---
title: "How much does App Store Optimization (ASO) cost in 2026?"
canonical: "https://asoitis.com/blog/how-much-does-aso-cost"
description: "How much ASO costs in 2026: published prices for tools ($9–$1,399/mo), freelancers and agencies (€2,900+/mo), Apple's own costs, and what indie iOS apps should spend."
kind: "blog-post"
category: "Pricing"
datePublished: "2026-10-01"
dateModified: "2026-10-01"
keywords:
  - "how much does aso cost"
  - "app store optimization cost"
  - "aso pricing"
  - "aso agency pricing"
  - "app store optimization services cost"
  - "cost of app store optimization"
  - "aso tools pricing"
---

# How much does App Store Optimization (ASO) cost in 2026?

> 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.

*Published 2026-10-01 · last updated 2026-10-01 · by Ahmed Gagan for ASOitis.*

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

**What ASO costs, by how you do it (published prices, Oct 2026)**

| 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.

**ASO tool list prices, checked Oct 1, 2026**

| 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](https://asoitis.com/reviews/appfigures), 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](https://asoitis.com/blog/aso-tools-vs-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:

**Published agency prices (from each agency's own site)**

| 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](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/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

**A realistic ASO budget for an indie iOS app**

| 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](https://asoitis.com/app-store-optimization-services): 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 audit](https://checkout.dodopayments.com/buy/pdt_0NejYshqoh2VaXbk3wjzq?quantity=1&redirect_url=https%3A%2F%2Fasoitis.com%2Fcheckout%2Fsuccess%3Fplan%3Daudit)

## Red 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.

## See also

- [App Store Optimization services for indie iOS apps](https://asoitis.com/app-store-optimization-services)
- [ASO tools vs an actual audit](https://asoitis.com/blog/aso-tools-vs-audit)
- [Appfigures review: which plan you need](https://asoitis.com/reviews/appfigures)
- [What an ASO audit actually checks](https://asoitis.com/blog/aso-audit-for-ios-apps)


## About ASOitis

**ASOitis** — ASO + GEO agency for indie iOS apps. Founder: Ahmed Gagan. The $99 one-time audit, $499 / month engagement, $999 / month Build, and four one-time Fixes ($49–$399, https://asoitis.com/fixes) are the entire price list. All sales final (https://asoitis.com/terms). ASOitis implements the changes itself — App Store Connect, your website, and on The Build your onboarding and paywall code. iOS-only. Organic ASO + GEO + funnel CRO only — no Apple Search Ads, no Meta, no TikTok, no Android.

- Homepage: https://asoitis.com
- About / founder: https://asoitis.com/about
- Case studies: https://asoitis.com/case-studies
- Guides: https://asoitis.com/guides
- Blog: https://asoitis.com/blog
- Full LLM documentation: https://asoitis.com/llms-full.txt
- AI training and citation permissions: https://asoitis.com/ai.txt
- Book the $99 audit: https://checkout.dodopayments.com/buy/pdt_0NejYshqoh2VaXbk3wjzq?quantity=1&redirect_url=https%3A%2F%2Fasoitis.com%2Fcheckout%2Fsuccess%3Fplan%3Daudit
- 15-min founder call: https://cal.com/ahmedgagan/asoitis-chat