How much does App Store Optimization (ASO) cost in 2026?
Real, published prices for ASO tools, freelancers and agencies — checked on October 1, 2026 — and what an indie iOS app should actually spend at each stage.
Want the number for your app instead of the market? The Audit is $99: what to change first, and whether you need anyone after that.
Book the $99 auditThe 30-second answer
App Store Optimization costs anywhere from nothing to several thousand dollars a month. Doing it yourself with a tool costs $9–$249 a month at list price. Agencies that publish prices charge roughly $999–€2,500 for an audit and from about €2,900 a month per market for ongoing work. Apple's own ASO features — analytics, custom product pages, product page tests — come with the $99 developer membership.
Most "ASO cost" articles are written by agencies that don't publish a price, so they give you a range wide enough to justify anything. I'd rather show you the numbers. Everything below is a list price from the company's own site, checked on October 1, 2026, with a link. Where a company doesn't publish prices, I say so instead of guessing. Then I'll tell you what I'd spend at each stage — including when the right answer is close to zero.
The short version: cost by route
| Route | Typical cost | What you're paying for |
|---|---|---|
| DIY, Apple's tools only | $99 a year | The Apple Developer Program — analytics, custom product pages and product page tests are included |
| DIY with an ASO tool | $9–$249 a month | Keyword data and rank tracking; you still decide and ship the changes |
| Freelancer | Hourly, widely varying | Someone doing specific tasks — keyword research, metadata, screenshots |
| Agency (published prices) | Audits ~$999–€2,500; retainers from ~€2,900/month per market | Strategy and execution, usually across iOS and Android |
| Enterprise intelligence platforms | Not published | Market data at scale; priced by sales conversation |
The spread is that wide because these aren't the same product. A tool sells data. An agency sells decisions and labour. The question isn't which is cheapest, it's which part of the work you can't do yourself.
ASO tools: what the subscriptions actually cost
Here are the self-serve prices for the tools indie developers actually use, from each pricing page. Monthly billing first; most offer a discount for paying yearly.
| Tool | Free option | Cheapest paid | Mid plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astro (Mac app) | No | $9/month, billed yearly ($108) | One plan only |
| MobileAction | 7-day trial | ASO Lite $15/month | Basic $69/month |
| AppFollow | Free plan (2 apps) | ASO $29/month | Essential $179/month |
| Sonar | 7-day trial | Indie $29/month | Agency $149/month |
| Appfigures | Free Starter plan | Connect $9.99/month (no keyword tracking); Monitor $44.99 with 100 keywords | Optimize $149.99/month |
| ASOdesk | Free plan (700 keywords, 2 apps) | Pro $47/month (shown against a $59 list price) | Guru $159/month |
| AppTweak | 7-day trial | Essential $79/month | Grow $249/month |
| Sensor Tower | — | Not published | "We customize pricing plans for each customer" |
For one indie iOS app, the useful band is $15–$80 a month. The difference between tools at that level is mostly workflow and data coverage, not whether they can track your ranks. I've written about Appfigures' plans in detail, including how many keywords you actually need to track — usually 20–30 per locale.
What none of them include: someone deciding which keyword goes in your subtitle, and making the change. That's the gap the rest of this page is about. I go deeper on it in ASO tools vs an actual audit.
Freelancers: cheap per hour, expensive to vet
There's no reliable published average for ASO freelancers. Marketplace profiles span an enormous range — Freelancer.com lists ASO profiles from about $2 to $40 an hour — and hourly price tells you little about whether the work will move rankings.
- Good for: a defined task with a clear output — screenshot captions, translating metadata, a one-off keyword list.
- Risky for: strategy. A cheap keyword list that targets terms you can't rank for costs you months, not dollars.
- Ask for: before-and-after rank data from a previous iOS app, not a portfolio of screenshots.
Agencies: the ones that publish prices
Most ASO agencies don't publish prices. Of the ones I checked, Phiture, Gummicube, SplitMetrics and several others ask you to book a call. These do publish them:
| Agency | Audit | Ongoing |
|---|---|---|
| Admiral Media | €2,500 one-time (credited if a retainer starts within 30 days) | From €2,900/month for one app, one market; +€1,500/month per extra market or language |
| Angle Agency | $999 for 1–2 European countries | Text optimization from $399, visual from $600, per app |
| ASOMobile | — | Full ASO support $1,000/month; text ASO from $250 |
Two things to notice. Agency pricing is usually per market or per language, so a five-country app costs several times the headline number. And the frequently quoted "$10,000–$49,999" figure comes from Clutch's guide to app marketing projects in general — paid acquisition included — not ASO specifically.
What Apple charges for (and doesn't)
- Apple Developer Program: $99 a year. You're already paying it if your app is live.
- Included at no extra charge: App Store Connect analytics, up to 70 custom product pages with their own keywords, and product page optimization tests with up to three treatments.
- Apple Ads is paid, but optional. It charges per tap or per install, and new eligible developers get a $100 credit. Ads aren't ASO, but they're a quick way to learn which keywords convert.
That means a disciplined founder can do meaningful ASO for $99 a year and their own time. The question is whether your time is better spent there or on the product.
What I'd actually spend, by stage
| Stage | Spend | On what |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-launch / TestFlight | $0–$100 one-off | Apple's tools, a tool's free trial for keyword research, a careful first listing |
| Live, under ~$1k/month revenue | $0–$50 a month | One cheap rank tracker, or nothing — iterate the listing yourself |
| Live, growing, ranks stalled | One audit, then $30–$80 a month | A one-time outside read to find the right keywords, then tracking |
| $5k+/month and ASO is a main channel | $500–$1,000 a month | Someone shipping changes weekly, localizing, testing the funnel |
The principle: don't pay monthly for something you'll only use once. Keyword research and a listing rewrite are one-time jobs. Tracking and iteration are ongoing. Price the two separately.
What ASOitis costs
Since this page is about prices, here are ours, the same as on the services page: a $99 one-time audit, $499 a month for ongoing ASO (two-month minimum), $999 a month for ASO plus the conversion funnel (three-month minimum), and one-time fixes from $49. iOS only, no Android, no paid ads. The audit fee is credited against month one if you continue.
Start with the audit: a written read of your listing, keywords, AI visibility and funnel, plus a 30-day plan.
Book the $99 auditRed flags when you're buying ASO
- Guaranteed rankings. Apple decides rankings. A guarantee on position means the seller either doesn't understand that or plans to break the rules.
- Bought installs or reviews. Incentivized ratings and fake installs violate Apple's guidelines and put your developer account at risk.
- A spreadsheet as the deliverable. If the output is 200 keywords and no paste-ready title and subtitle, you've bought data, not ASO.
- Per-keyword pricing. Paying per keyword rewards long lists, not good choices.
Frequently asked questions
How much does App Store Optimization cost?
Between $99 a year (Apple's developer membership and your own time) and several thousand a month. ASO tools list at $9–$249 a month for indie-level plans; agencies that publish prices charge about $999–€2,500 for an audit and from around €2,900 a month per market for ongoing work.
Can I do ASO myself for free?
Largely, yes. App Store Connect analytics, custom product pages and product page optimization tests come with the $99 Apple Developer Program. What you give up without a tool is easy rank tracking and keyword data.
How much does an ASO audit cost?
Published audit prices range from $99 (ASOitis) to around $999 (Angle Agency, for 1–2 European countries) and €2,500 (Admiral Media). Check whether the audit includes rewritten metadata or only findings.
Is ASO worth paying for?
If App Store search is, or could be, a meaningful source of installs, usually yes — but pay for the decision and the change, not for data you won't act on. If most of your installs come from elsewhere, spend little and revisit later.
Why don't most ASO agencies publish prices?
Partly because scope varies (markets, languages, platforms), and partly because a sales call lets them price to your budget. Agencies that publish prices usually quote per market, so multiply by the number of countries you care about.
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