The right Sensor Tower alternative depends on the job, not a single winner. Sensor Tower still fits enterprise buyers who need download and revenue estimates, usage, and ads intelligence and will take a custom quote. AppMagic is now that company's SMB product after the 12 May 2026 acquisition. AppTweak's public ASO grid opened at £79 per month Essential on 30 August 2026. Appfigures Connect is $9.99 per month for own-app reporting, with a separate Market Intel Scout at $599.99 per month. MobileAction ASO Lite is $15 per month. AppBird Scout is $99 per month with a published MCP. Trends MCP is the pick only for live App Store Top Free, App Store Top Paid, and Google Play boards plus Android bundle-ID growth inside an agent. It does not model competitor revenue.

Which Sensor Tower alternative matches the job?

Match the vendor to the work. Sensor Tower and AppMagic sell estimated downloads, revenue, usage, and ads. AppTweak and MobileAction sell keyword and Apple Ads workflows. Appfigures sells console-connected reporting first. AppBird sells self-serve browsing of store metadata, rankings, and teardowns. Trends MCP sells live ranked boards and keyword growth that an AI client can call.

ToolPublic starting price (30 Aug 2026)MCP / agent accessWins this jobMisses this job
Sensor TowerQuote only; pricing page says plans are customizedMCP is gated to an active API subscription; demo form, no public Cursor JSONBoard-ready download, revenue, usage, and ads estimatesSelf-serve monthly checkout
AppMagic (Sensor Tower SMB)Demo form; pricing page has no public gridNot published on the pricing page fetched this runGames-heavy market estimates under the Sensor Tower umbrellaIndependence from Sensor Tower after 12 May 2026
AppTweakASO Essential £79 / mo; Grow £249; Grow Plus £499 (GBP as displayed)No public MCP install JSON on the pricing pageKeyword lists, Chance and Difficulty scores, Apple Ads adjacent toolsReplacing Sensor Tower usage and ads panels
AppfiguresConnect $9.99 / mo ($7.99 billed yearly); Market Intel Scout $599.99 / moAPI listed on higher Market Intel Explore (quote)Own-app downloads, revenue, and reviews from store consolesCheap market-wide estimates; that starts at Scout
MobileActionASO Lite $15 / mo ($12.5 yearly); Basic $69; Pro $239API Solutions are contact-onlyASO keywords plus a separate free Apple Ads CMP up to $10,000 spendSensor Tower-style category revenue models
AppBirdScout $99 / mo; Elite $399; Team customStreamable HTTP at https://api.appbird.ai/v1/mcp with X-API-KeySelf-serve store browsing, rankings, teardowns, 3-day Scout trialDecade-deep estimate archives
Trends MCPFree $0 / 100 requests; Starter $19 / 1,000; Pro $49 / 5,000; Business $199 / 25,000 (yearly $16 / $39 / $159)Cursor url + transport: http + Bearer against https://api.trendsmcp.ai/mcpLive App Store and Google Play boards, rank_change, Android app downloads / app rankingsDownload-dollar estimates, ASO metadata editors, review reply queues

Prices above come from each vendor's public page on 30 August 2026. Sensor Tower and AppMagic do not publish a dollar grid. AppTweak displayed pounds sterling on this fetch; the FAQ on that page also lists euros, USD, and yen as supported currencies, so re-check the live grid before buying. Do not treat affiliate roundups that quote Sensor Tower at "$20k+/yr" as a substitute for the vendor's quote.

Does Sensor Tower still win download estimates after buying AppMagic?

Yes, for the buyer who needs modeled downloads, revenue, retention, and ads spend in one contract. Sensor Tower's own pricing page (accessed 30 August 2026) still has no self-serve SKUs. The page states that pricing plans are customized for each customer. The same fetch listed Mobile App, Digital Advertising, Audience, Web Insights, Video Game Insights, Playliner, Gen AI, and an MCP Server product card.

The MCP is not a public DIY install. The MCP demo page states it is available to anyone with an active Sensor Tower API subscription and current credentials. The July 2026 product blog calls MCP an additional product for qualifying users and points to customer success. No paste-ready .cursor/mcp.json appeared on those pages this run.

AppMagic is no longer a separate competitor. Sensor Tower's 12 May 2026 press release (sensortower.com/press) names AppMagic as the new SMB offering. That release also cites Sensor Tower's State of Mobile Report for 149 billion new downloads across millions of apps in 2025. Treat that figure as Sensor Tower's own claim. The AppMagic pricing page on 30 August 2026 is a demo form that asks for a walkthrough built around the visitor's use cases, with pricing to match. There is no public monthly card to quote.

data.ai is the same story one cycle earlier. Sensor Tower's 18 March 2024 PR Newswire release announced that acquisition for an undisclosed amount and mentioned Pathmatics from 2021. Searching "data.ai alternatives" now lands back on Sensor Tower's stack. A team leaving Sensor Tower for pricing power should not treat AppMagic or data.ai as an exit.

What do AppTweak, Appfigures, and MobileAction publish for ASO work?

AppTweak wins if the job is store search, not category revenue. The ASO pricing page on 30 August 2026 showed Essential at £79 per month (500 keywords, 1 seat, 6 months of history), Grow at £249 (1,500 keywords, 1 seat, 12 months), Grow Plus at £499, and Enterprise as contact-only. Essential lists keyword research tools, Chance and Difficulty scores, Apple and Google Play volume history, and past-month download and revenue estimates via the Market Intelligence Free plan. Market Intelligence on the same page showed a Starter block with past-month history and no pound figure, then Explore at £549 per month with 12 months of history. The FAQ requires billing details to start a trial, allows one trial per product, and describes a 48-hour refund window on the first payment if the trial or renewal was not canceled. Trial length in days is not stated on that FAQ block.

Appfigures wins if the job is the team's own apps. The pricing page on 30 August 2026 listed a free Starter plan, then Analytics and ASO cards: Connect $9.99 per month ($7.99 yearly), Monitor $44.99 ($35.99), Optimize $149.99 ($119.99), Boost $599.99 ($449.99), Amplify $1,399.99 ($999.99). Each of those cards includes 5 apps, then $1.99 per extra app, with keyword caps from 25 (Connect) to 2,500 (Amplify). Premium competitor slots start at Optimize (1) and go unlimited on Amplify. A separate Market Intel grid listed Scout $599.99 per month ($499.99 yearly), Pathfinder $1,249.99 ($999.99), Scale $2,499.99 ($1,999.99), and Explore as a sales conversation. The FAQ says the trial needs no credit card, includes Optimize-plan features, and drops the account to the free plan when the trial ends. The number of trial days is not in that FAQ answer.

MobileAction wins if ASO and Apple Ads sit in one vendor. The pricing page on 30 August 2026 listed ASO Lite $15 per month billed monthly or $12.5 billed yearly (100 keywords, 5 apps, 3 competitors per app, 3 months of history, 1 seat), Basic $69 / $59, Pro $239 / $199, and Enterprise as contact. Yearly copy says "2 MONTHS SAVED!". ASO Basic and Pro show a 7-day trial; Market Intelligence Pro shows a 3-day trial; billing information is required, and a second trial on the same card skips the trial and charges immediately. A separate Search Ads CMP Free tier is $0 with a $10,000 monthly ad spend cap. That free card is Apple Ads management, not ASO Intelligence. API Solutions, Ad Intelligence, Search Ads Intelligence, and CPP Intelligence are contact-only. Refund copy: 72 hours on the initial payment if a cancellation was missed, not after later cycles.

None of these three published a Cursor mcp.json on the pages fetched this run. The gap is agent wiring, not ASO quality.

Can AppBird replace Sensor Tower without a sales call?

AppBird is the self-serve market browser in this set, not the enterprise estimate engine. appbird.ai/llms.txt (30 August 2026 file; stats snapshot 28 August) lists Scout at $99 per month, Elite at $399, and Team as custom. Scout limits: 20 searches per day, 50 app detail views per day, 5 saved searches, 1 alert, Top 50 rankings, and a full-access 3-day trial. Elite raises those caps and is API add-on eligible. Team adds CSV export, unlimited seats, and SSO/SAML. Checkout is self-serve with no sales call.

The agent hook is public, which Sensor Tower's MCP pages were not. llms.txt names a Model Context Protocol server at https://api.appbird.ai/v1/mcp (Streamable HTTP, X-API-Key header) using the same keys and credit costs as the REST API, with a setup URL at https://appbird.ai/mcp. The /mcp HTML page rendered as a client-side shell on this fetch, so the header and URL above are taken from llms.txt rather than from a visible JSON snippet on that page.

AppBird is the wrong swap for a finance team that has to defend modeled revenue in a board deck, and the wrong swap for an ASO lead who lives in keyword volume. It is a candidate when a studio wants rankings, update timelines, and teardowns without an annual intelligence contract.

Trends MCP wins the live-board job, not the estimate job. The Cursor setup page (30 August 2026) uses this remote HTTP block. Put it in ~/.cursor/mcp.json on Mac or Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json on Windows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "trends-mcp": {
      "url": "https://api.trendsmcp.ai/mcp",
      "transport": "http",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

That host is the Bearer API. Claude.ai Connectors use a different OAuth URL on the www host; those two endpoints are not interchangeable. REST is POST https://api.trendsmcp.ai/api with the same Bearer header.

Live App Store and Google Play data rides get_top_trends, not a keyword lookup. docs.md (30 August 2026) names App Store Top Free, App Store Top Paid, and Google Play as exact, case-sensitive type strings. Default limit is 25, max 200, offset starts at 0, and each page counts as a request. sort defaults to rank. sort: "rank_change" returns climbers versus a prior snapshot; window accepts 1d, 3d, 7d, 14d, or 30d (default 30d). Short windows only have baselines on daily feeds.

{
  "mode": "get_top_trends",
  "type": "App Store Top Free",
  "sort": "rank_change",
  "window": "7d",
  "limit": 25
}

Android history is a different tool. docs.md keyword sources include app downloads and app rankings. The keyword must be an Android bundle ID such as com.openai.chatgpt, not an iOS numeric ID and not a marketing name. get_growth defaults percent_growth to ["12M"] and bills one request per source plus keyword even when several windows ship in one call. That pair is documented on the Android app downloads page and in the App Store Top Free and Google Play vs App Store references.

{
  "mode": "get_growth",
  "source": "app downloads",
  "keyword": "com.openai.chatgpt",
  "percent_growth": ["12M", "3M", "YTD"]
}

Public Trends MCP prices on 30 August 2026, from pricing.md plus the HTML pricing page: Free $0 for 100 requests per month; Starter $19 for 1,000; Pro $49 for 5,000; Business $199 for 25,000. Annual billing saves 20%. The HTML yearly toggle showed Starter $16 per month ($192 billed annually), Pro $39 ($468), Business $159 ($1,910), with "2 months free" on the toggle. HTML Free copy: top 10 trends, 12 months of history, 24-hour delayed data. Paid cards: all trends, full history, real-time. Keyword alerts: Pro 50, Business 250. HTML markets 35+ data sources. docs.md lists 15 keyword sources (no python row) and 24 live feed names, including App Store Top Free and the four by Category boards. The MCP get_top_trends schema on this run also lists 24 feeds. data-sources.md the same day lists 20 live feeds and omits every by Category board. llms.txt the same day says plus 21 live feeds. Cite the split; do not flatten it.

Trial copy on that HTML page also splits. Paid-card fine print said "$192/year after day 7" (and the matching Pro / Business lines). The FAQ said first-time subscribers get 7 days free, the card is collected at checkout, and it is "not charged until day 8." The All-plans line said "7-day free trial." Failed calls are free. Hitting the quota returns 429 until reset; there are no overage charges.

Trends MCP does not estimate competitor iOS revenue, does not score keyword difficulty, and does not reply to store reviews. Pair it with AppTweak or Appfigures when those jobs are in scope. Use it when an agent needs the current App Store or Google Play board, climbers over a 7-day window, or Android download growth for a known bundle ID.

FAQ

Is AppMagic still a Sensor Tower alternative?

No. Sensor Tower's 12 May 2026 press release names AppMagic as the SMB offering inside Sensor Tower. The AppMagic pricing page on 30 August 2026 is a demo form with no public SKU grid. A studio that wants a vendor outside that group should look at AppBird, AppTweak, Appfigures, MobileAction, or Trends MCP, depending on the job.

Which alternative is cheapest for ASO keyword tracking?

Appfigures Connect at $9.99 per month ($7.99 yearly) is the lowest published Analytics and ASO card in this set, with 25 keywords and 5 apps. MobileAction ASO Lite is $15 per month for 100 keywords. AppTweak Essential displayed £79 per month for 500 keywords. Those are different caps, so the cheapest card is not the cheapest per tracked term. Check the live page before buying; AppTweak showed GBP on this fetch.

Does Trends MCP replace Sensor Tower download estimates?

No. Trends MCP returns live ranked boards and a 0–100 growth index (plus absolute volume where the pipeline has it). Sensor Tower sells modeled downloads, revenue, usage, and ads. Use Sensor Tower or AppMagic when a number has to look like a store console. Use Trends MCP when an agent needs App Store Top Free, Google Play, or app downloads for an Android bundle ID.

Can an AI agent query these tools without a sales call?

Trends MCP: yes, email signup, key format tmcp_live_…, Cursor JSON above, Free plan 100 requests with no card. AppBird: yes, according to llms.txt, with X-API-Key against https://api.appbird.ai/v1/mcp. Sensor Tower MCP: only with an active API subscription, via a demo or customer success path, and with no public Cursor JSON on the pages fetched 30 August 2026. AppTweak, Appfigures, and MobileAction APIs were contact-gated or plan-gated on the pricing pages this run.

Sources

Accessed 30 August 2026 unless noted.