Mobile measurement partners: What they are and how to choose

Every ad network wants to claim credit for your app installs, but only mobile measurement partners can show you which campaigns actually work. If you've ever struggled to sort out conflicting data from different sources, you know how confusing mobile marketing can get fast. Attribution is further complicated by evolving privacy rules, fragmented device usage, and inconsistent metrics across platforms.

Mobile measurement partners cut through the noise. They give you a single, trusted view of your app's performance, so you can spend your budget where it matters most and confidently prove the ROI of your mobile campaigns.

With in-app advertising exceeding $200 billion in the U.S., mobile is now the lion's share of media investment, making unbiased insight from an MMP more critical than ever.

Main takeaways:

• Mobile measurement partners are essential for unbiased attribution of app installs and in-app events, acting as a single source of truth across ad networks and helping optimize marketing spend
• Effective MMPs offer fraud detection, deep linking, privacy-compliant data collection, and integration with hundreds of ad networks to streamline measurement and reporting
• Choosing the right MMP requires evaluating SDK impact, network coverage, data accuracy, privacy features, and cost structure to ensure alignment with your technical and business needs
• Leading MMPs in 2026 include AppsFlyer, Adjust, Branch, Singular, and Kochava, each with unique strengths in fraud prevention, deep linking, ROI analytics, and privacy features
• Integrating your MMP with RudderStack's customer data infrastructure centralizes attribution data, reduces SDK bloat, and enables more complete, privacy-compliant analytics across your stack

What is a mobile measurement partner?

A mobile measurement partner (MMP) is a third-party solution that attributes app installs and in-app events to specific marketing campaigns across advertising channels. The meaning of MMP in mobile marketing refers to tools that provide unbiased attribution data to help you understand which ads drive real results.

MMPs emerged because mobile app marketers needed a neutral way to determine which ad networks deserved credit for user acquisition. When you run ads on multiple networks, each wants to claim credit for driving installs. This neutrality is crucial for accurate reporting and budget optimization.

So, what is an MMP's core function? It collects data from an app through an SDK, matches it with ad interactions, and applies attribution logic to determine which marketing efforts led to installs and conversions.

How do MMPs work?

With mobile attribution, businesses can efficiently track their users' journey—from installing an app via clicking a mobile ad or an SMS link to deciding on whether to use the product or not.

Mobile attribution also informs attribution analytics that help businesses understand the impact of different channels, measure user engagement over time, and optimize the overall customer experience.

The mobile attribution flow

The basic attribution flow includes:

• Data collection: The MMP SDK records installs and in-app events, often including metadata like device type, OS version, and location for richer analysis.
• Ad interaction tracking: Clicks and impressions are captured from ad networks and matched against installs or in-app activity.
• Attribution logic: Rules determine which ad gets credit for an install, based on models like first-touch, last-touch, or multi-touch attribution.
• Reporting: Performance data is organized into dashboards and reports that can be segmented by campaign, channel, geography, or user cohort.

MMPs in digital marketing have also evolved to support privacy-centric attribution models like Apple's SKAdNetwork and Google's Privacy Sandbox. These frameworks restrict access to device-level identifiers, so MMPs now provide aggregated, anonymized insights that preserve compliance while still giving marketers directional performance data.

Another key feature is their pre-built integrations: most mobile measurement solutions connect with hundreds of ad networks, analytics platforms, and cloud tools. This eliminates the need to manually build and maintain connections for each advertising partner, reducing engineering overhead and ensuring data consistency across the stack.

Attribution models explained

To make sense of how MMPs assign credit during this attribution process, it's important to understand the different attribution models they support—each with its own strengths and limitations.

Table: Attribution model types

Key benefits of using an MMP

Choosing a mobile measurement partner isn't just about tracking installs; it's about unlocking insights that help you optimize every dollar of your marketing spend. Below are the core benefits MMPs deliver, from fraud protection to seamless customer journeys.

Single source of truth for installs and campaigns

MMPs provide a unified dashboard showing exactly where your app installs and conversions originate. This eliminates the conflicting reports you'd get from individual ad networks.

You can trust your campaign data because MMPs apply consistent attribution logic across all sources. This helps you make confident decisions based on standardized metrics.

Helps allocate spend efficiently across channels

With an MMP, you can identify which ad channels deliver the highest return on investment. This visibility allows you to shift budget toward the most effective sources.

For example, if Facebook drives more valuable users than TikTok for your app, you can quickly adjust spending. MMP ads reporting helps prevent wasted budget by highlighting underperforming campaigns.

Detects ad fraud and invalid traffic

Ad fraud costs mobile advertisers billions annually. MMPs include fraud detection tools that flag suspicious activity like click flooding or install farms.

With mobile install fraud estimated at 25% on iOS and 31% on Android, MMPs' fraud detection is essential for fighting invalid attribution and preserving ROI.

By identifying invalid traffic early, you protect your budget and ensure decisions are based on genuine user behavior. AppsFlyer's built-in fraud protection, powered by AI, blocks millions of fraudulent threats daily. Most MMPs' marketing tools automatically filter fraudulent installs from your reports.

Supports deep linking for better onboarding

MMPs typically include deep linking capabilities, allowing you to send new users directly to specific content within your app. This creates a seamless experience from ad to in-app action.

A user who clicks an ad for a specific product can be taken straight to that product page. This reduces friction and improves conversion rates for new users.

Simplifies compliance and privacy handling

Privacy regulations require careful management of user consent and data sharing. Define MMP tools as solutions that include features for consent management and data governance.

These features reduce legal risk and simplify compliance with laws like GDPR, CCPA, and Apple's AppTrackingTransparency framework.

Leading mobile measurement partners in 2026

With dozens of attribution platforms on the market, not all mobile measurement partners offer the same strengths. Most businesses choose from a handful of leading providers—and in some cases, use more than one—to balance accuracy, flexibility, and data privacy. Below, we break down the top MMPs in 2025, highlighting their core features, pricing models, and ideal use cases, along with references to their pricing plans so you can explore further.

1. AppsFlyer

AppsFlyer is known for its comprehensive fraud prevention and global scale. It serves large enterprises that need robust attribution and analytics and is used by over 15,000 brands across industries.

Key features:

• Advanced fraud detection with Protect360
• Rich reporting capabilities
• Raw data access
• Strong privacy controls

Pricing: Typically based on monthly active users (MAUs) and event volume, with custom enterprise packages available. See AppsFlyer pricing

2. Adjust

Adjust specializes in real-time analytics and fraud protection, making it a strong choice for performance marketers and app developers, particularly in industries like gaming where speed and precision are critical.

Key features:

• Real-time data visualization
• Flexible attribution windows
• Detailed in-app event tracking
• Strong fraud prevention suite

Pricing scales with app usage and tracking needs, with custom packages for different business sizes. See Adjust pricing

3. Branch

Branch focuses on deep linking and cross-platform attribution, helping create seamless user journeys across channels.

Key features:

• Industry-leading deep linking
• Journey analytics
• Cross-platform attribution
• Web-to-app tracking

Pricing: Branch offers freemium options with advanced features available for enterprise clients. See Branch pricing

4. Singular

Singular stands out for unifying cost and ROI analytics, connecting ad spend directly to user actions and revenue. Companies using Singular have achieved up to 2X conversion rates, highlighting the platform's ability to deliver actionable cross-channel insights.

Key features:

• Comprehensive cost aggregation
• ROI reporting across channels
• Creative-level insights
• BI tool integrations

Pricing: Singular offers a free plan with core features, and paid tiers are based on reporting needs and integration requirements, with custom packages available. See Singular pricing

5. Kochava

Kochava offers advanced privacy features and compliance tools, making it suitable for highly regulated industries.

Key features:

• Fraud Console for detection and prevention
• Privacy-compliant attribution
• OTT and CTV support
• Audience management

Pricing: Ranges from free starter plans to full enterprise solutions, depending on scale and needs. See Kochava pricing

What to consider when selecting a mobile measurement partner

Selecting the best MMP means weighing technical performance, accuracy, and cost against your broader marketing and compliance goals. Here are the key factors to consider:

SDK footprint and integration

Evaluate how the MMP SDK impacts your app's size and performance. A lightweight SDK minimizes bloat and reduces maintenance complexity.

Consider routing event data through customer data infrastructure like RudderStack to streamline implementation. This approach lets you send consistent data to your MMP and other analytics tools without duplicating code.

Network coverage and efficiency

Choose an MMP that integrates with all the ad networks you currently use or plan to use. The broader the coverage, the less manual work is required to maintain connections.

Regularly audit your connected networks to remove those you no longer use. This keeps attribution data clean and reporting accurate.

Data accuracy and reconciliation

Compare your MMP data against internal BI dashboards to identify discrepancies. Look for MMPs that allow raw data export so you can verify and reconcile information.

What's an MMP's most valuable feature? Often, it's the ability to provide consistent, reliable data you can trust for decision-making.

Role in the broader measurement stack

MMPs are just one component of a complete measurement strategy. You also need product analytics, customer data infrastructure, and business intelligence tools to ensure your stack is complete.

By connecting your MMP to RudderStack, you can unify attribution data with other customer information. This creates a more complete view of user journeys and marketing effectiveness.

Unify attribution data with RudderStack

Mobile measurement partners are essential for attribution and campaign optimization, but they're most effective when integrated with your broader data infrastructure.

By connecting your MMP with RudderStack, you can:

• Centralize user events and attribution data
• Reduce SDK bloat in your mobile applications
• Maintain full control over your customer data
• Support compliance requirements more effectively
• Enable faster, more reliable analytics

To see how RudderStack complements your mobile measurement partner and accelerates your analytics capabilities, request a demo.