Looking for a Free ASO Tool? App Annie is Free, However, Extremely Limited
March 11, 2019

Looking for a Free ASO Tool? App Annie is Free, However, Extremely Limited

Sam Lepak | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • Store Stats
  • App Store Rankings
  • Keyword Search

Overall Satisfaction with App Annie

We currently use App Annie as a free tool for our organization to track keyword rankings, DAUs & MAUs, and the breakdown of users and app store conversion rates so we can compare to similar tools such as AppFollow and the respective App Stores. Our internal marketing department uses App Annie to compare app data sources and understand reliable metrics.

App Annie solves problems with app store data discrepancies - specifically download volumes and conversion rates across countries.
  • App Annie connects to 3rd party paid media and ad revenue platforms extremely well. The data across our Facebook Ads and Apple Search Ads matches exactly with App Annie pulls in. This is extremely important as this helps us determine CPI and cost-per-lead from those sources with App Annie.
  • Servicing clients from multiple parts of the world, it's important to know how our app is performing outside the US App Store. With App Annie, we are able to see where our app ranks in each country's respective store and if our app is trending upward or downward.
  • Most ASO keyword tools only offer 20-30 free keywords. App Annie provides 100 free keywords if you are on the free plan. This is extremely helpful to be able to track important keywords for iOS and Android, along with looking into other countries.
  • App Annie is extremely limited if you are on the free plan. While you can garner some golden nuggets from the free plan, it's extremely difficult to make needle moving decisions based on the free data. It would be great if App Annie would disclose pricing on their website, plus have a non-free/enterprise plan were you could pick and choose features they offer.
  • After nearly considering a paid plan with App Annie, I decided not to purchase because of the broken trust that stemmed from their sales team. I often got cold-calls from their reps - even when I never contacted them for a sales member to call me. I was bombarded for about 2 weeks straight with phone calls and hard-core sales emails with just asking to talk, no questions or personalization. This cold, unwanted and unwelcome outreach solidified my decision not to purchase.
  • App Annie has had neither a positive nor negative impact on our ROI or business objectives. Our team currently uses their free, very limited plan for data discrepancy with our main ASO tool. Otherwise, we have connected our apps and let the data flow in. We go in the account about once every 2-3 months.
  • With App Annie's data we have solidified that our other paid ASO tool we use has accurate data and that we will continue to pay for that tool. So in that regards, App Annie's provided us with a confirmation in our competitor ASO tool purchase decision.
When comparing the free versions of App Annie and AppFollow, App Annie falls short. Not only is AppFollow more intuitive, it provides better data export integrations such as Slack (view and respond to reviews real-time), Google Analytics, multiple CRMs, etc. App Annie allows for none of these things, they are more of a data aggregate.

AppFollow also has a live intercom chat to help with any problems, something that App Annie is lacking when it comes to support. The only thing that App Annie wins at is connecting to the App Stores and pulling in download and conversion volumes, and allowing for 100 keywords versus 20.


App Annie is well-suited if the main source of your revenue is through ad networks, you perform a lot of Facebook and Apple Search Ads, and you are in multiple countries' app stores. App Annie is well-suited, too, if you are looking for a free app tool to pull in app store keyword data, and compare across other ASO tools. Apart from that, if you are not looking to pay for an App Store tool, then App Annie is not the solution for you.