Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter Calculator
Paste your four Van Westendorp price answers to get the acceptable price range, optimal and indifference price points, curves and cleaned data. Free and private.
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What is the Van Westendorp price sensitivity meter?
The Van Westendorp price sensitivity meter (PSM), introduced by Dutch economist Peter van Westendorp in 1976, asks four questions about a product:
- At what price would it be so cheap that you would doubt its quality? (too cheap)
- At what price would it be a bargain, a great buy for the money? (cheap)
- At what price would it start to seem expensive, but you would still consider it? (expensive)
- At what price would it be so expensive that you would not consider buying it? (too expensive)
Plotting the cumulative answers gives four curves. Their intersections define the range of acceptable prices.
How to use the calculator
- Export the four price questions from your survey data, one respondent per row, in the order too cheap, cheap, expensive, too expensive.
- Paste them into the box. A header row is ignored automatically.
- Read the acceptable range, the optimal price point and the indifference price point, and inspect the curves.
Your data never leaves your browser.
The four price points
| Point | Intersection | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| PMC – point of marginal cheapness | Too cheap × not cheap | Below this, more people doubt quality than see a bargain. The floor of the acceptable range. |
| OPP – optimal price point | Too cheap × too expensive | The price fewest people reject outright. |
| IPP – indifference price point | Cheap × expensive | As many people see it as cheap as expensive; often close to the market's normal price. |
| PME – point of marginal expensiveness | Too expensive × not expensive | Above this, more people find it too expensive than acceptable. The ceiling of the range. |
Practitioners use slightly different pairings for PMC and PME. This calculator uses the most common definitions, shown above and in the formula panel.
Strengths and limits
Van Westendorp is quick, works for new products without a competitive set, and gives an intuitive range. It does not measure demand at each price, so it can't tell you which price maximises revenue, and respondents may state lower prices than they would actually pay. For volume and revenue estimates, follow up with a Gabor-Granger or conjoint study; the conjoint calculator helps plan one.
Frequently asked questions
How many respondents do I need?
100–150 per segment gives usable curves; 200 or more gives stable intersections. Run separate analyses for each country, since price perceptions are local.
What if the curves don't intersect?
Usually the price range tested was too narrow or many answers were inconsistent. Check the data and the question wording.
Should I remove inconsistent answers?
Yes, usually. A respondent whose "too cheap" price is higher than their "too expensive" price misunderstood the questions. More than 10–15% inconsistency suggests a questionnaire problem.
Need the respondents, not just the numbers?
Global Vox Populi runs quantitative and qualitative fieldwork in 170+ countries through its own proprietary panels of consumers, B2B and IT decision-makers, physicians, nurses, patients, caregivers and payers. ISO 9001, ISO 20252 and ISO/IEC 27001 certified and HIPAA compliant, following ESOMAR and Insights Association guidelines.
Check feasibilityLink to this tool
Free to use in proposals, courses and articles. If it helped, a link back is appreciated:
<a href="https://globalvoxpopuli.com/tools/van-westendorp-calculator/">Van Westendorp Price Calculator</a> by Global Vox Populi