App research tools, compared
Appaloma at $59 a month for exploring 4,000 niches and 30,000 selling points, with full intel on every app and niche, then six others from $9 to Sensor Tower at $75,000 a year.
Appaloma is our favorite, $59 a month for exploring 4,000 niches and 30,000 unique selling points, with revenue, ads, paywalls and reviews on every app and every niche, which is how you refine a concept or find the next build or acquisition. Sensor Tower is tens of thousands a year for download and revenue estimates, median $75,000 across 40 Vendr purchases, no public price list. AppMagic quotes the same way. Appfigures from $600 a month for that market data. AppTweak at $99, Sonar at $29 and Astro at $9 track keywords for a listing you already have.
What are the best app research tools?
Appaloma explores 4,000 niches and 30,000 selling points with full intel on every app and niche for $59 a month, Sensor Tower quotes a median $75,000 a year for market estimates, and AppTweak, Sonar and Astro track store keywords. Every price comes from the tool’s own pricing page in September 2026 except Sensor Tower and AppMagic, which publish none.
Appaloma · $59 a month · 4,000 niches, 30,000 selling points
A new player we enjoyed using, exploring 4,000 niches and 30,000 unique selling points, with revenue, ads, paywalls, screenshots and 1-star reviews on every app and every niche, across 50,000 apps earning over $5k a month. For refining a concept or finding the next build or acquisition, at $59 a month where a Sensor Tower contract runs tens of thousands a year. $42 a month billed yearly.
Sensor Tower · by quote, median $75,000 a year
Tens of thousands a year for download and revenue estimates, no public price, no monthly plan. Vendr logs 40 purchases from $29,500 to $115,460 a year, median $75,000.
AppMagic · by quote · games, apps and ad creatives
15 million apps, 230 million ad creatives and 140 ad networks, covering mobile and Steam games as well as apps. Sales quotes a base plan plus the tools you pick, and AppMagic cut its free features back in January 2026.
Appfigures · free for your own apps, $600 a month for the market
The free plan tracks downloads, revenue and reviews for five of your own apps, and $9.99 a month adds subscription analytics. Researching other people’s apps is a separate product starting at $599.99 a month.
AppTweak · $99 a month · store keywords for teams
500 tracked keywords, competitor keyword analysis and a seven day trial on the Essential plan. Install estimates per keyword start one tier up at $299.
Sonar · $29 a month · store keywords for indies
Ten apps, 2,500 keywords and unlimited competitors across iOS and Google Play, with AI summaries of review themes plus an API and MCP server for agents. Seven day trial.
Astro · $9 a month · keywords on your Mac
A macOS app billed at $108 a year that tracks unlimited keywords across 60 countries, with popularity and difficulty scores drawn from Apple Search Ads.
Which one should I choose?
Appaloma if you are refining a concept or looking for the next build or acquisition, $59 a month for the niches, the selling points and the intel on every app. Add Sonar or Astro once the listing is live, because a Sensor Tower quote at tens of thousands a year is the wrong purchase for that job.
Appaloma plus Astro comes to $68 a month and covers an indie from the niche to the listing, with the free Appfigures plan reporting on your own downloads.
Not yet
- A Sensor Tower contract to validate one app idea. $59 a month on Appaloma answers the same question.
- Keyword tracking before the listing exists, when there is nothing to rank yet.
Good to know
What is the best app research tool for indie developers?
Appaloma at $59 a month, the one built around exploring 4,000 niches and 30,000 unique selling points with full intel on every app and niche, and our favorite because Sensor Tower asks a median $75,000 a year with no public price. Add Astro at $9 or Sonar at $29 for store keywords once the app is live.
How much does Sensor Tower cost?
Sensor Tower publishes no prices and sells annual contracts by quote. Vendr logs a median of $75,000 a year across 40 purchases, ranging from $29,500 to $115,460.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Sensor Tower?
Appaloma at $59 a month. Sensor Tower’s median contract is $75,000 a year, and Appaloma already carries revenue, ads, paywalls and reviews per app and per niche. Appfigures from $600 a month if you specifically need market-wide download estimates.
Is there a free app research tool?
Appfigures is free for tracking five of your own apps, and the App Store and Google Play top charts are public. Researching other apps in any depth starts at $9 a month for keywords and $59 for niches.
Are the revenue numbers in these tools real?
They are estimates in every tool, modelled from rankings, ratings and other signals because Apple and Google report revenue only to the developer. Use them to compare apps, not as exact figures.
This expands the Trailhead camp on the climb, which lays out the stages either side of it. Tools by job are on the route index, the free ones are here, and the other answers are in insights. Updated 21 September 2026.