question checklists (151 questions across eleven business types), the 72-hour vetting plan and a 14-column deal-tracker spreadsheet. We also email you the links so you have them later.
No newsletter: we send one email with your links, and at most one more when online checkout opens. Reply "stop" to hello@firstpassmemo.com to be removed. Looking at a live listing priced $10k–150k? Get a full memo: $79, pay after delivery instead; its confirmation page has the same downloads.
Composite examples are invented and labelled. Figures from other sites are quoted with a link and the date we read them; FirstPass figures are asking prices and seller-stated profit, not sale prices. Informational screening only, not investment, legal or tax advice.