Free tool
UA scaling calculator
Plan an iOS and Android UA budget ramp by week with this free UA scaling calculator. Enter week 1 budgets, a compounding or fixed-step ramp, optional weekly caps, a daily-spend checkpoint and a total budget ceiling to see weekly, monthly and cumulative spend. Every number is computed from your inputs; nothing here is a benchmark.
Plan inputs
First day of week 1. Weeks run seven days from this date; months in the roll-up are calendar months.
The explicit horizon. Every total below covers exactly this many weeks; nothing is extrapolated beyond it.
Compounding applies a percent to the previous week. Fixed step adds the same dollar amount every week.
Your own threshold. The first week whose average daily spend (weekly total divided by 7) reaches it is flagged. Enter 0 for none.
Spend planned for iOS in the first week.
Spend planned for Android in the first week.
Percent applied to the previous week’s iOS spend each week, so increases compound. Negative values reduce spend.
Percent applied to the previous week’s Android spend each week, so increases compound. Negative values reduce spend.
Leave blank for no cap. When set, iOS growth stops at this weekly amount and capped weeks are flagged.
Leave blank for no cap. When set, Android growth stops at this weekly amount and capped weeks are flagged.
Leave blank for none. The tool reports the week in which cumulative spend first exceeds this amount.
The pre-filled values are illustrative placeholders so the tables are not empty. Replace them with your own budgets and growth assumptions. Nothing is sent to a server.
Projected results
Scenario A vs Scenario B
| Output | Scenario A (saved) | Scenario B (current) | B minus A |
|---|
Weekly plan
Daily average = weekly total ÷ 7. Flags show the first checkpoint week, every week a platform is held at its cap, and the week cumulative spend crosses the ceiling.
| Week | Starts | iOS | Android | Total week | Daily average | Cumulative spend | Flags |
|---|
Monthly roll-up (calendar months)
Each week’s spend is spread evenly across its seven days, then the days are summed by calendar month. Months the plan only partly covers are marked partial.
| Month | Plan days | iOS | Android | Total month | Cumulative spend |
|---|
Smash performance ceilings. Scale profitably with AI-powered, creative-led growth.
Creative strategy, production and testing for the fastest-growing products in the world.
RocketShip HQ’s AI-powered performance creative teams run thousands of creative experiments every month to find your next winners, so you can scale profitably and sustainably.
Book your free strategy call“As one of the top-spending advertisers on TikTok, we have a high bar for great creatives, and Rocketship delivered on both production and performance. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the team, as they communicated strategy clearly, shared detailed briefs, and were generally very open and collaborative.”
Eva JuretićGrowth Marketer, Highrise“… grew our UA spends from zero to 7 figures, helped our DAUs grow 7x – and get acquired by a public company”
Jeb BaliseCEO, DropFitnessFormer General Manager at Zynga & former CEO at PuzzleSocial
Budget QA
What to check before you scale
The calculator is meant to catch budget surprises before a campaign ramp reaches finance, creative, or channel teams. Use it to pressure-test the pacing, not to justify spend after the fact.
Does the back half get too steep?
Compounding increases accelerate. Compare the first half of the plan with the second half, and check the monthly roll-up against what finance can actually approve.
Is iOS carrying the risk?
Keep iOS and Android separate so the platform split stays visible as weekly spend grows, and set a cap on either side if it has a hard limit.
When does the checkpoint hit?
Enter your own daily-spend checkpoint. The table flags the first week the plan’s average daily spend reaches it; the tool does not supply a threshold for you.
Where do caps and the ceiling bind?
Set weekly caps and a total budget ceiling. The table flags every capped week and the week cumulative spend crosses the ceiling, so the gap between the plan and the approved budget is visible before launch.
How it works
Enter week 1 spend
Start with separate weekly budgets for iOS and Android campaigns and choose how many weeks the plan covers.
Set the ramp
Pick a compounding percent or a fixed dollar step per week for each platform, add optional weekly caps, a daily-spend checkpoint and a total budget ceiling.
Review and compare
Read the weekly and monthly tables, save the plan as Scenario A, change assumptions to compare against Scenario B, and download the plan as CSV.
How to plan a user acquisition spend ramp
A UA spend ramp is the weekly budget path you expect to follow as campaigns move from launch to scale. It should be specific enough for finance and campaign operators to review, but flexible enough to change when returns, pacing, or operational capacity move.
The key is separating the plan by platform. iOS and Android often scale differently, and a blended total can hide where the ramp is actually coming from. Keeping both columns visible makes the budget conversation clearer.
What should a UA scaling calculator include?
A useful UA scaling calculator should show weekly spend, cumulative spend, platform split, the growth assumption, any caps, and where the plan crosses the thresholds you care about. Monthly totals matter because budget approvals are often reviewed by month or quarter, while campaign changes happen weekly. The calculator bridges those planning cadences.
Use the output as a starting forecast, not a promise. If early return data is weaker than expected, slow the growth rate or lower the cap. If the ramp is holding, you can increase spend with a clearer view of the cash requirement.
Why weekly growth rates matter
Weekly growth rates compound. A plan that starts at $10,000 per week and grows 8% weekly is not just adding $800 every week; each increase is applied to the prior week’s budget, so the later weeks are steeper than a straight-line sketch suggests. If you want straight-line growth instead, switch the ramp type to a fixed dollar step.
This is why the half-plan split and the monthly roll-up are useful. They show the real budget commitment created by a weekly growth assumption. A plan may look modest in week one and demanding by its final weeks.
How to use checkpoints, caps and a budget ceiling
A daily-spend checkpoint translates a weekly total into approximate daily spend so you can decide when creative volume, channel coverage, and measurement need to change. The threshold is yours to set based on your own operation; the tool does not supply one. A weekly cap per platform stops growth at a hard limit, and a total budget ceiling shows the week the cumulative plan would exceed the approved amount.
Once campaigns are live, compare actual weekly spend against the plan. This helps you see whether variance is coming from pacing, platform mix, or a deliberate change in scaling confidence.
Frequently asked questions
What is a UA scaling calculator?
A UA scaling calculator forecasts user acquisition budget over time. This one projects iOS and Android spend separately, applies a compounding percent or fixed dollar step each week, honours optional weekly caps per platform, and shows weekly, monthly and cumulative spend plus the week a budget ceiling is crossed.
Why does the calculator use weekly steps?
Many teams review paid social budgets and pacing week by week, so a weekly ramp lines up with budget approvals and creative production planning. If you plan in fixed dollar increments rather than percentages, switch the ramp type to a fixed step per week.
What is the difference between a compounding ramp and a fixed step?
A compounding ramp multiplies the previous week’s spend by one plus the growth percent, so each increase is larger than the last. A fixed step adds the same dollar amount every week. Both can be negative to model a planned reduction; spend never goes below zero.
How is the monthly roll-up calculated?
Each week’s spend is divided evenly across its seven days, and the days are summed by calendar month starting from the plan’s start date. A month the plan only partly covers is marked partial so you can compare it with a monthly budget.
Should iOS and Android use the same growth rate?
Not necessarily. Some teams use one shared growth rate to keep the platform split constant. Others use separate iOS and Android growth rates, or separate caps, when one side is expected to scale faster or has a hard budget limit.
Does this store my campaign data?
No. The calculator runs in your browser. Inputs are not sent to RocketShip HQ or stored on a server. Scenario A is kept only in the current tab until you close it.
More free tools
Explore more calculators and ad preview tools from RocketShip HQ.