--- static_export_time: "2026-08-18T17:07:46+00:00" title: "How Volatile Are Categories in the App Stores?" description: "Useful insights into the volatility of the top 10 apps in various categories on the App Store and Google Play, and what it means for app marketers." url: "/en/aso-blog/category-rankings-and-volatility-useful-insights-for-app-marketers" locale: "en-US" image: "https://www.apptweak.com/img/2023/03/category-rankings-and-volatility-useful-insights-for-app-marketers-2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=95" --- # How Volatile Are Categories in the App Stores? ![Gwenaëlle Kollegger](/img/2023/03/gwenaelle-kollegger.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&w=200&h=200&fit=crop)by  **Gwenaëlle Kollegger** Last updated on May 8 2023 — 2 min read Summarize with AI Subscribe to our monthly newsletter Subscribe to our monthly newsletter Getting into the top ranking of a category is a huge deal for apps and a very desirable goal for all **app marketers and ASO professionals**. If you’ve managed to get your app into the **top 10 category ranking** (no small feat, depending on the category), you’d want to be aware of how hard it’s going to be to stay there. On the other hand, if you’re still struggling to break into that list, you’ll need to know your likelihood of success. For both cases, **volatility plays an important part**. If the volatility is very low, that means that the top 10 is locked and it’s really hard to get any new apps in there. If the volatility is high, it means that many new apps might take your place at any time. * * * ## A look at volatility on iOS and Android First, let’s look at the **App Store.** The **volatility** for **paid apps** is **much higher** than for free apps in categories such as **Finance, Food’n Drink, Music, and Shopping**. One explanation might be that since apps tend to have much less downloads in those categories than free apps, any new download has a bigger impact. However, we see that for the Games category, the opposite is true: the top 10 free apps are much more volatile. The Games category is usually an outlier, as it is extremely competitive and the number of both paid and free apps that are published in it is huge. Let’s compare these results with **Google Play**. - On **Android** , we can notice that the **volatility is more stable** across categories. All 6 categories have a volatility between 10 and 40%, while on iOS, the volatility goes from near 0% to near 50%. - The **volatility for paid apps** is also **higher** than the volatility for free apps, and this time that trends is seen across all 6 categories. It’s interesting to see that the Games (free) category is much less volatile on Android than on iOS, while the Games (paid) category is about the same. - If we disregard categories and look at all apps, we can see that the trend is confirmed; although more clearly for Android than for iOS. [Check which apps are in the top charts of your category](/en/free-tools/app-store-top-charts) * * * _Did you find these insights useful? We have plenty more data like this to share with you!_ [Start a 7-day free trial](https://app.apptweak.com/accounts/new) * * * by **Gwenaëlle Kollegger** Gwenaëlle worked at Apptweak first as a Business Development Manager in 2019 and as a customer success representative the next year. She thinks exciting times are ahead for mobile marketers and is always looking for the next amazing app to install on her phone! [ Leveraging the App Stores as a True Marketing Channel Understand how mobile marketers can maximize their impact by leveraging the app stores as a true marketing channel. ![Sukanya Sur](/img/2023/03/sukanya.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&w=300&h=300&fit=crop)Sukanya Sur Read more ](/en/aso-blog/leveraging-the-app-stores-as-a-true-marketing-channel) * * * More articles in App Market Insights - [ App Market InsightsCompany Updates July 13, 2026 Just dropped: the ASO & Apple Ads trends and benchmarks report 2026 A deep dive into top apps and games best practices and benchmarks to level up your app performance. ![Pierre-Antoine Roy](/img/2026/04/squaredapptweakprofilepicture.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&w=600&h=600&fit=crop)Pierre-Antoine Roy ](/en/aso-blog/aso-app-store-trends-benchmarks-report) - [ App Keyword ResearchApp Market Insights July 10, 2026 Which platforms offer an API for app store data? Get the breakdown of native and third-party API tools. Learn what data you can access, use cases, limits, and how … ![Micah Motta](/img/2025/07/20250220-Micah_Motta.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&w=300&h=300&fit=crop)Micah Motta ](/en/aso-blog/app-store-api-tools) - [ App Market InsightsArtificial Intelligence (AI) June 1, 2026 Out now: The AI visibility playbook for apps and games It's out! Grab the only guide created to help mobile apps & games improve AI visibility. ![Micah Motta](/img/2025/07/20250220-Micah_Motta.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&w=300&h=300&fit=crop)Micah Motta ](/en/aso-blog/out-now-ai-visibility-playbook) [See all posts](/en/aso-blog)