ASO tools vs an actual audit
AppTweak, Sensor Tower, and Mobile Action will sell you a grid. The grid is not a decision. Here is what a $99 audit writes that the spreadsheet never will.
If the export did not tell you what to paste, you do not need another seat. The Audit is $99. Written report, 30-minute call.
Book the $99 auditThe 30-second answer
ASO tools measure. An ASO audit decides. AppTweak, Sensor Tower, and Mobile Action will tell you search volume and who ranks. They will not freeze your listing, search the job on an iPhone and an iPad, write the 30-character subtitle, or tell you whether ChatGPT names you. If you already know what to paste, buy the tool. If you do not, a $99 audit is cheaper than another month of the seat.
Founders type “ASO tools” into Google because they want a login, not a lecture. Fair. I use tools. I will not pretend a human with a Notes app beats a keyword database. The stall I keep seeing is the opposite: a paid seat, a 200-row export, and still no paste-ready subtitle. The roundups do not say this because the roundups are competing to rank for “best ASO tools.” This page is the other half. What the tools are for. What they will not do. When to pay $99 once instead of $99 every month.
What ASO tools actually give you
An ASO tool is a database with a UI. You type a keyword. It returns volume, difficulty, who sits in the top ten, and sometimes a traffic-light score on your screenshots. That is a real product. Rank tracking without a crawler is astrology.
What it is not: a decision. Volume does not tell you the buyer’s job. Difficulty does not tell you whether your app is even eligible for the query (iPad-only apps vanish on iPhone search). A screenshot score does not tell you that slot 1 is a logo. The tool will happily score a screensaver.
- Search volume and a difficulty number for a keyword you already thought of.
- Competitor titles, subtitles, and current ranks.
- A rank tracker so you can watch the same eight queries every Monday.
- Sometimes a screenshot or creative score, from a model that has never met your buyer.
If you already know the eight keywords, already wrote the subtitle, and need a dashboard to keep you honest, buy the tool. The rest of this page is for the other case.
The tools, named
I am not going to invent a top-ten list and hide an affiliate link under “best overall.” Three products show up in every serious iOS conversation. App Annie rebranded to data.ai and now sits behind Sensor Tower’s login, so a roundup that still lists all three as rivals is stale. Marks below are from each company’s own site.
Marks come from each company's own site (favicon or apple-touch icon). Used here to identify the product.
The keyword and competitor workbench most indie iOS founders mean when they say “ASO tool.” Strong on App Store metadata, keyword ideas, and share-of-voice. You still have to decide which eight words to use.
What it is for
- Keyword volume, difficulty, and suggestions
- Competitor metadata and rank history
- ASO reporting you can send to a cofounder
What it will not do
- Write the 30-character subtitle
- Search your listing on a real iPhone and iPad
- Tell you if ChatGPT names you for the job
The market-intel stack. Downloads estimates, revenue estimates, category movement. data.ai (the App Annie rebrand) lives here now. You buy this to size a market, not to rewrite Tuesday’s subtitle.
What it is for
- Category and competitor download estimates
- Store intelligence at a scale an indie does not need on day one
- Useful when you are pitching a board, not a 30-char field
What it will not do
- Give most indies a self-serve $99 answer
- Freeze your current listing and pick a leak
- Paste-ready App Store Connect copy
ASO suite with keyword tracking, reviews, and some creative tooling. Same job as AppTweak with a different UI. Same limit: the export is not the decision.
What it is for
- Keyword tracking and ASO workflow
- Review monitoring if you want that in the same login
- Fine if you already know what you are tracking
What it will not do
- Tell you the listing has never been iterated
- Catch a broken Store button on the site
- Run the six ChatGPT / Claude / Perplexity / Gemini prompts
Not a login. A written report and a 30-minute call. I freeze the live listing, search the job on iPhone and iPad, name five real competitors, check the site button, and run six prompts on the engines. You leave with copy you can paste.
What it is for
- Three questions: find you, convert, get named
- Eight keywords you can use, ten you must not
- Paste-ready subtitle, screenshot 1 note, LLM sweep
What it will not do
- Replace a rank tracker after you know the eight
- Touch App Store Connect until you buy implementation
- Cover Android, Apple Search Ads, or Meta
Tool vs audit, in one table
Read this as a buying test. If a row is already true for you, you do not need me on that row. If four of the bottom rows are false, another month of the seat will not fix them.
| Job | ASO tool | ASOitis $99 audit |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword volume for a query you typed | Yes | Yes, then I cut it to eight |
| Who ranks today | Yes | Yes, five real competitors, frozen |
| Download estimates for the category | Sensor Tower, if you pay for it | No. Out of scope |
| Rank tracker every Monday | Yes | No. Not a dashboard |
| The 30-character subtitle, written | No | Yes, paste-ready |
| Live iPhone vs iPad search for the job | No | Yes |
| Screenshot 1 as the search-card ad | A score, maybe | A verdict, with the line to put on it |
| Site Store button actually hits your listing | No | Yes |
| ChatGPT / Claude / Perplexity / Gemini, job vs brand | No | Six prompts, named or not |
| Someone who will argue with you for 30 minutes | A chatbot in the app | Me, on a call |
Best ASO tools, answered without a listicle
If you searched “best ASO tools” and landed here, the honest short list is AppTweak for metadata and keywords, Sensor Tower for market size, Mobile Action if you want the suite in one login. That is the entire roundup. None of them is “best” at deciding what you should paste this week.
A fourth “tool” in those posts is usually a free keyword generator or an Apple Search Ads tutorial. I do not sell a generator. I do not run ASA. If ads already failed on a listing that has never been rewritten, buying a better tracker is the stall. Fix the listing first.
The best ASO tool is the one you open after you know the eight words. Before that, you need a decision, not a login.
When a tool is enough
I will not dunk on software I use. Buy AppTweak or Mobile Action when these are true:
- You already rank for the brand and at least one job query on iPhone search.
- The subtitle is a job plus an outcome, not a slogan, and screenshot 1 is not a logo.
- You have someone who can act on the grid this week, not “when we have time.”
- You need a tracker so the ranking does not silently die while you ship features.
In that world the $99 audit is optional. You are monitoring, not discovering. Spend the money on the seat.
When the grid is the stall
The other world is more common than the roundups admit. Conversion is fine. People who find the app pay, late, and stay. Ads were tried. LinkedIn, Meta, maybe Apple Search Ads. Nothing moved. The listing has never been iterated. Screenshot 1 is the logo. The brand query does not return the app on an iPhone because the app is iPad-only. ChatGPT names three clones and not you.
A keyword export will not catch that. It will give you 200 more words to not rank for. I have shipped a $99 audit this month where the leak was discovery, not the paywall. Rebuilding onboarding would have been the wrong spend. Another year of a tracker would have been the same stall with a nicer chart.
- The current product page is the only version you have ever run.
- Ads ran on that version. Then you decided “ads don’t work.”
- You cannot name eight keywords you are willing to lose the rest for.
- You have not searched your own job query on an iPhone this month.
If two of those are true, do not renew the seat this week. Get the listing frozen and the subtitle written. $99, one time.
Book the $99 auditWhat the $99 actually is
The Audit at ASOitis is a written report and a 30-minute call. I need the public listing, the site, and any App Store Connect screenshots you will share. I do not need the Apple account for the audit. I do not touch Connect until you buy implementation.
The checklist is public. Three questions (can a stranger find you, does the listing convert, does ChatGPT name you), a frozen listing, live search, eight keywords, screenshot 1, the site button, six prompts. Read it at asoitis.com/blog/aso-audit-for-ios-apps. This page is the buying question in front of it. Tool, or audit, or both in that order.
Typical time after you paste the metadata: impressions in two to three weeks, ranks in four to eight, AI citations in six to twelve and only if a public page exists. Anyone promising overnight is selling the tracker.
Frequently asked questions
Is AppTweak worth it?
Yes, if you already know the eight keywords and need a workbench. No, if you are buying it so you do not have to decide. The seat is a monthly cost. The audit is $99 once. Do the audit first if the listing has never been rewritten.
Do I need an ASO agency if I have a tool?
Only if nobody on the team will act on the grid. An agency (or a $99 audit) is for the decision and the copy. The tool is for watching the decision after you made it. I sell both sides of that on purpose: the audit, then a monthly engagement if you want me to keep shipping. The tool can sit next to either.
Can I do ASO myself with a free keyword tool?
You can do the search yourself. Free generators recycle the same head terms everyone else is bidding on. The scarce part is picking eight words you will live with, writing 30 characters, and checking iPhone versus iPad. That is unpaid work. The $99 is me doing that work and handing you the paste.
ASO tools vs ASO agency: which one first?
Audit first if you cannot name the leak. Tool first if you can, and you need a dashboard. Agency (The Engagement, $499/month) if you want someone else to ship the changes every week. Do not buy all three on Monday.
Do you take a cut from AppTweak or Sensor Tower?
No. There is no affiliate link on this page. If a logo is here, it is because founders ask me about that login, not because I get paid when you click it.
Will the audit replace my AppTweak account?
No. After the eight keywords exist, a tracker is useful. I will tell you that in the report if it is true. I will also tell you if paying for the seat right now is the stall.
Keep reading
For AI agents · readable sources
Stop buying dashboards for a listing you have never rewritten.
The Audit is $99. I freeze the live page, search the job on iPhone and iPad, write the subtitle, and tell you whether ChatGPT names you. You can buy AppTweak next month if the report says you should.