Whoever grows your app will optimize for whatever they're paid on. That single fact explains most of the difference between agencies, publishers and growth partners, and most of the bad deals developers sign.
Follow the money
- An agency is paid for work and spend. A retainer pays for hours; a percentage of ad spend pays for volume. Neither is tied to your profit.
- A publisher is paid from your revenue, usually a large share of all of it, and often takes rights or ownership so the investment is protected.
- A growth partner is paid from the growth it creates: a share of revenue above your existing baseline, for a fixed term.
None of these is wrong. They just put the risk in different places, and you should know where it sits before you sign.
Side by side
| Agency | Publisher | Growth partner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who funds the ads | You | The publisher | The partner |
| How they're paid | Retainer and/or % of ad spend | Share of all revenue, often rights | Share of revenue above your baseline |
| Paid if nothing grows? | Yes | From existing revenue, often yes | No |
| Who owns the app | You | Sometimes the publisher | You |
| Ad accounts and creatives | Depends on contract | Usually the publisher | Should be yours |
| Term | Monthly, notice period | Long, often multi-year | Fixed, then it ends |
| Your control | Full | Limited | Shared on growth decisions |
Agencies
A good agency brings specialists you couldn't hire one by one: ASO, creative production, paid social, search ads. You keep every dollar of upside and full control, and you can usually leave with a month's notice.
The trade-off is that you carry all the risk. You pay the retainer and the media budget whether or not installs pay back. Ask how they define success before you start, and tie at least part of the fee to a result you care about, like payback period or net revenue, not clicks or installs.
Publishers
Publishers fund and run growth at scale and often take over monetization and live operations too. For a developer who wants to build and nothing else, that can be a relief.
The cost shows up in the contract: revenue shares that apply to everything the app earns, including what it earned before the deal; exclusivity; transfer of the developer account or the code; long terms with automatic renewal. Some publishers are excellent partners. Read every clause about rights and termination as if the relationship will end badly.
Growth partners
A growth partner funds the work and does it, and earns only from the growth. Your existing revenue becomes a baseline that stays yours. The partner spends its own budget on store page, paywall, creatives and paid users, and shares the revenue above the baseline for a fixed term. If nothing grows, the partner loses its money.
That's the model AppBacked runs: up to six times your monthly net revenue in budget, the first month as a test on us, revenue above your three-month baseline split 50/50 for 24 months, then all of it yours, and your app never leaves your own developer account.
The trade-off: you share decisions about growth, and if growth is strong you share more of it than an agency fee would have cost. That's the price of not carrying the risk.
Calculator
See the deal on your numbers.
Budget, your extra revenue and our share, month by month, in three scenarios.
Eight contract checks, whoever you pick
- What is the share calculated on? All revenue, or only revenue above a baseline? If a baseline, how is it set and what happens in a down month?
- Net or gross? Store fees, refunds and taxes should come out before any share is calculated.
- Term and exit. A fixed end date, and a way out early if results don't come, ideally after a short test.
- Who owns the ad accounts, creatives and data? They should end up in your name, or you start from zero when the deal ends.
- Developer account and code. You should not need to transfer either to get growth.
- Exclusivity. Is it for this app only, or your whole portfolio?
- Reporting. A monthly statement you can check against App Store Connect or Play Console.
- After the term. Does any share continue on users acquired during the deal? It shouldn't, unless you agreed to it knowingly.
Red flags
- A share of total revenue sold as a share of “growth”.
- Ad accounts opened in the other party's name with no handover clause.
- Automatic renewal or no end date.
- Fees tied to installs or ad spend with no link to revenue.
- Any request to transfer the app before results are proven.
Which one fits
Pick an agency if you have the budget, want to keep all the upside and can judge their work. Pick a publisher if you want to hand off the business side completely and accept giving up control. Pick a growth partner if the app already earns, you want to keep ownership and control of your accounts, and you'd rather share future growth than fund it yourself.
Not sure where your app stands? Start with the free App Store audit: whoever you hire, the store page is where they'll start.
FAQ
What is an app growth partner?
A company that funds and runs your app's growth with its own budget and team, and is paid from a share of the revenue it adds above your existing baseline, for a fixed term.
Is a growth partner cheaper than an agency?
If growth fails, yes, because you pay nothing. If growth is strong, a partner earns more than an agency fee would have cost. You're paying for the risk being carried by someone else.
Do app publishers take ownership of the app?
Some do, some take exclusive rights, and some only take a revenue share. It depends on the contract, so check the clauses on rights, the developer account and termination.
Who should own the ad accounts?
You should, or they should transfer to you at the end. Ad accounts hold the learning that makes campaigns cheaper over time.