Appaloma maps 50,000 indie apps over $5k a month into 4,000 named niches and 30,000+ USPs: who leads, what they charge, the one star reviews pooled. Sonar and AppTweak track keywords. AppMagic is now Sensor Tower's small-team plan for download and revenue estimates, and Appfigures' upper tiers cover that 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 | 4,000 named niches, 30,000+ USPs, who leads each, what they charge, full intel on the apps in each | Next build or acquisition |
| Sonar | $29/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 September 2026. Annual billing is cheaper on all of them.
What Sensor Tower itself costs, and the yearly price of every tool here, is on affordable Sensor Tower alternatives.
What each one is for
Appaloma
Appaloma files 50,000 indie apps that clear roughly $5k a month into 4,000 named niches and 30,000+ USPs, three levels deep: photo-scan calorie counters, alarm clocks with missions, pray-to-unlock blockers, GLP-1 shot trackers.
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. Exact dollars other tools print for indie apps are models of the same public signals, so Appaloma publishes a band, at $59 a month or $499 a year.
Sonar
Sonar tracks ranks, keyword volume, competitor keywords and localized store data for one person with one or ten apps, and the $29 plan carries an API, a CLI, and exports.
Limitation: it tracks the keywords you already have. It does not tell you which market to enter or what anyone earns.
AppTweak
AppTweak is 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 starts at $15 a month for 100 keywords and runs 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
AppFollow handles 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
AppMagic gives download and revenue estimates and top charts on a free tier, and it was the usual way 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
AppBird sells 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: it is the same object as Sensor Tower at a lower price, category-level across millions of apps with no curation.
When Sensor Tower is the right buy
Pay for Sensor Tower if you run paid acquisition across several channels and need competitor spend and creatives. Do not pay for it for the next build or acquisition: indie money lives three levels below the category and the top chart.
Sensor Tower vs Appaloma
| Sensor Tower | Appaloma | |
|---|---|---|
| Unit | Category, publisher, top chart | Named niche and USPs, three levels deep |
| Apps | Every app on both stores, by category | 50,000 indie apps over $5k a month, 4,000 named niches, 30,000+ USPs |
| 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 | Category charts and paid UA | Next build or acquisition |
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 goes through the modeling.
FAQ
What is the cheapest Sensor Tower alternative?
Appaloma at $59 maps 4,000 named niches and 30,000+ USPs. Sonar tracks keywords at $29, Appfigures shows your own app's numbers at $9.99, and AppMagic's free tier estimates a competitor's downloads.
What replaced App Annie and data.ai?
Sensor Tower bought data.ai in 2024 and folded the product in. Category charts at that scale went with it. Appaloma is the 4,000 named niches and 30,000+ USPs.
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.
Why does Appaloma show a band instead of exact revenue?
Exact indie figures printed by intelligence tools are models with wide error. Appaloma publishes a researched band, $5–10k through $250k+, because that band is what changes a build decision.
Which tool tells me what app to build?
Appaloma is the only one whose unit is a named niche, the USPs of the apps in it, and how much of that niche is new, rather than a category or a keyword.