Angola, Botswana, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania [United Republic of], Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Kenya, northern and eastern Tanzania, south-eastern DRCongo, south-western Angola, southern and eastern Zambia, Malawi, western Mozambique, north-eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, and northern South Africa (Limpopo and Mpumalanga lowveld).
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Purple Indigobird (Vidua purpurascens) [XC41901]
by Peter Boesman from S07.38739 E36.97556, ca. 2km N of Mikumi, Morogoro Region, Tanzania (imitation, song, song & mimicry)
Purple Indigobird (Vidua purpurascens) [XC280834]
by Tony Archer from Pretoriuskop area, Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga, South Africa (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Thought to form a superspecies with Dusky Indigobird (Vidua funerea). Sometimes treated as conspecific with Dusky Indigobird (Vidua funerea). Formerly considered a subspecies of Village Indigobird (Vidua chalybeata).
Interbreeds with Village Indigobird (Vidua chalybeata) in north-eastern Tanzania and with Dusky Indigobird (Vidua funerea) in south-eastern DRCongo.