Google and Apple dominate app monetization. But boutique providers of ad network, ad mediation, attribution, and payment and commerce SDKs have carved out substantial portions of the App Monetization SDK market.
Welcome to the first edition of our monthly app monetization SDK roundup! Each month, we’ll cover trends among the top Ad Network SDKs, Ad Mediation SDKs, Attribution SDKs, and Payment and Commerce SDKs. Come here for monthly updates on the top performing SDKs, leading SDK developers, installation trends, and more!
Here’s where things stand this month (click the links to jump to the corresponding section):
- Ad Network SDKs: Google Ads AdMob Leads the Pack
- Ad Mediation SDKs: Google Ads AdMob Mediation Adapters Dominates
- Attribution SDKs: AppsFlyer Takes the Crown
- Payment and Commerce SDKs: Apple StoreKit In-App Purchases Reigns Supreme
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Ad Network SDKs: Google Ads AdMob Leads the Pack
First up, let’s look at how things stand among Ad Network SDKs. Currently, Google Ads AdMob is installed on 1,670,581 iOS and Android apps. This makes it far and away the most popular ad network on the market.
Here’s how the rest of the list looks:
- Facebook Audience Network: 510,297 installations
- Unity Ads: 430,543 installations
- AppLovin MAX: 272,636 installations
- Start.io Startapp: 204,333 installations
- ironSource: 176,213 installations
- AdColony: 150,177 installations
- Vungle: 94,565 installations
- Pangle ByteDance TikTok UnionAD: 81,202 installations
- Chartboost: 74,813 installations
Ad Mediation SDKs: Google Ads AdMob Mediation Adapters Dominates
Unsurprisingly, Google’s dominance extends to ad mediation as well. The Google Ads AdMob Mediation Adapters SDK is installed on 1,544,933 iOS and Android apps, which is more than six times as many as the next closest competitor. Check it out…
Here’s the rest of the list:
- AppLovin Mediation Adapters: 256,024 installations
- ironSource Mediation Adapters: 156,831 installations
- Chartboost: 74,813 installations
- InMobi Mobile Ads: 63,308 installations
- DT Exchange by Digital Turbine: 38,370 installations
- Appodeal: 18,686 installations
- Criteo Publisher: 18,286 installations
- MoPub Mediation Adapters: 14,329 installations
- TopOn Mediation: 5,588 installations
Attribution SDKs: AppsFlyer Takes the Crown
Now for a bit of a shakeup: Google doesn’t figure among the top Attribution SDKs! Indeed, here, AppsFlyer takes the crown. It’s installed on 125,531 total iOS and Android apps. While this number gives AppsFlyer a healthy lead, competition for the next spot is a little stiffer.
These SDKs round out the top 10:
- AppsFlyer: 125,531 installations
- Adjust: 77,916 installations
- Branch - Tune: 70,490 installations
- myTracker: 20,429 installations
- Tenjin: 12,931 installations
- Kochava Tracker Free App Analytics: 7,458 installations
- Singular: 6,400 installations
- Tune - HasOffers: 3,738 installations
- Soomla Traceback Ad Quality by ironSource: 3,289 installations
- ByteBrew: 1,165 installations
Payment and Commerce SDKs: Apple StoreKit In-App Purchases Reigns Supreme
Finally, let’s look at the top Payments and Commerce SDKs, where Apple StoreKit In-App Purchases leads the way with 932,233 total installations. Of note is that these are iOS apps only, since the SDK is not available for Android.
On the flipside, Google Play In-app billing, which is for Android apps only, has only been installed on 171,845 apps. Obviously that’s good enough to make it the second most popular SDK for payments and commerce, but it’s still worlds behind Apple.
In any case, here’s the rest of the list:
- Stripe: 139,245 installations
- Apple PassKit (Apple Pay and Wallet): 121,650 installations
- Razorpay: 114,059 installations
- Card.io: 53,109 installations
- Braintree: 45,910 installations
- PayPal: 37,723 installations
- Alipay: 35,789 installations
- Google Play License Verification Library: 35,170 installations
Final Thoughts
Google is pretty firmly entrenched atop most of the leaderboards here. Apple is too, only to a lesser extent and primarily in the payments and commerce category. Still, app monetization SDK developers like Unity, AppLovin, and AppsFlyer have done a good job building up their installed base.
Going forward, we’ll be keeping an eye on changes in this space. To make things a little more interesting, we’ll look beyond the Apple-Google stranglehold and focus more on boutique firms engaged in helping mobile app developers monetize their products.
So, be sure to keep an eye out for future iterations of our App Monetization SDK roundup!
