Revenue cohort analysis shows how much revenue a group of app installs or paying customers generates in later periods. To compare groups fairly, define the event that starts each cohort and compare groups at the same age.
Revenue cohorts vs period totals
A period total answers how much revenue arrived in a date range. Revenue cohort analysis asks how the revenue from a defined group changes as time passes. The first view is useful for tracking current performance; the second helps compare acquisition or payment groups across their lifetimes.
These views can move in different directions. A recent month can have more revenue because it had more installs, even if each install produces less revenue over time. A cohort view separates the group's size from its later performance by reporting a per-customer or per-install measure alongside revenue.
Choose a clear revenue cohort definition
RevenueCat's Cohort Explorer documentation distinguishes New Customers, Initial Conversions, and New Paying Customers. The definition determines who appears in a cohort: someone who installed in January but first paid in March belongs to January's install cohort and March's first-payment cohort.
ActivationPal measures app-install cohorts and revenue per install. Its cohort ARPU is cumulative gross revenue from that cohort's own installs divided by installs, in USD, before refunds and store fees. Revenue must be linked to an install, so later renewals from customers acquired earlier remain with their original install cohort. This makes the measure useful for comparing what an acquired group generates, rather than the revenue posted in a calendar month.
Compare cohorts at the same age
Age is the number of periods since a cohort began. Compare week one with week one or month three with month three, using the same period length and cohort rule. Older cohorts have had more time to generate revenue, so comparing their totals with newer cohorts is misleading. Leave an unfinished current period out of the comparison because its value can still change.
Revenue by install cohort and subscription start cohort
An install cohort connects revenue to the group of people who entered the app in a given period. It helps compare how much each acquisition group generates per install as it matures, including installs that have not paid.
A first-paying-customer cohort groups customers by the date of their first payment. Subscription starts count subscriptions, so the two measures are different: one customer can have multiple subscriptions, and a first payment can be for a one-time purchase rather than a subscription. A first-payment cohort can help examine revenue after customers begin paying, but it leaves out the time between install and payment.
These definitions answer different questions, rather than forming steps in one period's funnel. Cohort revenue tracks what a group generates in later periods, not just revenue that began in its starting period.
Read revenue per install in ActivationPal
Use the cohort's cumulative revenue per install to compare how much gross revenue each install group has generated through the same age. Read it together with the cohort size: a small cohort can have a high per-install result without contributing the most total revenue.
For period revenue, renewals, refunds, and revenue by source, see ActivationPal; use cohorts when the question is how groups perform as they age.
For related measures, see cohort analysis, app LTV, and subscription metrics.