Branch.io

What is Branch.io?

Branch is a mobile growth platform built around four tightly-integrated product surfaces, each of which dominates or contends for category leadership in its respective sub-vertical:

1. Deep linking — the category benchmark: Universal Links (iOS), App Links (Android), and deferred deep links that survive the install flow. A single Branch link routes correctly across email, SMS, social, QR codes, paid ads, and offline campaigns — handling the open-vs-install decision, the OS-specific link format, and the cold-start install flow automatically.
2. Mobile attribution (MMP — Mobile Measurement Partner): install attribution across Google Ads, Meta, TikTok, Apple Search Ads, and dozens of other ad networks. Branch is a top-3 global MMP alongside AppsFlyer and Adjust; in India specifically AppsFlyer is more dominant for pure-MMP work, but Branch is competitive and especially strong for teams that already use Branch for deep linking.
3. Referral & sharing programs: the in-app SDK that powers refer-and-earn programs at PhonePe, Swiggy, Meesho, Nykaa and most large Indian consumer apps. Custom referral links per user, who-invited-whom tracking, reward-logic integration, viral loop measurement.
4. Fraud protection: detection and blocking of install fraud — fake installs from click farms, bot networks, and low-quality ad inventory. Critical for any Indian app running large Google App campaigns or Meta App Install campaigns, where fraud rates on lower-quality inventory routinely sit in the 15-30% range.

The company was founded on 15 April 2014 in Palo Alto by four co-founders — Alex Austin (CEO), Mada Seghete, Mike Molinet (COO) and Dmitri Gaskin — originally as a deep-linking-only startup before expanding into the full mobile-growth-platform footprint. Branch is now headquartered in Mountain View, California (1975 W El Camino Real, Suite 102).

Funding history:

• Cumulative $330 million-plus raised across multiple rounds — Seed, Series A, B, C, D and growth
• Lead investors include NEA, Founders Fund and Playground Ventures, with additional participation from Madrona Venture Group, Cowboy Ventures and others
• Late-stage valuation peaked in the unicorn range during the 2020-2021 ZIRP-era growth-software bull cycle, with subsequent valuation marks not publicly disclosed in detail

The strategic 2025 milestone that any Indian mobile team needs to internalise: Google deprecated Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL) on 25 August 2025. FDL had been a free-of-cost deep-linking service shipped as part of Firebase for nearly a decade and was the default deep-linking choice for thousands of early-stage and mid-market Indian apps. Branch responded with a $10 million Firebase migration fund, a fast-track onboarding programme, dedicated technical migration support, and pricing concessions for Firebase-displaced teams — meaningfully expanding Branch's deep-linking moat in the second half of 2025. The opportunity is real and ongoing: any Indian app that was still using FDL when it sunset on 25 August 2025 has been forced to migrate by now, and Branch is the most-recommended landing point (with paid alternatives Adjust, Kochava and the open-source Appsflyer OneLink also competing for the migration share).

The vendor-stability counter-signal: Branch laid off more than 100 employees in August 2024. The most visible part of the cuts hit the Nova Launcher team — Nova Launcher is the popular Android home-screen launcher app that Branch acquired in 2022, ostensibly to use as a first-party data source for cross-app attribution; post-layoffs, Nova Launcher is reportedly down to a single full-time developer, which is the canonical post-acquisition-fade pattern (acquire, integrate the data, let the standalone product wither). This pattern is worth flagging on a procurement page because it tells you what Branch prioritises under cost pressure: core MMP / deep-linking is preserved; adjacent acquired surfaces (Nova) are not. In October 2025, Branch announced a partnership with Admitad to build a LATAM mobile-growth ecosystem — a moderate positive signal that the core business is still expanding internationally.

On balance, Branch sits in the "Watching" vendor-trajectory band: the core deep-linking and MMP products are stable, well-engineered, and benefitting from the Firebase tailwind; the cost-rationalisation pressure and Nova Launcher fade are real and worth pricing into any 3-year multi-year contract.

What Branch gives you (the product surface)

Pricing — how Branch actually costs Indian buyers

Branch does not publish list pricing for its paid tiers; pricing is enterprise-quoted and scales with MAU volume, attribution event volume, and feature mix. Based on Vendr / Capterra / nearbound.net / metacto.com benchmarks and our own procurement work with Indian buyers, the 2026 typical landing prices:

• Free tier — genuinely useful: unlimited deep links, basic attribution, and core SDK access for apps under modest MAU caps. Most early-stage Indian apps (under 50K MAU) can run on Branch Free indefinitely for deep-linking-only use cases. The paid features are primarily advanced attribution analytics, granular fraud protection, deeper ad-network integrations, and enterprise SLAs.
• Starter tier — typical entry point for 50K-150K MAU apps, landing at $15,000-$35,000/year (~₹13-30 lakh/year ALL-IN with 18% IGST reverse-charge + FX). The natural step up from Free once paid-acquisition spend and attribution accuracy start to matter.
• Growth tier — mid-market scaling apps at 200K-500K MAU, landing at $30,000-$100,000+/year (~₹25 lakh-₹85 lakh/year ALL-IN). Adds advanced attribution, full fraud protection, deeper ad-network integrations, and higher MAU capacity.
• Large deployments — 500K to 1M MAU: typically $75,000-$150,000+/year (~₹65 lakh-₹1.3 crore/year ALL-IN). Most India-large consumer apps (Tier 1 fintech, food delivery, e-commerce) sit in this band.
• Largest deployments — 2M+ MAU: typically $150,000-$250,000+/year (~₹1.3-2.1 crore/year ALL-IN). Apps in the PhonePe / Swiggy / Meesho scale band.
• Enterprise tier — custom-quoted for the largest deployments + organisations needing FedRAMP authorisation, dedicated support, compliance custom-MSAs, and on-premise / data-residency arrangements.

All billing is in USD via the Branch US entity. Indian buyers handle the 18% IGST reverse-charge in their own GST filings and need FIRA / FIRC paperwork for FEMA compliance on outbound payments above the LRS threshold. There is no INR billing option, no Indian entity, and no IST-aligned dedicated support tier.

Negotiation reality at the 2026 Growth and Enterprise tiers: annual prepayment, multi-year commits (2-3 year), and competitive-replacement scenarios (especially vs AppsFlyer or Adjust) typically unlock 10-20% off list. Firebase-Dynamic-Links migration teams should explicitly ask for the $10 million migration fund pricing concessions — these are real, not marketing copy.

Branch vs AppsFlyer vs Adjust vs Kochava — Indian buyer's matrix

The default Indian-buyer call for 2026: use Branch when deep linking, deferred deep linking, or referral programs are the primary use case (or when migrating off Firebase Dynamic Links); use AppsFlyer when pure MMP attribution at Series B+ India scale is the primary use case; use Adjust when EU GDPR / privacy-first compliance is the primary constraint; use Kochava when a free-tier MMP for an early-stage app is the goal.

When Branch is the right call

1. Deep linking is your primary use case — Branch is the category benchmark; nothing else comes close on universal links, app links, deferred deep links, or fallback handling in restrictive browsers.
2. You're running a referral program (PhonePe-style, Swiggy-style, Nykaa-style refer-and-earn) — deferred deep linking is what makes referral programs actually work, and Branch is the cleanest path to ship one.
3. You're migrating off Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL deprecated 25 Aug 2025) — Branch's $10M migration fund, fast-track onboarding, technical migration support, and pricing concessions make it the default landing point.
4. You need offline-to-app campaigns with dynamic QR codes — Branch QR codes are mature; especially relevant for Indian D2C / quick-commerce with physical retail / dark-store presence.
5. You're running large Google App / Meta App Install campaigns and need fraud protection — Branch Protect catches 15-30% fraud rates common on lower-quality inventory.

Branch is the wrong call when: pure MMP attribution at India Tier-1 scale is the primary use case (use AppsFlyer — deeper India ad-network integrations + dominant Indian MMP market position); you need EU GDPR / privacy-first MMP positioning (use Adjust); you need INR billing through an Indian entity (Branch is USD-only); you're an under-50K-MAU early-stage app using basic Firebase Analytics + a simple deep-linking library (you may not need Branch's paid tier yet); or you explicitly need a vendor not currently in a headcount-reduction cycle (the August 2024 100+ layoffs + Nova Launcher fade are real signals — AppsFlyer or Adjust are safer on the pure vendor-stability axis).

Pros & cons

Alternatives

Related insights & playbooks

• Referral Program Design for India — viral-loop mechanics that work for Indian consumer apps
• AppsFlyer review — pure-MMP attribution alternative (India market leader)
• Marketing tools hub — full live comparison set
• Consumer-app insights hub — Indian mobile-growth playbook