--- static_export_time: "2026-10-05T14:19:47+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 Insights October 3, 2026 Most downloaded sports betting apps by market in 2026 See the most downloaded sports betting apps by market in 2026 ![Micah Motta](/img/2025/07/20250220-Micah_Motta.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&w=300&h=300&fit=crop)Micah Motta ](/en/reports/most-downloaded-sports-betting-apps-by-market) - [ App Market Insights September 19, 2026 ASO news & app store updates 2026 Stay up to date about all recent developments in ASO and the app stores in 2026. ![Pierre-Antoine Roy](/img/2026/04/squaredapptweakprofilepicture.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&w=600&h=600&fit=crop)Pierre-Antoine Roy ](/en/aso-blog/app-store-optimization-news-app-store-updates) - [ App Market Insights September 17, 2026 SEO for apps: How to drive organic traffic and downloads beyond the app stores Discover how SEO can boost your app’s visibility beyond the app stores with actionable SEO tips for 2025 ![Nathalie](/img/2024/02/nath-app-copie-croped.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&w=300&h=300&fit=crop)Nathalie ](/en/aso-blog/seo-for-apps) [See all posts](/en/aso-blog)