Messenger vs WeChat
Messenger
Meta Platforms, Inc.
Google Play
$26.42M/mo
~$317.02M/yr · 7.8B installs
VS
WeChat
Google Play
$3.15M/mo
~$37.80M/yr · 455.3M installs
Revenue winner
Messenger wins
+739% vs other
Installs winner
Messenger wins
+1603% vs other
MAU winner
Messenger wins
+727% vs other
Rating winner
Messenger wins
+63% vs other
Why Messenger is winning
Top 4 reasons - backed by the public App Store / Play Store numbers.
- Messenger earns roughly 8× more per month than WeChat - $26.42M vs $3.15M.
- Premium pricing. Messenger charges $4.47/mo vs WeChat's $3.85/mo - higher ARPU per converted user.
- Bigger install base. Messenger has ~7.8B lifetime installs vs WeChat's ~455.3M - 17.0× the funnel top.
- Better app store reviews. Messenger sits at 4.72★ vs 2.90★ - store algorithms reward higher-rated apps with more impressions.
→ Find more apps with this revenue gap · Full Messenger report
Side-by-side metrics
Bars scale to whichever app is bigger on that row. Green = winner.
Messenger
vs
WeChat
Monthly revenue (est.)?
$26.42M
◀
$3.15M
Annual revenue (est.)
$317.02M
◀
$37.80M
Lifetime installs (est.)
7.8B
◀
455.3M
Monthly active users (est.)?
255.9M
◀
31.0M
App Store rating
4.72★
◀
2.90★
Total ratings
111.6M
◀
6.0M
US grossing rank
-
=
-
Cheapest monthly sub
$4.47
◀
$3.85
IAP tiers detected
0 tiers
=
0 tiers
- Category
- Communication
- Price
- Free
- Released
- Jan 30, 2014
- Last updated
- May 5, 2026
- File size
- -
- Content rating
- Everyone
- Version
- 559.0.0.49.75
- Languages
- -
- Category
- Communication
- Price
- Free
- Released
- Jan 30, 2011
- Last updated
- Apr 10, 2026
- File size
- -
- Content rating
- Teen
- Version
- VARY
- Languages
- -
Messenger trajectory
WeChat trajectory
FAQ
Which makes more money, Messenger or WeChat? v
Messenger earns about $26.42M per month, while WeChat earns about $3.15M. That is a 8.4× revenue gap (~$23.27M more per month for Messenger). Annual revenue: Messenger ≈ $317.02M/year, WeChat ≈ $37.80M/year. Estimates are derived from public Google Play signals - grossing rank, scraped IAP tiers, ratings and category benchmarks.
Which has more downloads, Messenger or WeChat? v
Messenger leads with about 7.8B estimated downloads vs 455.3M for WeChat - a 17.0× gap. Messenger reports 5,000,000,000+ installs on Google Play. WeChat reports 100,000,000+ installs on Google Play.
Are Messenger and WeChat in the same Google Play category and competing for the same money? v
Yes - both apps sit in the Communication category, which means they compete directly for the same paying users and category-level wallet share. Direct competitors, head-to-head.
What in-app purchases and subscription pricing do Messenger and WeChat offer? v
Messenger: IAP range $0.05 - $399.99 per item. WeChat: IAP range $0.99 - $14.99 per item. Messenger runs a "Subscription (~$4.47/mo)" monetization model; WeChat runs "Subscription (~$3.85/mo)". Scraped tier prices and detected subscription pricing drive the bulk of the per-app revenue estimate above.
Which has better ratings, Messenger or WeChat? v
Messenger edges ahead with ★ 4.7 vs ★ 2.9 (gap of 1.8 stars). Rating volume: Messenger 2.5M ratings, WeChat 204K ratings. Higher rating volume = stronger ASO signal even when star averages are close.
How accurate are these Messenger vs WeChat revenue estimates? v
Directional - typically within 2-3× of actual money earned for popular apps. The $26.42M for Messenger and $3.15M for WeChat are derived from Google Play grossing rank, scraped IAP tiers, ratings volume and category benchmarks (Communication) - net of the 15-30% Apple/Google store cut. Real revenue depends on country mix, retention, refunds and ad fill rate, none of which Apple or Google publish.
How do I compare Messenger or WeChat to a different Google Play app? v
Use the search box at the bottom of this page or paste any two Google Play links into the homepage tool. We auto-generate a permanent comparison URL with revenue, downloads, IAP tiers, subscription pricing and grossing rank for both apps.