How to read App Store and Google Play prices across countries
· 2 min read
Comparing an app’s price across countries looks simple: open the store page, read the number. In practice, four details trip up almost every comparison.
Same name, different plan
App Store pages list in-app purchases by name only. Many apps sell a monthly and an annual plan under exactly the same name — “ChatGPT Plus” can appear at $19.99 and at $200. We match plans by name and by a sensible price range, so an annual plan never replaces the monthly one in our tables.
Google Play only shows a range
Google Play does not publish plan names. Its listing shows the lowest and highest in-app price, for example “TRY 249.99 – TRY 26,499.00 per item”. We show both numbers, but treat them for what they are: the cheapest and the most expensive item the app sells. When the highest price suddenly multiplies, that almost always means a new, more expensive plan was added, not that the existing plan got more expensive.
Some storefronts price in US dollars
Not every country’s store uses the local currency. Argentina and Ukraine, for example, show many prices in US dollars. We read the currency from the store page itself rather than assuming it from the country.
Taxes are not handled the same way
European, Asian and Latin American storefronts include VAT in the displayed price. The US and Canadian stores show prices before sales tax. A $19.99 US price can therefore cost more at checkout than a European price that looks higher on paper.
What our tables show
- Price: the latest verified store price, converted to USD with the daily reference rate, with the local price next to it.
- vs US: the difference from the US price for the same plan.
- Tax: whether the price includes VAT and at which rate.
- Risk: how likely payment or account problems are when buying from that store region.
If a new value looks wrong — for example it jumps far beyond normal in one check — we keep showing the last verified price until the new one is confirmed.
