If you want to know what to build, use Appaloma. If you need keyword rankings, use Sonar or AppTweak. If you need download and revenue estimates on any app, AppMagic is now Sensor Tower's own small-team plan, and Appfigures' upper tiers cover it too. Sensor Tower itself is quote-only and priced for studios that run paid acquisition at scale.
Sensor Tower bought data.ai in 2024 and AppMagic in May 2026. Most "alternatives" left are either ASO keyword tools or dashboards for your own app's numbers. Only one of them answers the question an indie developer is usually asking: which niche do I enter, and what does it take to win there.
The short list
| Tool | From | The job it does | Pick it if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appaloma | $59/mo | Which niche to enter: 4,000 named niches, who leads each, what they charge, what their one star reviews say | You are choosing what to build |
| Sonar | $19/mo | Keyword rank tracking and competitor keywords, with an API and CLI | You have an app and want cheap ASO tracking |
| AppTweak | $79/mo | Keyword research, metadata, custom product pages, review management | You run ASO as a daily job |
| Appfigures | $9.99/mo | Your own downloads, revenue, and subscriptions in one place; competitor estimates from $599.99/mo | You want one dashboard for your apps |
| MobileAction | $15/mo | ASO plus Apple Search Ads management; ad intelligence is quote-only | You spend on Apple Search Ads |
| AppFollow | Free, $179/mo | Review replies, reputation, and alerts across stores | You have a support inbox to run |
| AppMagic | Free tier | Download and revenue estimates for any app, now inside Sensor Tower | You need a number on a specific competitor |
| AppBird | $99/mo | Downloads, rankings, competitor tracking, and a live ad creative feed | You want a cheaper market intelligence dashboard |
Prices are the entry monthly plan on each site as of August 2026. Annual billing is cheaper on all of them.
What each one is for
Appaloma
Appaloma files 50,000 indie apps that clear roughly $5k a month into 4,000 named niches, three levels deep. Photo-scan calorie counters, alarm clocks with missions, pray-to-unlock blockers, GLP-1 shot trackers. Not "Health & Fitness".
Each niche carries five readings: Opening (how much of the niche launched in the last 18 months), Demand, Crowding, Rising, and Ad pressure. Each app carries its screens, prices, the angle it leads with, and a researched revenue band. Reviews pool across the niche, one star first, so the complaint that shows up in five apps reads as the brief for the sixth.
Limitation: no download counts and no exact revenue. Bands only, because the exact figures other tools print for indie apps are models, not measurements. No keyword tracking.
$59 a month or $499 a year.
Sonar
Rank tracking, keyword volume, competitor keywords, localized store data. Built for one person with one or ten apps. API, CLI, and exports on the $19 plan.
Limitation: it tracks the keywords you already have. It does not tell you which market to enter or what anyone earns.
AppTweak
The keyword tool most ASO teams use. Essential is $79 a month for 500 keywords and six months of history. Grow at $249 adds installs per keyword and impact analysis. Ad intelligence and market data sit on the higher tiers.
Limitation: priced for a growth team. For an indie, the Essential plan is fine and the rest is unused.
Appfigures
Connects to App Store Connect and Google Play and shows your own downloads, revenue, subscriptions, and ads in one dashboard from $9.99 a month. Competitor download and revenue estimates arrive on Boost at $599.99 a month.
Limitation: the cheap tiers are about your apps. The market view costs more than Appaloma and AppTweak combined.
MobileAction
ASO Intelligence from $15 a month for 100 keywords, up to $239 for 1,500. The separate Apple Search Ads manager is free up to $10,000 of monthly spend. Ad Intelligence, the part that shows competitor creatives, is quote-only.
Limitation: the ad library indies want is behind a sales call.
AppFollow
Reviews, replies, alerts, and reputation across stores. Free for two apps with 100 manual replies a month. Essential is $179 a month.
Limitation: it manages your listing. It does not read the market.
AppMagic
Download and revenue estimates and top charts with a free tier, the tool most indies used to size a competitor. Sensor Tower acquired it on May 12, 2026 and runs it as its small-business plan. It still works and is still cheaper than Sensor Tower proper.
Limitation: it is Sensor Tower now. Expect the pricing to move toward the parent.
AppBird
A self-serve market intelligence dashboard from $99 a month with a three-day trial: downloads, rankings, competitor tracking, and a feed of live ad creatives.
Limitation: the same object as Sensor Tower at a lower price. Category-level, millions of apps, no curation.
When Sensor Tower is the right buy
Pay for Sensor Tower if you are sizing a market for investors, running paid acquisition across several channels and need competitor spend and creatives, or reporting to a board that wants the number everyone else quotes. Its data is the industry reference for exactly that.
Do not pay for it to decide what to build. Its unit is the category and the top chart. Indie money lives three levels below that.
Sensor Tower vs Appaloma
| Sensor Tower | Appaloma | |
|---|---|---|
| Unit | Category, publisher, top chart | Named niche, three levels deep |
| Apps | Every app on both stores | 50,000 indie apps over $5k a month, each read by a person |
| Revenue | Modeled estimate, exact dollars | Researched band: $5–10k, $10–20k, $20–50k, $50–250k, $250k+ |
| Reviews | Sentiment dashboards | Pooled across a niche, one star first, with the quote |
| Ads | Cross-channel spend and creatives | The creatives an app is running and how long each has held |
| Angles | No | The hook each app leads with, and how many apps run the same one |
| Price | Quote-only, enterprise | $59 a month, self-serve |
| Buy it for | Market sizing, UA, reporting | Choosing a niche and reading it before you build |
Sensor Tower's revenue figure models the public signals every tool reads. Only Apple has the real one. Why estimates converge and what takes years.
FAQ
What is the cheapest Sensor Tower alternative?
Sonar at $19 a month for keyword tracking, Appfigures at $9.99 for your own app's numbers, and AppMagic's free tier for a competitor's download estimate. None of the three tells you which niche to enter. Appaloma does that at $59.
What replaced App Annie and data.ai?
Sensor Tower. It bought data.ai in 2024 and folded the product in. For enterprise market sizing that is where the data went. For choosing what to build, use Appaloma.
Is AppMagic still an independent tool?
No. Sensor Tower acquired AppMagic on May 12, 2026 and runs it as its small and medium business offering. The product still works and the free tier is still there.
Does Appaloma show downloads or exact revenue?
No. Revenue is a researched band, never an exact figure, because exact indie revenue figures printed by intelligence tools are models with wide error. Downloads are not shown at all. If you need a number on one competitor, AppMagic or Appfigures.
Which tool tells me what app to build?
Appaloma. It is the only one whose unit is a named niche with a reading on how much of it is new, rather than a category or a keyword.