Contents
- ARPU divides total revenue by the number of active users, whether they bought or not.
- It folds conversion rate and average order value into a single figure: that is both its strength and its limit.
- Not to be confused with ARPPU, which counts only users who paid.
Definition
ARPU, average revenue per user, measures what a visitor brings in on average, whether or not they bought.
Formula
ARPU = total revenue divided by active users.
Worked example
A site brings in 84,000 euros from 40,000 active users, so 2.10 euros of ARPU. The next month, ARPU falls to 1.60 euro while average order value holds steady: traffic grew without converting more, a sign of lower-quality acquisition.
Orders of magnitude
No transferable benchmark: ARPU depends entirely on the business model. Track it over time and compare it across acquisition channels.
The most common mistakes
- Confusing it with ARPPU. The latter divides only by paying users, and returns a much higher figure.
- Reading it without breaking it down. A drop can come from conversion rate or from order value: you have to look at both to know which.
- Comparing it across sites. A site with high traffic and low conversion will always have a low ARPU without being less effective.
Where to find the metric
In GA4, the Average revenue per active user metric, in the monetization reports. ARPPU exists as average revenue per paying user.
Frequently asked questions
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