Van Westendorp calculator
The Van Westendorp method shows which prices your audience accepts by asking people directly. Each person answers 4 questions: “At what price would it be so cheap that you’d doubt its quality?”, “At what price would it be a bargain?”, “At what price would it start to feel expensive, though you’d still consider it?” and “At what price would it be so expensive you wouldn’t buy it?”. Paste one row per person with their 4 prices in that order.
The calculation runs in your browser. We don’t store what you type.
How it’s calculated
The answers build 4 curves. “Too cheap” and “cheap” show the share of people who gave a price equal to or above each price p. “Expensive” and “too expensive” show the share who gave a price equal to or below p.
Two more curves are derived: “not cheap” = 1 − cheap and “not expensive” = 1 − expensive. The key points are where curves cross: PMC (point of marginal cheapness) = too cheap ∩ not cheap; PME (point of marginal expensiveness) = too expensive ∩ not expensive.
OPP (optimal price point) = too cheap ∩ too expensive, where as many people find it too cheap as too expensive. IPP (indifference price point) = cheap ∩ expensive, where as many people see it as cheap as see it as expensive.
The acceptable range runs from PMC to PME. Rows where the 4 prices don’t go from lowest to highest are dropped, since the person most likely misread the questions.
How to read the result
- Outside the acceptable range you take a risk: below PMC the price raises doubts about quality, and above PME many people stop considering the purchase.
- The optimal and indifference points are usually close. If they’re far apart, your audience has no clear sense of value or you’re mixing very different groups.
- The method measures what people say, not what they buy. Use it to set a range and then test it in practice.
- Only ask people who know the product or could buy it, and show them a clear description before the questions.
Frequently asked questions
- How many responses do I need?
- The calculator works from 5, but with so few the curves come out very jagged. The more responses you have, the more stable the points. If you have distinct customer groups, analyze them separately.
- Why do some curves not cross?
- It happens with few responses or when almost everyone gives similar prices. Collect more answers or check that the questions are easy to understand.
- How do I run the pricing survey?
- In SurvIQ you can build it with four number questions, which are included in the Free plan. People answer from their phone without an account, and you export the responses to paste them here.
Know what you want to ask?
Build the survey in SurvIQ, share it by link, WhatsApp or QR code, and watch results come in live. The Free plan is free forever.
Create a free survey