In a hurry? Listen to the audio version of this post below.
Competing for keywords and traffic on the app stores isn’t easy. Every app is vying for the eyes of the app store users and competition at the top of the rankings can be fierce.
To make matters more difficult, there are hundreds of different ASO tools and paid platforms out there that give your competition a competitive edge when optimizing their apps.
Luckily, these very same platforms are available to you. And what’s even better is that a lot of them are free.
Below is a list of our favorite ASO platforms and tools.
Note: All the platforms listed below have paid options available. We’ve selected these based on the free tools that come with each platform.
Free ASO tools
Data.ai (formerly App Annie)
Data.ai is the go-to ASO platform for a lot of app marketers. Its free version shows app analytics and stores statistics for free.
Their analytics let you track app performance (downloads, usage, and revenue) across app stores, while their store stats help you analyze your app’s keywords, rankings, ratings, and reviews.
Apptweak
https://www.apptweak.com/free-aso-tools/keyword-auto-suggestions
Apptweak has a completely free keyword suggestion tool.
You can use the search fields on the website to put in a phrase or word and it will return keyword suggestions you can research.
Search Man
Search Man lets you check your app’s visibility and discoverability, track rankings, and take a look at your competitors.
If you want free access to app market research, Search Man has data for both iOS and Android. This data covers 4 million apps and 1.5 million keywords.
App Radar
App Radar gives you a full dashboard of tools and metrics you can use to analyze your app’s performance.
Whilst some of the features are hidden behind a subscription, there is still a lot of value you can get from the free version.
App Radar gives you basic competitor analysis, tracks keywords you want to monitor, and gives you your app metrics.
Bonus Suggestions
Appfollow
Appfollow.io is one of the industry leaders in app keyword suggestion tools. Their tool provides up-to-date results based on in-app purchases and iOS search results.
Appfollow also provides keyword traffic scores based on data gathered from search ads and lets you analyze the search volume for different keywords.
It has a robust set of tools that allows you to do competitor analysis, too. Its “keyword spy” lets you track competitors in the app store and helps you spot missed opportunities for app store optimization.
Appfollow does have a free version of its software for startups which lets you track 2 apps, and gives you 20 keyword requests.
Mobile Action
The free version of Mobile Action gives you on-demand market intelligence, ASO keyword analysis, and the ability to track up to 5 keywords at a time on both app stores.
It also has simple competitor analysis and analytics.
Its best feature however is its recommended actions, they drop you little nuggets of insights and actions that help you improve your marketing efforts. And that’s free.
Keyword Tool
https://keywordtool.io/app-store
Not a fully-fledged platform, but a handy web extension. This tool helps you find the best keywords for your app. It does that by giving you a range of keyword suggestions based on what people are typing in the app store search boxes.
The tool is free and there is a pro version for more insights.
Paid Tools
CodeNgo
This, strictly speaking, isn’t an ASO tool but a publishing tool that lets you get your Android app to over 30 app stores. CodeNgo also provides review monitoring and tracking.
Meatti
If you’re looking for an ASO tool that uses its own in-house-developed AI to assist with keyword research, then Meatti is the platform for you.
Meatti helps marketers and developers get more downloads for their apps and provides a helping hand for anyone new to ASO and app marketing.
Their AI tool takes a lot of the guesswork out of keyword research, so it's excellent for anyone new to ASO.
Meatti is one of the few suggestions on this list that doesn’t have a free tier, but it does have a week-long trial period if you want to give it a go.
What is ASO (App Store Optimization)?
ASO or App Store Optimization is the process of improving an app’s visibility in the app stores.
What happens when visibility increases? You get more organic downloads, hold a higher position in the charts, and have a better chance of being featured in the store.
Why is ASO important?
ASO is important because over 60% of global app store downloads come from search.
This means that if you’re not investing in app store optimizing your mobile app, you’re missing out on 60% of all downloads.
There are more than 5.6 million apps in the app stores right now. So ignoring ASO and winging it will probably get your app lost in the pile.