What Is Good D1, D7 and D30 Retention for a Mobile Game? How to Judge Yours

What is a good retention rate for a mobile game?

The honest answer: good enough for your economics. Published benchmarks differ by genre (puzzle, hybrid-casual, midcore strategy), by platform, by country tier, by traffic source and by definition. A number that is excellent for a hypercasual game can be a warning sign for a midcore title. Use benchmarks to sense-check the shape of your curve, then judge the level against the lifetime value you need.

What do D1, D7 and D30 each tell you?

D1 is a promise-keeping metric. Did the first session deliver what the store page and the ad promised? Sudden D1 drops are often creative concentration — one ad bringing players with the wrong expectation — rather than an onboarding problem.
D7 reflects whether the core loop gives a reason to come back after novelty wears off.
D30 and beyond reflect the meta layer: progression, collection, social ties, live events. A flat curve from D7 to D30 is the signature of a meta that works.

How do I compare my retention with benchmarks fairly?

Match the definition. Classic (day-N) retention counts users active exactly on day N; rolling counts day N or later. They are not comparable.
Match the traffic. Organic, paid and incentivised users retain very differently; so do Tier-1 and Tier-3 countries.
Match the genre and platform.
Compare curve shape, not just points. The Retention Benchmarks tool fits a curve through your D1, D7, D30 and D90 and compares its decay against genre profiles.

How do I know if my retention is good enough?

Work backwards from acquisition. If your CPI in the market you want to scale is known, and your revenue per active day is known, the expected active days per user tell you the LTV. If that LTV cannot recover CPI within your payback window, retention is not good enough for that market at that price — however it compares with a benchmark. The Geo Budget Planner runs this comparison market by market.

What moves retention most?

In our experience across a large portfolio, the biggest movements come from the loop, not the notifications: earned milestones that feel like progress, reasons to return that belong to the player rather than to the calendar, and live events that amplify the core rather than replace it. Blended numbers hide where it is moving — split by source, country and version before acting.