Gmail vs Messenger
Gmail
Google LLC
Google Play
$0/mo
~$0/yr · 21.0B installs
VS
Messenger
Meta Platforms, Inc.
Google Play
$26.42M/mo
~$317.02M/yr · 7.8B installs
Revenue winner
Messenger wins
+2641817400% vs other
Installs winner
Gmail wins
+171% vs other
MAU winner
Gmail wins
+163% vs other
Rating winner
Messenger wins
+15% vs other
Why Messenger is winning
Top 3 reasons - backed by the public App Store / Play Store numbers.
- Messenger earns roughly 26418174× more per month than Gmail - $26.42M vs $0.
- Subscription model. Messenger runs a $4.47/mo subscription that compounds; Gmail relies on one-shot IAP or ads.
- Better app store reviews. Messenger sits at 4.72★ vs 4.11★ - store algorithms reward higher-rated apps with more impressions.
→ Find more apps with this revenue gap · Full Messenger report
Side-by-side metrics
Bars scale to whichever app is bigger on that row. Green = winner.
Gmail
vs
Messenger
Monthly revenue (est.)?
$0
▶
$26.42M
Annual revenue (est.)
$0
▶
$317.02M
Lifetime installs (est.)
21.0B
◀
7.8B
Monthly active users (est.)?
673.6M
◀
255.9M
App Store rating
4.11★
▶
4.72★
Total ratings
14.3M
▶
111.6M
US grossing rank
-
=
-
Cheapest monthly sub
No sub
▶
$4.47
IAP tiers detected
0 tiers
=
0 tiers
- Category
- Communication
- Price
- Free
- Released
- Sep 21, 2010
- Last updated
- May 7, 2026
- File size
- -
- Content rating
- Everyone
- Version
- VARY
- Languages
- -
- Category
- Communication
- Price
- Free
- Released
- Jan 30, 2014
- Last updated
- May 5, 2026
- File size
- -
- Content rating
- Everyone
- Version
- 559.0.0.49.75
- Languages
- -
Gmail trajectory
Messenger trajectory
FAQ
Which makes more money, Gmail or Messenger? v
Messenger earns about $26.42M per month, while Gmail earns about $0. That is a ∞× revenue gap (~$26.42M more per month for Messenger). Annual revenue: Gmail ≈ $0/year, Messenger ≈ $317.02M/year. Estimates are derived from public Google Play signals - grossing rank, scraped IAP tiers, ratings and category benchmarks.
Which has more downloads, Gmail or Messenger? v
Gmail leads with about 21.0B estimated downloads vs 7.8B for Messenger - a 2.7× gap. Gmail reports 10,000,000,000+ installs on Google Play. Messenger reports 5,000,000,000+ installs on Google Play.
Are Gmail and Messenger in the same Google Play category and competing for the same money? v
Yes - both apps sit in the Communication category, which means they compete directly for the same paying users and category-level wallet share. Direct competitors, head-to-head.
What in-app purchases and subscription pricing do Gmail and Messenger offer? v
Gmail: no IAP detected on the public listing. Messenger: IAP range $0.05 - $399.99 per item. Gmail runs a "No App Store revenue (monetizes off-store)" monetization model; Messenger runs "Subscription (~$4.47/mo)". Scraped tier prices and detected subscription pricing drive the bulk of the per-app revenue estimate above.
Which has better ratings, Gmail or Messenger? v
Messenger edges ahead with ★ 4.7 vs ★ 4.1 (gap of 0.6 stars). Rating volume: Gmail 422K ratings, Messenger 2.5M ratings. Higher rating volume = stronger ASO signal even when star averages are close.
How accurate are these Gmail vs Messenger revenue estimates? v
Directional - typically within 2-3× of actual money earned for popular apps. The $0 for Gmail and $26.42M for Messenger are derived from Google Play grossing rank, scraped IAP tiers, ratings volume and category benchmarks (Communication) - net of the 15-30% Apple/Google store cut. Real revenue depends on country mix, retention, refunds and ad fill rate, none of which Apple or Google publish.
How do I compare Gmail or Messenger to a different Google Play app? v
Use the search box at the bottom of this page or paste any two Google Play links into the homepage tool. We auto-generate a permanent comparison URL with revenue, downloads, IAP tiers, subscription pricing and grossing rank for both apps.