We Priced a $9.99 App in 73 Countries. Here's the Full Map
$9.99 a month is a common number for indie subscription apps, so we used it as a test case: run one price through purchasing-power localization for every territory the store data covers, and see what the map actually looks like once local incomes are accounted for.
The method, in one paragraph
For each of the 73 territories, we compare the local price of a burger to its US price, use that ratio as a purchasing-power signal, then convert and round the result to a real store price tier. The conservative preset caps discounts at roughly 65% and caps premiums at 1.5x the US price; the aggressive preset (closer to what Viktor Seraleev actually ran) removes the premium cap and pushes deeper into low-income markets. Full method here.
The headline numbers
Across the 72 non-US territories, on the conservative preset:
- 44 countries end up cheaper than the $9.99 US price, 28 end up more expensive.
- The average discount is 10.6%, but that average hides a wide spread: 13 countries land in the 40 to 60% off range, and 2 go past 60% off.
- Switch to the aggressive preset and the average discount jumps to 17.1%, with 11 countries now past 60% off.
Not one country lands at exactly $9.99. Purchasing power is never flat.
The 10 cheapest markets (conservative preset)
| Country | Price | ≈ USD | Discount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇮🇳 India | 350 INR | $3.88 | -61.2% |
| 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 67,000 IDR | $3.97 | -60.3% |
| 🇪🇬 Egypt | 200 EGP | $4.23 | -57.7% |
| 🇹🇼 Taiwan | 150 TWD | $4.75 | -52.5% |
| 🇻🇳 Vietnam | 130,000 VND | $4.95 | -50.5% |
| 🇭🇰 Hong Kong | 38.99 HKD | $5.00 | -49.9% |
| 🇿🇦 South Africa | 81.99 ZAR | $5.02 | -49.7% |
| 🇵🇭 Philippines | 300 PHP | $5.04 | -49.5% |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | 800 JPY | $5.05 | -49.4% |
| 🇯🇴 Jordan | 3.99 JOD | $5.64 | -43.5% |
Switch to the aggressive preset and India, Indonesia and Taiwan all cross the 75% off line, landing under $2.25 for the same $9.99 subscription, still a real, profitable price on the local store tier.
The premium markets
Purchasing-power pricing goes both ways, and this is the part that surprises people. A handful of markets have burger prices above the US in real terms, so the same logic that discounts India recommends charging more in these countries:
| Country | Price | ≈ USD | vs US price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇸🇮 Slovenia | 9.99 EUR | $11.59 | +16.0% |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | 9.99 EUR | $11.59 | +16.0% |
| 🇩🇰 Denmark | 76.99 DKK | $11.95 | +19.6% |
| 🇳🇴 Norway | 120.99 NOK | $11.96 | +19.7% |
| 🇸🇪 Sweden | 110.99 SEK | $12.03 | +20.4% |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 8.99 GBP | $12.03 | +20.4% |
| 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 11.99 CHF | $14.92 | +49.3% |
| 🇺🇾 Uruguay | 600 UYU | $15.50 | +55.2% |
Switzerland charging 49% more than the US isn't surprising. Uruguay landing near the very top of the whole list, ahead of Switzerland's neighbors and most of Western Europe, is the kind of counterintuitive result you only find by actually running the numbers instead of guessing.
What this means if you ship one global price
If your app charges $9.99 everywhere today, you're already implicitly leaving money on the table in the premium markets above, and you're pricing yourself out of most of the cheap-market list, not because those buyers don't want your app, but because $9.99 is a different amount of real money to them than it is in San Francisco or London.
Neither list is exotic. India, Japan, and the UK aren't small markets on the App Store or Play Store, they're some of the biggest by download volume anywhere.
Try it with your own number
These numbers are for $9.99. Your price is probably different, and burger prices move roughly twice a year, so treat this as a snapshot, not a permanent table. Run your own base price through the calculator to get the current, exact recommendation for all 73 countries, rounded to real store tiers, with a CSV export ready to go.