Free Sensor Tower Alternatives in 2026 (with feature comparison)

App-intelligence tools used to be the exclusive territory of two players: Sensor Tower and data.ai (formerly App Annie). Both cost $99–499 per month for the entry tier and gate revenue forecasts behind a sales call. For an indie developer trying to figure out whether a competitor is making $200/mo or $20K/mo, those prices are absurd.

This guide is a candid look at what's actually available below the Sensor Tower price tag — including bumetric, which we built specifically because the alternatives weren't enough.

The two players, briefly

Sensor Tower (sensortower.com) — the market leader. Estimates from a panel of opt-in users + ML extrapolation. Strong category-level data, weak per-app accuracy for long-tail apps. Pricing: contact-sales for the real product; $99/mo for the lightweight "Sensor Tower Lite" with limited data.

data.ai (data.ai) — comparable accuracy and feature set; better UX in our opinion. Same pricing model, same paywall.

Both cap their free tiers heavily — you get a few searches a day, no historical data, and no API. For anyone trying to do real research these tools are out of reach.

Free alternatives, ranked by actual usefulness

1. bumetric.com — free, unlimited, real revenue anchors

Full disclosure: we built this. It's free. No signup required for the revenue lookup or ASO audit.

What it does:

• Live revenue estimates for 1.97M iOS and Android apps
• Calibrated against founder-declared MRR and acquired-deal data from Flippa-style marketplaces
• 8-dimension Investment Matrix — growth velocity, founder strength, product quality, etc.
• AI-ranked growth opportunities per app, with $-dollar uplift estimates
• Public pipeline timeline showing detected changes (version updates, ASO refreshes, ranking shifts) per app

What it doesn't do (yet):

• No SDK install data (Sensor Tower's main differentiator)
• No demographic targeting data
• No paid-app keyword bidding intelligence

Verdict: if you just need to know "how much does this app earn and how can it grow," bumetric is the fastest answer. If you need paid-keyword data for an ad campaign, you still need Sensor Tower.

2. Appfigures — best for your own apps

Appfigures connects to your App Store Connect and Google Play accounts and shows your own apps' revenue + competitor estimates. Free tier covers your own apps; competitor estimates start at $9.99/mo.

Best for: developers who already publish apps and want one dashboard for everything. Less useful for pure research on apps you don't own.

3. AppMagic — emerging European competitor

AppMagic launched around 2018 and is increasingly cited by analysts. Pricing similar to Sensor Tower but with a more generous free tier (10 searches/day). Accuracy comparable.

Best for: if you need a SECOND data source to triangulate against Sensor Tower. Their estimates often differ enough to expose noise.

4. SimilarWeb (mobile app intelligence)

SimilarWeb has a mobile app section that's underrated. Free tier shows downloads and DAU trends. Revenue is paid-only.

Best for: download trend research. Less accurate for revenue.

5. Apptopia

Apptopia is enterprise-focused — pricing on request, but historically $1K+/mo entry. Probably not in your price range unless you're at a fund or large agency.

A note on accuracy

Every tool in this list, including ours, is estimating. The true MRR of a private app is known only to its founders and Apple/Google. The question is how good the estimate is.

Sensor Tower's accuracy on the top 200 grossing apps is genuinely excellent — within ±10% for most. For the long tail (apps below the top 10,000) it's much worse, often ±50%. Same is true for data.ai and AppMagic.

bumetric handles the long tail by anchoring against founder-declared revenue from acquired-deal data (Flippa, MicroAcquire, IndieMaker). When a $5K/mo app sells on Flippa, we know its real number — and we use it to calibrate the rest of the ML forecast around it.

What to pick

| Goal | Pick |

|------|------|

| One-off competitor lookup | bumetric (free) |

| Tracking your own portfolio | Appfigures ($9.99/mo) |

| Paid-keyword research | Sensor Tower (paid) |

| SDK install data | Sensor Tower (paid) |

| Long-tail (sub-top-10K) | bumetric (we calibrate against deal data) |

| Triangulating estimates | bumetric + AppMagic + Appfigures |

The honest take

Sensor Tower and data.ai aren't bad products — they're priced for enterprise customers who can afford five-figure annual contracts. If you're an indie developer evaluating a competitor or a small fund doing initial due diligence on an app, you don't need to pay them.

Browse bumetric's iOS catalog or look up any specific app to see how the data compares. We're free, we don't gate revenue forecasts behind a signup, and we publish our methodology openly.

One disclosure: we're a new entrant (publicly launched 2026). Our long-tail data has been live for 6+ months; our top-100 accuracy is comparable to Sensor Tower in spot-checks against Flippa acquisitions. Where we lose to Sensor Tower: brand recognition, paid-keyword intelligence, and SDK data. Where we win: price, scope (1.97M apps vs ~500K), and methodology transparency.

The right choice for most indie developers is to use bumetric for daily research and accept that you'll never need the $99-499/mo paid tools.

If you do this for a living and need every edge — get Sensor Tower or data.ai too. The free tier of bumetric will still be your daily driver for quick lookups.