Google Play market in South Africa: which categories are open
Categories of Google Play in South Africa ranked by how easy it is to reach the top 100 free chart. Snapshot of Oct 23, 2026.
3.4Minstalls to enter a top 100 (median)
26%of the top: apps from the last 12 months
5,780local apps
148Mlocal installs
63new local apps in a year
Categories, easiest first
| Category | Top 100 | New in top |
|---|---|---|
| Food & Drink | 245 | 16% |
| Events | 2.4K | 23% |
| Video Players & Editors | 6K | 32% |
| Lifestyle | 13K | 35% |
| Strategy games | 63K | 43% |
| Libraries & Demo | 66K | 14% |
| Sports | 66K | 43% |
| Education | 143K | 18% |
| Casino games | 144K | 32% |
| Maps & Navigation | 173K | 36% |
| Shopping | 202K | 11% |
| Finance | 255K | 24% |
| Travel & Local | 292K | 14% |
| Card games | 452K | 14% |
| Photography | 866K | 37% |
| Arcade games | 1M | 12% |
| Books & Reference | 1.5M | 17% |
| Trivia games | 1.9M | 26% |
| Role Playing games | 3M | 36% |
| Educational games | 3.2M | 7% |
| Social | 3.4M | 22% |
| Music & Audio | 4.9M | 29% |
| Comics | 4.9M | 47% |
| Communication | 5.4M | 25% |
| Word games | 9.4M | 18% |
| Tools | 1M | 50% |
| Adventure games | 11M | 26% |
| Music games | 12M | 11% |
| Board games | 12M | 20% |
| Simulation games | 17M | 28% |
| Action games | 21M | 16% |
| Casual games | 23M | 45% |
| Business | 24M | 11% |
| Sports games | 27M | 22% |
| Entertainment | 34M | 56% |
| Art & Design | 39M | 41% |
| Puzzle games | 52M | 37% |
| Health & Fitness | 58M | 28% |
| Productivity | 99M | 27% |
| Racing games | 116M | 16% |
| Personalization | 137M | 44% |
How to read it
- Top 100 threshold
- Installs of the app at position 100 of a category's free chart: roughly what it takes to get in. For a country, the median across its categories.
- New in top
- Share of the top 200 released in the last 12 months: do newcomers break through?
- Local in top
- Share of the top 200 offered in no more than 3 countries: do local apps win, or global giants?
- Local apps
- Live apps offered only in this country (and at most two others).