Instagram vs YouTube
Instagram, Inc.
App Store
$243.79M/mo
~$2.93B/yr · 1.6B installs
VS
YouTube
Google
App Store
$381.33M/mo
~$4.58B/yr · 5.0B installs
Revenue winner
YouTube wins
+56% vs other
Installs winner
YouTube wins
+214% vs other
MAU winner
YouTube wins
+436% vs other
Rating winner
Instagram wins
+0% vs other
Why YouTube is winning
Top 4 reasons - backed by the public App Store / Play Store numbers.
- YouTube earns roughly 2× more per month than Instagram - $381.33M vs $243.79M.
- Premium pricing. YouTube charges $20.99/mo vs Instagram's $14.99/mo - higher ARPU per converted user.
- Bigger install base. YouTube has ~5.0B lifetime installs vs Instagram's ~1.6B - 3.1× the funnel top.
- More monetization surfaces. YouTube runs 4 IAP tiers vs 2 - more chances to convert users at the right price.
→ Find more apps with this revenue gap · Full YouTube report
Side-by-side metrics
Bars scale to whichever app is bigger on that row. Green = winner.
Instagram
vs
YouTube
Monthly revenue (est.)?
$243.79M
▶
$381.33M
Annual revenue (est.)
$2.93B
▶
$4.58B
Lifetime installs (est.)
1.6B
▶
5.0B
Monthly active users (est.)?
504.0M
▶
2.7B
App Store rating
4.69★
◀
4.67★
Total ratings
29.0M
▶
47.1M
US grossing rank
-
▶
#2
Cheapest monthly sub
$14.99
▶
$20.99
IAP tiers detected
2 tiers
▶
4 tiers
- Category
- Photo & Video
- Price
- Free
- Released
- Oct 6, 2010
- Last updated
- May 5, 2026
- File size
- 546.4 MB
- Content rating
- 12+
- Version
- 428.2.0
- Languages
- Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish +25 more
- Category
- Photo & Video
- Price
- Free
- Released
- Sep 11, 2012
- Last updated
- May 3, 2026
- File size
- 341.1 MB
- Content rating
- 12+
- Version
- 21.18.4
- Languages
- AF, SQ, AM, Arabic, HY, AZ +66 more
Instagram trajectory
YouTube trajectory
FAQ
Which makes more money, Instagram or YouTube? v
YouTube earns about $381.33M per month, while Instagram earns about $243.79M. That is a 1.6× revenue gap (~$137.53M more per month for YouTube). Annual revenue: Instagram ≈ $2.93B/year, YouTube ≈ $4.58B/year. Estimates are derived from public App Store signals - grossing rank, scraped IAP tiers, ratings and category benchmarks.
Which has more downloads, Instagram or YouTube? v
YouTube leads with about 5.0B estimated downloads vs 1.6B for Instagram - a 3.1× gap. Instagram's App Store downloads are estimated from 29.0M ratings × the standard 1:75 ratio. YouTube's App Store downloads are estimated from 47.1M ratings.
Are Instagram and YouTube in the same App Store category and competing for the same money? v
Yes - both apps sit in the Photo & Video 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 Instagram and YouTube offer? v
Instagram: IAP range 2 tiers detected. YouTube: IAP range 4 tiers detected. Instagram runs a "Subscription (~$14.99/mo)" monetization model; YouTube runs "Subscription (~$20.99/mo) · calibrated by US grossing rank #2". Scraped tier prices and detected subscription pricing drive the bulk of the per-app revenue estimate above.
Which has better ratings, Instagram or YouTube? v
Instagram edges ahead with ★ 4.7 vs ★ 4.7 (gap of 0.0 stars). Rating volume: Instagram 29.0M ratings, YouTube 47.1M ratings. Higher rating volume = stronger ASO signal even when star averages are close.
How accurate are these Instagram vs YouTube revenue estimates? v
Directional - typically within 2-3× of actual money earned for popular apps. The $243.79M for Instagram and $381.33M for YouTube are derived from App Store grossing rank, scraped IAP tiers, ratings volume and category benchmarks (Photo & Video) - 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 Instagram or YouTube to a different App Store app? v
Use the search box at the bottom of this page or paste any two App Store 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.