App Pricing Trends 2026 — How Much Do Apps Really Cost?
We broke down the pricing of 201,437 iOS apps to answer the question every developer asks: what should I charge? Here's what the data says.
$7.86Avg Paid Price
$2.99Median Paid
51.7%Pure Free
43.9%Freemium
Monetization Model Breakdown
The App Store is a freemium economy. Only 2.4% of apps charge an upfront price.
Model
Apps
Share
free
17,020
51.7%
freemium subscription
13,003
39.5%
freemium iap
1,459
4.4%
paid
799
2.4%
paid with subscription
307
0.9%
subscription
246
0.7%
freemium
99
0.3%
Price Distribution
Range
Apps
% of All Apps
Free ($0)
191,257
94.9%
$0.01-$0.99
2,295
1.1%
$1-$1.99
1,643
0.8%
$2-$4.99
3,226
1.6%
$5-$9.99
1,631
0.8%
$10-$24.99
951
0.5%
$25-$49.99
269
0.1%
$50+
169
0.1%
Average Price by Category (Paid Apps Only)
Which categories command the highest prices? Niche professional tools dominate.
What the Data Tells Us
Free is the default: 51.7% of apps are completely free. If you charge upfront, you're in a tiny minority.
Subscriptions rule: Freemium with subscriptions is the #2 model at 13,003 apps (39.5%).
Niche = higher prices: Professional and specialized categories can charge $50+ without pushback.
Median vs. mean: The median paid price ($2.99) is much lower than the average ($7.86), showing a long tail of expensive niche apps pulling the mean up.