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Konstantin Khalyushev
ENRUESPT

Renewal

Active renewal rate

Of renewals, the share made by subscribers who actually used the app shortly before renewing. The gap to the headline renewal rate is forgotten-subscription revenue.

Measures engaged renewal, so it separates revenue from forgotten subscriptions. A high renewal rate with a low active renewal rate is a refund and reputation risk, not a healthy business.

Denominator
subscriptions due for renewal
Cohort
a subscription cohort
Time horizon
—
Sources
1
Observations
5

Compare your metric

Each source is compared against independently. Nothing here is averaged across sources, and there is no combined industry figure. This runs entirely in your browser. Your figures are never sent anywhere, never stored, and never included in analytics — only which metric you chose is counted.

View the benchmark data

Can these be compared?

Roughly comparable

Only one source in this dataset publishes this metric for this segment. That is a single reading, not a consensus.

These observations cannot be combined into one figure, so they are shown separately. Different billing periods: weekly vs monthly.

RevenueCat — State of Subscription Apps 2026

Published 2026-03-19 · 5 observations

Sample
Over 115,000 apps using RevenueCat for in-app subscription management, covering more than $16 billion in revenue and more than a billion transactions. Apps must have active subscription revenue and meet a minimum install or revenue threshold.
How it is aggregated
App-level metrics aggregated across apps and reported as medians and quartiles (Q1/P25, median/P50, Q3/P75, P90). Each app is a data point regardless of size.
Measurement period
Target time frame 2025; older data used where a metric needs it (e.g. third annual renewal rates).
Denominator
subscriptions due for renewal

18.7%

Average

  • Weekly

Evidence Sample, statistic and metric definition all stated by the publisher.

Comparability
Counts only renewals by subscribers who were active in the prior half-period, so it is always below the headline renewal rate. The gap between the two is forgotten-subscription revenue.
As published
“Weekly: 18.7% overall; above 25% is top-tier.”

RevenueCat — State of Subscription Apps 2026Published 2026-03-19Retention · Active renewal rate by category and plan duration

39.2%

Average

  • Monthly

Evidence Sample, statistic and metric definition all stated by the publisher.

As published
“Monthly: 39.2% overall; below 35% signals weak retention.”

RevenueCat — State of Subscription Apps 2026Published 2026-03-19Retention · Active renewal rate by category and plan duration

83.4%

Average

  • Annual

Evidence Sample, statistic and metric definition all stated by the publisher.

As published
“Yearly: 83.4% overall; above 85% is strongest territory.”

RevenueCat — State of Subscription Apps 2026Published 2026-03-19Retention · Active renewal rate by category and plan duration

86.4%

Average

  • Health & Fitness
  • Annual

Evidence Sample, statistic and metric definition all stated by the publisher.

As published
“Health & Fitness (86.4%) and Productivity (85.6%) lead yearly retention, both above 85%.”

RevenueCat — State of Subscription Apps 2026Published 2026-03-19Retention · Active renewal rate by category and plan duration

28.2%

Average

  • Productivity
  • Monthly

Evidence Sample, statistic and metric definition all stated by the publisher.

As published
“Productivity monthly retention (28.2%) is the clear laggard — 11pp below the 39.2% benchmark.”

RevenueCat — State of Subscription Apps 2026Published 2026-03-19Retention · Active renewal rate by category and plan duration

Pairwise comparability

The verdict below is produced by a fixed set of rules, not a model. It looks at the metric definition, the denominator, the cohort, the statistic, the segment, the dataset and the publication dates, and reports every reason it found.

RevenueCat 2026 18.7%RevenueCat 2026 39.2%

Roughly comparable

The same thing is being measured, but at least one condition differs. Read the direction, not the gap.

  • Different billing periods: weekly vs monthly.

RevenueCat 2026 18.7%RevenueCat 2026 83.4%

Roughly comparable

The same thing is being measured, but at least one condition differs. Read the direction, not the gap.

  • Different billing periods: weekly vs annual.

RevenueCat 2026 18.7%RevenueCat 2026 86.4%

Roughly comparable

The same thing is being measured, but at least one condition differs. Read the direction, not the gap.

  • Different category scope: not broken out vs Health & Fitness. An all-categories figure is not a substitute for the category you are in.
  • Different billing periods: weekly vs annual.

RevenueCat 2026 18.7%RevenueCat 2026 28.2%

Roughly comparable

The same thing is being measured, but at least one condition differs. Read the direction, not the gap.

  • Different category scope: not broken out vs Productivity. An all-categories figure is not a substitute for the category you are in.
  • Different billing periods: weekly vs monthly.

RevenueCat 2026 39.2%RevenueCat 2026 83.4%

Roughly comparable

The same thing is being measured, but at least one condition differs. Read the direction, not the gap.

  • Different billing periods: monthly vs annual.

RevenueCat 2026 39.2%RevenueCat 2026 86.4%

Roughly comparable

The same thing is being measured, but at least one condition differs. Read the direction, not the gap.

  • Different category scope: not broken out vs Health & Fitness. An all-categories figure is not a substitute for the category you are in.
  • Different billing periods: monthly vs annual.

RevenueCat 2026 39.2%RevenueCat 2026 28.2%

Roughly comparable

The same thing is being measured, but at least one condition differs. Read the direction, not the gap.

  • Different category scope: not broken out vs Productivity. An all-categories figure is not a substitute for the category you are in.

RevenueCat 2026 83.4%RevenueCat 2026 86.4%

Roughly comparable

The same thing is being measured, but at least one condition differs. Read the direction, not the gap.

  • Different category scope: not broken out vs Health & Fitness. An all-categories figure is not a substitute for the category you are in.

Related metrics

  • Renewal rate by billing cycle

    Of subscriptions reaching a given billing cycle, the share that renew. A per-cycle rate, so it rises as weaker subscribers drop out.

RenewalCompare your productMethodology and sourcesAll benchmarks