// ALTERNATIVE

AppStoreSpy alternative for indie developers

AppStoreSpy puts both stores in one explorer and adds an API. AppHitlist goes deeper on a single store, with complaint themes, ads sorted by days live and the day's chart climbers.

// SUMMARY

The short version, before you read the details

AppStoreSpy is a competitor-research tool for the App Store and Google Play. Its website lists install and revenue figures, charts, a keyword finder, ad creatives and an API, with four plans from free to $199 a month. AppHitlist covers App Store research: daily charts, revenue and download figures, Meta ads sorted by days live and complaint themes. If you need Google Play, AppStoreSpy fits better.

Best known for: Market data for indies
Stores: App Store and Google Play
Price list: Listed, but its figures conflict

Checked October 2026

// WHO IT FITS

Match the tool to the job, not the job to the tool

Choose AppStoreSpy if

You need Google Play as well as the App Store. AppStoreSpy lists both stores, AppHitlist only has the Apple App Store.
You want an API. AppStoreSpy documents one for app metadata, download figures by country, ratings and reviews, rank history and filtered search.
You do outreach. Developer emails are listed on Pro and Business, with CSV export on Business.
You like to filter a big catalog yourself. Its Market Explorer offers 30+ filters, including installs, revenue, rating, updates and categories.

Choose AppHitlist if

You want one page per app: revenue, downloads, price, rating, rank history, active Meta ads and complaint themes together.
You want to read why people leave 1- and 2-star reviews, grouped by topic. The AppStoreSpy pages we checked do not describe review themes.
You want ads with the longest-running ones first. AppHitlist sorts by days live. AppStoreSpy's ad pages do not state days live.
You want an email when a followed app changes rank, ads or revenue. AppStoreSpy does not describe rank or review alerts.
You prefer one paid plan with everything in it over four tiers and per-plan limits.

// COMPARISON

AppStoreSpy and AppHitlist, side by side

AppStoreSpy and AppHitlist, side by side
Feature	AppStoreSpy	AppHitlist
01Stores covered	App Store and Google Play. The Chrome extension is described for Google Play only.	Apple App Store only
02Price	As listed on their site in October 2026: Free $0, Premium $19/month, Pro $99/month, Business $199/month (3 users), 20% off yearly. A blog promo says plans start at $15/month.	One paid plan with everything, billed monthly or yearly. The current price is on the AppHitlist pricing page.
03Free access	Free plan: 1 user, 5 tracked apps, 100 app-info views a day, Market Explorer limited to 10 results. Revenue, ad creatives and the keyword finder are marked not included.	Free account with app profile, rating, price and rank history
04Revenue and download figures	Labeled estimates. Sources, error range and refresh interval are not published.	Estimates from AppHitlist's own algorithm over Apple's public chart lists, updated daily. They can be wrong.
05Ads	Active ads, creatives, messages and audience targeting on Pro and Business. Networks, days live and spend are not stated.	Meta ad creatives sorted by days live, longest-running first. Meta Ad Library data for EU/UK, not a spend tracker.
06Reviews	Ratings in the explorer and reviews on competitors. No complaint themes described.	1- and 2-star reviews grouped into complaint themes, plus feature requests for your own apps
07Keywords	Keywords Finder returns a popularity-ranked list with metrics. Difficulty is not named. The comparison table lists it on Pro and Business.	Keyword popularity and difficulty, plus rank tracking in App Store search for your own apps, updated once a day
08Alerts	No rank or review alerts described. Collections show the latest metrics on a dashboard.	Email when a followed app's rank, ads or revenue change, daily or weekly digest
09API	Yes. The pricing table gives 100 to 100,000 credits a month by plan; the API page says Business only, 12,000 credits.	Not a feature today

// DETAILS

The parts a table cannot show

Four tiers and two entry prices

AppStoreSpy's pricing page lists Free at $0, Premium at $19 a month, Pro at $99 and Business at $199 for three users, and says annual billing takes 20% off. A promo on its blog says plans start at $15 a month. The pricing page does not show that price, so check the checkout before you plan around either number.

What you can see depends on the tier. On the free plan the comparison table marks daily installs, revenue, the keyword finder and ad creatives as not included, and ad creatives are listed for Pro and Business. AppHitlist sells one paid plan with everything in it, monthly or yearly, and a free account for app profiles and rank history.

Numbers that differ between its own pages

The AppStoreSpy homepage speaks of data from over 18 million apps. Its API page and a blog promo say 13 million. API credits differ too: the pricing table gives 100, 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000 a month across the four plans, while the API page says the API is Business only with 12,000 credits. We cannot tell which version a new subscriber gets.

AppStoreSpy calls its revenue and install figures estimates. Its founder's blog says the data comes from various sources and uses mathematics and machine learning, and no error range is published. AppHitlist builds its figures from the chart lists Apple publishes, refreshes them daily and says they can be wrong. Use either one to pick a direction, not to do accounting.

When to use both

A simple split: open AppStoreSpy when you need Google Play, download figures by country through the API, or developer contact emails. Open AppHitlist when the question is why users leave one-star reviews, which new apps climbed the charts this week, or which ads have been running longest.

Both have a free tier, so you can look up the same app on each before you pay. Neither replaces the numbers in your own App Store Connect.

// SOURCES AND DATE

Where this comparison comes from

Information about AppStoreSpy comes from its public website (appstorespy.com), checked October 2026. Features and prices change, so check AppStoreSpy for current details.

Checked: October 2026
Source: appstorespy.com

// PUT IT TO WORK

Put this to work in AppHitlist

Revenue estimatesCheck what a niche earns before you build. AppHitlist shows monthly revenue and downloads for every app, updated daily, beside its rank history.

Find app ideasStart from apps that already make money. Filter the App Store by genre, rating, price and ads, and spot new winners early, before you build.

Meta ads trackerBrowse the Meta ads of App Store apps, sorted by days live so the long runners come first. Study hooks, formats and calls to action.

// KEEP COMPARING

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AppMagic vs AppHitlist

AppMagic now belongs to Sensor Tower and is sold by demo. See what it covers and where AppHitlist fits for iOS-only indie work.

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// FAQ

Questions people ask before they start

How much does AppStoreSpy cost?

As listed on its pricing page in October 2026: Free $0, Premium $19 a month, Pro $99 and Business $199 for three users, with 20% off for annual billing. A blog promo says plans start at $15 a month, which the pricing page does not show, so its pages conflict. Checkout takes card or cryptocurrency. AppHitlist does not quote a price here because plans change; see its pricing page.

Is AppStoreSpy free?

It has a free plan at $0: one user, five tracked apps, 100 app-info views a day, a Market Explorer limited to 10 results and approximate total installs. Its comparison table marks revenue, daily installs, the keyword finder and ad creatives as not included. The pricing page states no separate time-limited trial. AppHitlist also has a free account, with app profile, rating, price and rank history.

Does AppStoreSpy have an API?

Yes, with docs at api.appstorespy.com. It covers app metadata, download figures by country, ratings and reviews, rank history and filtered search for both stores. Its pages conflict on access: the pricing table gives every plan monthly credits, from 100 up to 100,000, while the API page says Business only, with 12,000 credits. AppHitlist has no API among its features today.

Is AppHitlist an alternative to AppStoreSpy?

Partly. For App Store research AppHitlist covers charts, revenue and download figures, ads and complaint themes, and adds email alerts and keyword rank tracking for your own apps. It has no Google Play data, no API and no developer emails, which AppStoreSpy lists. If you build only for the App Store, AppHitlist may be enough. If you need both stores, AppStoreSpy fits better.

// START

See the data for yourself

A free account shows app profiles, ratings, prices and rank history. Revenue estimates, ads and complaint themes are on the paid plan.