Apps, Games & ecommerce – we accelerate your business with AI‑powered creative and performance marketing.
A specialist-focused ranking of the top UA agencies evaluated on channel depth, creative velocity, attribution expertise, and LTV optimization — not just campaign setup.
User acquisition (UA) is the process of acquiring new users for a mobile app through paid advertising channels. In 2025, mobile UA is one of the most technically demanding disciplines in digital marketing — a convergence of data science, creative production, attribution methodology, and platform algorithm expertise that has fundamentally outpaced what generalist agencies can deliver.
The core channels for mobile UA — Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, Apple Search Ads, and Google UAC — each operate on fundamentally different auction dynamics, bidding strategies, creative best practices, and measurement frameworks. Meta’s Advantage+ campaigns require a different creative strategy than TikTok’s In-Feed Ads. Apple Search Ads bidding strategy is entirely distinct from Google UAC’s automated bidding systems. An agency that genuinely understands all four channels has built an expertise depth that takes years to develop.
This is why UA-specialist agencies consistently outperform generalist agencies in mobile app campaigns. Specialist agencies have vertical-specific benchmarks that tell them when a CPI is good or bad for a casual gaming app in the US market. They have creative playbooks for what works on TikTok for subscription fitness apps. They have institutional knowledge of Apple Search Ads keyword strategies for specific app categories. This depth does not exist in agencies that treat mobile app UA as one service among dozens.
This guide ranks the 8 best UA agencies specifically for mobile apps in 2025, with particular focus on agencies that treat UA as their primary or exclusive discipline rather than offering it as part of a broader service menu.
Does the agency have certified expertise across all major UA platforms — not just Meta? True UA specialists maintain platform partnerships with Apple Search Ads, TikTok, Meta, and Google. Certified agency status provides access to beta features, dedicated platform support, and advanced auction insights.
Mobile UA in 2025 is primarily a creative testing discipline. The agency that can produce and test the most new creative variants per week — at acceptable quality — will consistently outperform. Top UA agencies test 15–40 new creative concepts per month and have clear processes for scaling winners.
Post-iOS 14 mobile attribution is complex. SKAdNetwork, Privacy Threshold, Modeled Conversions, and the interaction between MMP data and platform-reported metrics require deep technical competency. Agencies must have certified expertise with AppsFlyer, Adjust, or Singular and understand how to make optimization decisions from imperfect data.
UA without LTV optimization is install-buying. The best UA agencies optimize toward downstream value signals — D30 ROAS, predicted LTV tiers, subscription conversion rates — not just installs. This requires the ability to feed first-party event data back to platform bidding algorithms and build custom audience models based on high-LTV user profiles.
Hidden fees, non-disclosed media margins, and lack of direct account access are red flags. Top UA agencies offer clear fee structures, client-owned ad accounts, and direct MMP access. Ask any prospective agency: “Will I own my ad accounts and attribution data at the end of the engagement?” The answer should be an unqualified yes.
Admiral Media is the top-ranked user acquisition agency on this list for 2025. The agency specializes exclusively in paid user acquisition for gaming and subscription mobile apps, operating across all four major UA platforms: Apple Search Ads, TikTok Ads, Meta, and Google UAC.
Why Admiral Media ranks first for UA: The agency’s entire operation is structured around performance-based user acquisition. Unlike full-service agencies where UA is one department among many, Admiral Media’s team is composed entirely of UA specialists with deep channel expertise. The agency’s proprietary Admiral Performance Loop™ framework systematizes the process of data analysis, creative iteration, bid optimization, and channel reallocation into a continuous improvement cycle that compounds performance gains over time.
Measurable performance: Admiral Media reports an average 4.2x ROAS across its managed gaming and subscription app portfolio and an average -41% CPA reduction for clients transitioning from in-house or generalist agency UA management. These figures reflect the agency’s focus on LTV-weighted optimization rather than raw install volume.
Apple Search Ads: Admiral Media is a certified Apple Search Ads partner. This certification provides direct access to Apple’s agency team, beta features including custom product pages in campaigns, and advanced reporting. Apple Search Ads consistently delivers the highest D30 retention rates of any paid UA channel for iOS apps, and Admiral Media’s ASA expertise is a significant differentiator for iOS-primary apps and gaming titles in competitive categories.
TikTok expertise: Admiral Media’s TikTok UA capabilities are specifically built for gaming and subscription categories, including creative formats — spark ads, branded hashtag challenges, TopFeed — and audience strategies optimized for these verticals.
Scale: With €500M+ in ad spend managed across 150+ brands, Admiral Media’s scale means the team has encountered and solved UA challenges at every budget level, from early-stage scaling at $50K/month to enterprise programs at multi-million-dollar monthly spend.
HQ: Barcelona, Spain (remote-first) | Framework: The Admiral Performance Loop™ | Website: admiral.media
Moburst offers full-service mobile UA combined with ASO, making it a strong option for brands that want a single agency to manage both paid acquisition volume and organic store conversion. The agency’s UA capabilities span Meta, Google UAC, Apple Search Ads, and programmatic channels, with a creative studio that produces assets for all platforms.
Moburst’s experience with enterprise brands including Samsung and Google demonstrates its ability to manage complexity and large-scale programs. The agency is less vertically specialized than Admiral Media but compensates with breadth of channel coverage and enterprise-grade account management infrastructure.
Best for: Consumer apps seeking integrated paid + organic management with enterprise-level account structure.
Phiture approaches UA from a growth consulting perspective, integrating paid acquisition with CRM, push notification strategy, and retention work. For apps where the UA and retention problem are deeply connected — subscription apps with high early churn, for example — Phiture’s holistic approach can be more effective than a pure UA-execution agency.
The agency’s Mobile Growth Stack framework provides a structured model for thinking about all levers of mobile growth simultaneously, and Phiture’s consulting engagements often begin with an audit across the full stack before focusing on UA execution.
Best for: Apps that need growth strategy alongside UA execution, particularly where retention and monetization are limiting factors on UA ROI.
RPLG Digital is a performance-first UA agency with a strong gaming vertical presence. The agency operates with lean team structures that give clients direct access to campaign managers rather than account management intermediaries. This structure is valued by gaming studios that want real-time transparency into optimization decisions.
RPLG Digital’s approach is data-centric — campaigns are evaluated purely on ROAS, CPI, and LTV metrics, and budget allocation is driven by channel performance data rather than predetermined media plans.
Best for: Gaming apps prioritizing direct team access and pure performance measurement.
Upptic combines UA management with in-house creative production specifically for gaming apps. The agency’s core thesis — that creative quality and testing velocity are the primary performance levers in gaming UA — has led it to build a creative studio that produces playable ads, video ads, and static assets alongside managing the paid channels that distribute them.
Upptic publishes the Gaming Growth Benchmark Report, providing data-driven context for gaming UA KPIs across casual, mid-core, and hyper-casual categories. This published data reflects the agency’s operational depth in gaming UA measurement.
Best for: Gaming studios that need both UA management and creative production from a single partner.
Yodel Mobile is one of the longest-established mobile growth agencies in Europe, founded in 2008 and headquartered in London. The agency has navigated multiple major platform changes — including the iOS 14 ATT framework — and this institutional experience in adapting UA programs to platform privacy changes is a significant value for UK and European app companies operating under GDPR constraints.
Yodel’s integrated paid/organic model, combining ASO with paid UA across ASA, Meta, and Google UAC, creates a flywheel effect where improved store conversion rates reduce effective CPI across all paid channels simultaneously.
Best for: UK and European apps seeking an experienced UA partner with strong ASO integration and GDPR-compliant measurement frameworks.
Appsumer occupies a unique position in the UA agency landscape: it began as a UA analytics platform that aggregated cross-channel performance data and evolved into a managed services offering for enterprises that need both the intelligence infrastructure and execution capability under one roof. Following its acquisition by AppsFlyer, Appsumer clients benefit from deep integration with AppsFlyer’s attribution data.
Appsumer’s managed services are particularly suited to large apps running UA across five or more channels simultaneously, where the data aggregation and cross-channel attribution challenges are themselves significant operational problems. The platform’s reporting layer provides clarity that individual channel dashboards cannot.
Best for: Enterprise apps with complex multi-channel UA programs needing consolidated analytics and attribution infrastructure.
Redbox Mobile is a London-based agency built on the principle that App Store Optimization is the most important foundation for efficient UA. The agency’s approach integrates ASO work — keyword optimization, screenshot and creative asset testing, ratings and review strategy — with paid UA channels to create a combined program where improvements in organic conversion rate directly reduce CPI across all paid channels.
For apps with underoptimized store presence, Redbox’s ASO-first methodology can deliver significant efficiency gains in the first 90 days before media investment is materially scaled. The agency serves clients across consumer, gaming, and utility app categories.
Best for: Apps with weak App Store conversion rates that want to fix organic fundamentals before scaling paid UA investment.
Understanding how UA agencies structure their fees is essential for budgeting and for evaluating whether an agency’s incentives align with your growth objectives. Here are the three primary pricing models used by UA agencies.
The most common UA agency fee structure. The agency charges 10–20% of the monthly media budget managed. On a $100,000/month media spend, this means $10,000–$20,000 in management fees. This model is transparent and easy to forecast. The potential misalignment: an agency paid on percentage-of-spend has a financial incentive to increase budgets even when scaling is inefficient. Counter this by negotiating a tiered percentage that decreases as spend increases, and by including ROAS or CPI targets as conditions for budget increases.
A fixed monthly fee regardless of media spend level. Retainers typically range from $5,000/month for smaller programs to $30,000+/month for large multi-channel programs. This model aligns well for stable programs with predictable scope. The risk is that flat-fee structures can reduce urgency on high-effort tasks — make sure your contract specifies deliverables, minimum campaign checks per week, and creative testing volume commitments. Best suited for programs with consistent monthly spend levels.
A base management fee (retainer or percentage-of-spend) combined with performance bonuses tied to agreed KPI targets — for example, a bonus triggered when CPI falls below a defined threshold or when ROAS exceeds a minimum floor for 30 consecutive days. This model creates the strongest incentive alignment between agency and client. The base fee covers operational costs; the performance bonus rewards genuine improvement. Admiral Media uses a hybrid model, customized to each client’s unit economics and growth objectives. Performance bonus structures are negotiable and should be tied to metrics within the agency’s control.
| Program Stage | Monthly Media Spend | Typical Agency Fee | Total Monthly Investment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Stage / Testing | $10,000 – $30,000 | $5,000 – $8,000 | $15,000 – $38,000 |
| Growth Stage | $30,000 – $150,000 | $8,000 – $20,000 | $38,000 – $170,000 |
| Scale Stage | $150,000 – $500,000 | $15,000 – $35,000 | $165,000 – $535,000 |
| Enterprise | $500,000+ | Custom (typically 5–10% of spend) | Custom |
Note: Fees shown are illustrative ranges. Actual fees depend on the number of channels managed, creative services included, and agency. These figures represent management fees only; media spend is paid directly to advertising platforms.
A user acquisition (UA) agency is a specialized marketing agency that manages paid campaigns to acquire new users for mobile apps. UA agencies run campaigns on platforms including Meta (Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, Apple Search Ads, Google UAC, and programmatic networks. Their core function is to drive installs or registrations at a target cost per install (CPI) or cost per action (CPA), while optimizing toward downstream metrics such as ROAS, D7 and D30 retention, and lifetime value (LTV). UA agencies differ from full-service digital marketing agencies in their deep focus on mobile attribution, platform bidding algorithms, creative iteration velocity, and the data science of cohort performance optimization. The best UA agencies operate as strategic growth partners rather than just campaign managers.
User acquisition agencies use three primary fee structures. The most common is a management fee as a percentage of monthly ad spend, typically ranging from 10% to 20%. The second model is a flat monthly retainer ranging from $5,000 to $50,000+ per month. The third — and most aligned — model is a hybrid structure combining a base retainer with performance bonuses tied to KPI targets such as CPI floors or ROAS minimums. Pure performance-based arrangements (pay-per-install) are rare for established agencies because they require the agency to absorb media spend risk. All fee models should be paired with client-owned ad accounts and direct MMP access to ensure data portability regardless of agency relationship status.
A good ROAS for mobile user acquisition depends heavily on the app category and monetization model. For mobile games with in-app purchase monetization, a D30 ROAS of 0.3–0.5x is common at scale — meaning campaigns recover 30–50% of spend within 30 days, with full payback occurring over 3–9 months. For subscription apps with strong initial conversion, ROAS can exceed 1.0x within the first billing period if average revenue per user (ARPU) is high and churn is low. Admiral Media reports an average 4.2x ROAS across its managed gaming and subscription portfolio, reflecting long measurement windows where LTV compounds over 6–12 months. The most actionable ROAS benchmark is your own payback threshold — the point at which cohort revenue covers acquisition cost — which is determined by your ARPU, retention curve, and CPA ceiling.
The most effective UA channel varies by app category. Apple Search Ads consistently delivers the highest post-install retention rates for iOS apps because it reaches users with active purchase intent, searching for apps in the App Store. Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) provides the broadest user acquisition volume across almost all app categories with sophisticated machine-learning audience optimization. TikTok Ads performs best for gaming, entertainment, and lifestyle apps that have strong video creative assets, particularly among users under 35. Google UAC is effective for Android-first apps and spans Search, Play Store, YouTube, and Display simultaneously. High-performing UA programs typically run across all four major channels simultaneously and allocate budget dynamically based on real-time CPI and ROAS data per channel and per creative.
Admiral Media charges for user acquisition management using a hybrid fee model that combines a base management retainer with performance-linked components tied to agreed KPI targets such as CPI thresholds and ROAS floors. The exact structure is customized for each client based on monthly media budget, the number of channels managed, vertical (gaming vs. subscription), and creative services required. Admiral Media does not publicly list standard rates — prospective clients receive a custom proposal following an initial UA audit. The agency requires a minimum monthly media investment to ensure sufficient data volume for machine-learning bidding optimization on platforms such as Meta and Google UAC. To request a proposal, visit admiral.media/user-acquisition-for-mobile-games/.
Admiral Media manages user acquisition for gaming and subscription apps across Apple Search Ads, TikTok, Meta, and Google UAC. Talk to a specialist about your growth goals.
Talk to a UA Specialist
