How to set App Store prices by purchasing power
Apple converts your base price into every storefront at market exchange rates. That makes a $4.99 subscription several times more expensive, in local terms, in countries where everyday prices are low. Price-level pricing fixes that by scaling your base price by what things cost in each country.
The method in five steps
- Snap your base amount to a valid Apple price point in your base country.
- Multiply it by country price-level index ÷ base-country price-level index. The index is the World Bank’s
PA.NUS.GDP.PLI, the ratio of the PPP conversion factor to the market exchange rate. - Snap the result to the nearest base-country price point.
- Use Apple’s own equalization for that price point to get the local price. Never map price points by list position or compare nominal currencies.
- Compare the suggestion with today’s local price, then review and schedule only the countries you want to change.
Worked example: India
India’s price level is 23% of the US level (World Bank, 2025). $4.99 × 0.23 = $1.15, and the nearest US price point is $1.19. Apple’s Indian equivalent of that point becomes the suggested INR price. See all Indian example prices or the table for every country.
What the index does and doesn’t tell you
The price-level index compares what the same basket of goods costs in each country. It is not a measure of income, and it says nothing about your competitors or what your audience in a given country will pay. Use the suggestion as a first draft. Countries without World Bank data get no suggestion; AppPriceKit doesn’t guess.
Existing subscribers
Price decreases reach existing subscribers at their next renewal. For increases, App Store Connect lets you keep existing subscribers on their current price or apply the increase to them, in which case Apple notifies them and, in some markets or for large increases, asks for consent. Details are in Apple’s pricing help.
Next: how to change a subscription price in App Store Connect.