GIPHY: The GIF Search Engine
87
Quality Score
Excellent
GIPHY: The GIF Search Engine
High confidence
✍️ bumetric analysis
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GIPHY: The GIF Search Engine is an iOS app from Giphy, Inc. in the Photo & Video category, currently rated 4.8★ across 691,578 ratings. Initial signal reads as mixed reviews: supporters praise core features while critics cite stability and value gaps.
Quality Score is 87: Excellent (strong product-market fit). For a Photo & Video app, that means strong product-market fit. The full BU Investment Matrix below scores 8 dimensions including monetisation, growth, and operational risk.
Track changes month-over-month in the Performance section below: live snapshot history and revenue forecast included.
💰 Monthly revenue · now vs forecast
● Right now
$900K
per month
→
12-mo forecast
$953K – $1467K
per month
→
24-mo forecast
$1.1M – $2.1M
per month
BIG tier
💡 Grow this revenue
Free AI audit of this app’s store listing
- Title & subtitle keyword fit
- Description hook & conversion structure
- Screenshots, ratings, reviews strategy
Typical impact: +2-5× organic installs
📊 Performance Tracking LIVE
Loading…
Rating
—
Reviews
—
Forecast Revenue / mo
—
Snapshots tracked
0
since first record
ONE-TIME · BUILD
💰 Estimated build cost
$100K
↳ What it cost to build · not monthly revenue
Likely range $75K – $135K
$25K · MVP floor
$100K · indie scale
$500K+ · studio build
📈
Pays back in ~8 months at current MRR
Synthetic estimate. Inputs: category complexity, file size, screen count, monetization layer, platform reach, age × team-size proxy. Calibrated against 2024-2026 indie-agency rate surveys. Full math + source list on /methodology.
Where the money goes
| 🧱 MVP baseline (design + 1-store ship) | +$28K |
| 📱 5 unique screens × $4.5K | +$22K |
| 📦 Asset bundle (87 MB) | +$14K |
| ⚙ Photo & Video complexity ×1.55 | +$35K |
Total estimate
$100K
ONE-TIME · EXIT VALUE
💵 Estimated acquisition value
$225K
↳ What it would sell for · not monthly revenue
Marketplace range $150K – $275K · 18× MRR multiple
💸
~2.2× return on build cost
Synthetic estimate. Multiple band derived from ad-supported + age, rating quality, category demand, and user-base maturity. Calibrated against 2024-2026 indie-app-marketplace closed-deal medians. Full math + comparable deal list on /methodology.
How the multiple was built
| 📺 Ad-supported base | 15× MRR |
| ⭐ ★ rating ≥ 4.7 (premium) | +15% |
| ⭐ Mature user base (100K+ ratings) | +5% |
Final multiple
18× MRR
👥 Estimated audience size
96.5M
Lifetime downloads (US-equivalent)
Monthly active
17.0M
Daily active
5.1M
Synthetic estimate from ratings × category benchmarks. Calibrated against 2024-2026 mobile-attribution retention + DAU/MAU reports. Numbers are US-storefront-equivalent — true global audience can be 5-10× larger for international apps. Full math + source list on /methodology.
How we sized it
| 📲 Photo & Video engagement | ~140 installs / rating |
| 🔁 Photo & Video D30 retention | 18% |
| 📍 DAU / MAU stickiness | 0.30 |
DAU / MAU
30% sticky
🔬
How we forecast this revenue
MEDIUM CONFIDENCEBaseline
$900K/mo · ML-estimated from 234 triggers
Growth rate
+2.5% MoM · BIG tier baseline (compound monthly)
6 months
$887K – $1.2M
12 months
$953K – $1.5M
24 months
$1.1M – $2.1M
Compound growth at +2.5% MoM (tier baseline for BIG). Range widens with horizon — typical noise band ±15% at 6mo.. Ranges widen with horizon — distant futures carry more uncertainty.
📊
BU Investment Matrix
Mixed signals · 56/100BIG TIERcompetitive but cautiousGrowth Velocity
5.0
Founder Strength
5.2
Product Quality
9.5
Revenue Strength
6.0
Monetization Maturity
1.0
Defensibility
6.0
Market Position
2.0
Operational Safety
10.0
- 💰 Revenue: Healthy — $360K - $1980K/mo · BIG tier · medium-low confidence, trajectory unclear.
- ⭐ Quality: 4.77★ across 691,578 reviews — exceptional (top 1% in category).
- 📍 Market: Not yet charting in any of the 9 monitored markets.
- 📈 Growth: Insufficient signal to assess trajectory.
- ⚠️ Risk: Low — no material risk signals detected.
🎯 For competitors: Mixed picture. Worth competing if you have a clear UX or pricing edge — otherwise crowded segment.
💵 For acquirers: Estimated asking range 18-32× monthly = $16.2M-$28.8M.
Composite of 8 dimensions computed deterministically from public signals — no LLM, every score traces back to a measurable input. Default weights shown; "compete" / "acquire" / "invest" lenses re-weight without re-fetching.
Range:
💰 Forecast Revenue / mo
MODELRevenue forecast computed from BU's 234 trigger model on each snapshot. Calibrated against ground-truth from 58 verified-revenue apps.
🔬Forecast Breakdown — Why This Estimate?Top 8 of 8 triggers
Our ML model uses 200+ signals from public data. These are the most influential for this app:
| High install base (691,578 ratings)METRIC | +$12,000 | |
| Excellent rating (4.8★)METRIC | +$2,200 | |
| 5 starREVIEW | +$1,800 | |
| Mature app (11y old)METRIC | +$1,500 | |
| highly recommendREVIEW | +$1,400 | |
| slowREVIEW | −$1,200 | |
| Ad-supported / freemiumMETRIC | +$600 | |
| Single-language (English only)METRIC | −$400 |
METRIC = structural app data · REVIEW = mined from user reviews · ✓ VERIFIED = Stripe-verified anchor (TrustMRR)
📈 Reviews Growth
LIVECumulative review count from first BU snapshot. Each point = a tracked update.
⭐ Rating Trend
LIVEAverage rating evolution. Updates with each new review batch.
🆕 What's New · v4.18.2
We update the app every few weeks to keep it fresh! Some things we never stop doing are code cleanup, bug fixes, and general optimization. See anything weird? E-mail us at support@giphy.com and we’ll help you out.
Profile & Insights
Everything we know — and don't — about this app and its company.
Identification
- App name
- GIPHY: The GIF Search Engine
- Developer
- Giphy, Inc.
- Bundle ID
- com.giphy.giphyformessenger
- App Store URL
- Open in App Store
- Category
- Photo & Video
- Content rating
- 12+
- Languages
- EN
Company
- Website
- giphy.com
- Tagline
- Trending Now
- Description
- GIPHY is the platform that animates your world. Find the GIFs, Clips, and Stickers that make your conversations more positive, more expressive, and more you.
- Founded
- Not found
- HQ / Address
- Not found
- Employees
- Not found
- Logo
- Available
Revenue
- Verified revenue / mo
- Not found
- AI revenue estimate / mo
- Not found
- AI annual estimate
- Not found
- ML model estimate / mo
- $11.9K/mo
- Top-grossing rank
- Outside top 100 in US Photo & Video
- All-time revenue
- Not found
- Pricing
- Not found
Founder
Founder data not yet collected for this app.
Funding
Funding data not yet collected for this app.
Press & Links
Press & Links data not yet collected for this app.
Contacts & Socials
Contacts & Socials data not yet collected for this app.
✨AI Revenue EstimateCONFIDENCE: HIGH
The iOS app "GIPHY: The GIF Search Engine" is listed as a free app with no in-app purchases on Sensor Tower. This indicates that the app itself does not directly generate revenue through in-app purchases or subscriptions. Giphy's monetization efforts have historically focused on sponsored content, brand partnerships, and advertising across its platform and API, rather than direct app revenue. After its acquisition by Shutterstock in 2023, it was stated that Giphy would add "minimal" revenue in 2023, with "focused monetization efforts" planned for 2024, referring to the overall Giphy platform rather than direct app sales.
Sources mentioned: Sensor Tower, Statista, Reddit, Shutterstock, Meta, Facebook, Axios, Marketing Dive, Forbes, TheWrap
📈Ratings growth691,578 ratings+48% lifetimeShow 3-year history estimate ▾
Tracked (29 weeks) Pre-tracking estimate (36 weeks) · model-based, ±5% noise · anchored to release date and current value
🌍Geographic ReachNot ranked
This app is currently outside the top 100 grossing in all 9 countries we monitor (US, UK, DE, FR, JP, CA, AU, BR, IN). Niche or new apps often launch this way — popularity rankings appear once daily revenue clears the regional threshold.
Profile is built from iTunes Lookup + developer site scrape + ML revenue model. Empty fields show "Not found" — additional sources (Crunchbase, X, IndieHackers, Acquire.com) coming.
📝 About this app
The world's largest library of free GIFs, Clips, & Stickers! GIPHY for iOS is the fastest, simplest way to search and share short form content and animated reactions across all of your favorite social channels such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat & more.
SEARCH
• Find the perfect GIF from the world's largest library of animated GIFs & Clips! All the power of GIPHY is in your hands. What are you waiting for?!
EXPLORE
• From all your favorites like HBO, Drake, Rihanna, Comedy Central and MTV, discover the world of pop culture – memes, TV, Movies, Music and more.… View full description on the official store →
SEARCH
• Find the perfect GIF from the world's largest library of animated GIFs & Clips! All the power of GIPHY is in your hands. What are you waiting for?!
EXPLORE
• From all your favorites like HBO, Drake, Rihanna, Comedy Central and MTV, discover the world of pop culture – memes, TV, Movies, Music and more.… View full description on the official store →
App Specs
🔐 Own this app? Claim & verify MRR →💾 87 MB🔞 12+📱 iOS 15.6+🔖 v4.18.2🔄 updated 0d ago🌐 EN📂 Photo & Video💰 Paid
📅
What Worked™ · Development Pipeline
11 EVENTS TRACKEDDetected changes in this app over its tracked lifetime — each event links cause (what changed) to effect (what moved). Sorted newest first.See full history →Version history →
2026-05
⭐
Rating ↑ 3.71 → 4.77 (improved 1.06★)
2026-05
📈
Crossed 1,000 ratings — social-proof flywheel kicking in
2026-03
⭐
Rating ↑ 3.71 → 4.70 (improved 0.99★)
2026-03
📈
Crossed 500 ratings — social-proof flywheel kicking in
2025-05
📈
Crossed 100 ratings — social-proof flywheel kicking in
2025-03
📈
Crossed 50 ratings — social-proof flywheel kicking in
2025-02
📈
Crossed 10 ratings — social-proof flywheel kicking in
2025-02
⭐
Rating ↓ 4.43 → 4.00 (dropped 0.43★)
2025-02
⭐
Rating ↑ 3.00 → 3.67 (improved 0.67★)
2025-02
🚀
First tracked snapshot — initial data captured
2025-02
⭐
Rating ↑ 1.00 → 3.00 (improved 2.00★)
🌍
Multi-Country Performance
Available in 7 of 9 monitored markets| Market | Rating | Reviews | Current version |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇧🇷 BR | 4.79071★ | 15,787 | 4.79071★ this version |
| 🇨🇦 CA | 4.69601★ | 42,791 | 4.69601★ this version |
| 🇩🇪 DE | 4.66552★ | 21,275 | 4.66552★ this version |
| 🇫🇷 FR | 4.64902★ | 25,118 | 4.64902★ this version |
| 🇬🇧 GB | 4.73466★ | 58,777 | 4.73466★ this version |
| 🇮🇳 IN | 4.63394★ | 7,201 | 4.63394★ this version |
| 🇯🇵 JP | 4.59445★ | 3,711 | 4.59445★ this version |
🔔
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📝 Description
95
BU Score · Transcendent
Full revenue analysis
Read the article-style breakdown for GIPHY: The GIF Search Engine: category rank, percentile, growth signal, comparable apps, and how the forecast is calibrated against verified-MRR anchors in this niche.
More by Giphy, Inc.
View all →📦 Portfolio summaryINDIE studio
2apps·$14K/mocombined
⚠ Concentrated — top app contributes 81% of combined revenue (single-app dependency)
Similar apps in Photo & Video
About this analysis
Why high confidence: 691,578 ratings · no founder-verified revenue (model estimate only).
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
4 answers · auto-generated from this app's public dataHow much does GIPHY make per month?▴
Based on our ML-calibrated revenue forecast, GIPHY earns approximately $11K/mo. This is a US-storefront-equivalent estimate; global revenue can be several times larger for internationally-distributed apps. See the methodology page for the full formula and confidence bands.
What apps are like GIPHY?▴
Browse the full Photo & Video category catalog to find similar apps with revenue, build cost, audience and tech stack data. Each /p/{slug} page also shows a Compare side-by-side widget with three peer apps from the same niche.
Who makes GIPHY?▴
GIPHY is published by Giphy, Inc. on the Apple App Store. See the full publisher portfolio (other apps by the same developer) via the More by developer block on the product page above.
What is GIPHY's BU Score?▴
GIPHY has a BU Score of 87/100 (Excellent). The score combines App Store rating, ratings count, monetization model and revenue signals calibrated against founder-verified MRR anchors. See the BU Score formula.