Canonical: https://www.strataigize.com/insights/best-app-store-optimization-agencies/
Description: Compare 14 ASO agencies on published prices, store testing and terms, then check the Apple and Google rules that decide what their reports mean.
Published: 2026-10-18T00:00:00.000Z
Modified: 2026-10-18T00:00:00.000Z

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# Best App Store Optimization Agencies and What They Charge

By [**Ian McGavin**](https://www.strataigize.com/about/team/ian/), Founder & CMO · Published October 18, 2026 · 15 min read

Judge an app store optimization (ASO) agency by what you can check in your own App Store Connect and Google Play Console accounts. Before signing, get in writing: the price, the store tests it will run, and how its report will separate organic search from Apple Ads. Five of the 14 agencies publish an ASO price; one is our own fixed project. Four are monthly plans, which on October 18, 2026 started at $1,000 at App Masters, $2,000 at Promodo, €2,900 at Admiral Media and $3,200 at NinjaPromo. For the other nine, compare written quotes for the same scope.

In this article

1.  [Fourteen ASO agencies and what they publish](https://www.strataigize.com/insights/best-app-store-optimization-agencies/#fourteen-aso-agencies-and-what-they-publish)
2.  [Give an agency store access without handing over the account](https://www.strataigize.com/insights/best-app-store-optimization-agencies/#give-an-agency-store-access-without-handing-over-the-account)
3.  [Ask which store tests your traffic can finish](https://www.strataigize.com/insights/best-app-store-optimization-agencies/#ask-which-store-tests-your-traffic-can-finish)
4.  [Read the agency’s report the way the stores count](https://www.strataigize.com/insights/best-app-store-optimization-agencies/#read-the-agencys-report-the-way-the-stores-count)
5.  [Rule out tactics that can get your app removed](https://www.strataigize.com/insights/best-app-store-optimization-agencies/#rule-out-tactics-that-can-get-your-app-removed)
6.  [What a fixed project buys next to a monthly plan](https://www.strataigize.com/insights/best-app-store-optimization-agencies/#what-a-fixed-project-buys-next-to-a-monthly-plan)
7.  [Choose a specialist, a combined team or a one-time project](https://www.strataigize.com/insights/best-app-store-optimization-agencies/#choose-a-specialist-a-combined-team-or-a-one-time-project)

Before you hire an app store optimization agency, decide how you will check its work in your own store accounts. Two counting rules inside Apple’s and Google’s own reports decide what an agency’s results can show.

Apple’s App Analytics files downloads from ads in App Store search results under the same App Store Search source as organic search ([Apple source types](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect-analytics/acquisition/acquisition/)). If the agency also runs your Apple Ads (Apple’s own App Store ads, still called Apple Search Ads on some agency pages), or you raise that budget during the engagement, search downloads can climb while the listing itself changed nothing. Google Play’s store performance report has a different blind spot. It counts only searches for your app’s name or a closely associated brand as Google Play search, and a category search such as “racing game” is counted as Google Play explore ([Google Play Console Help](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9859173)). By that definition, a visit from a category or other non-brand search is reported as explore, not search.

## Fourteen ASO agencies and what they publish

App store optimization (ASO) is the work of getting an app found in store search and turning more store visits into installs. It covers the text fields, known as metadata (on the App Store, the title, subtitle, keywords and description), and the icon, screenshots and preview video.

We included every agency named on at least three of six agency lists that came up for this search (from AppFollow, Business of Apps, Enrich Labs, NinjaPromo, Neil Patel and Sonar), and every agency we found publishing a price for an ASO service on its own site. App Radar, now part of SplitMetrics, appears here as SplitMetrics. We left out agencies that sell posted reviews or incentivized installs, in an ASO package or as a separate service, which both stores prohibit (see the store rules section below).

Strataigize publishes this comparison and sells ASO work, so we have a commercial interest. The agencies appear in alphabetical order. We read each one’s own ASO, pricing and terms pages on October 18, 2026. The comparison covers what each agency publishes about itself. It does not test anyone’s delivery, and a service listed on a website may not be in the quote you receive. Five of the 14 publish an ASO price: four in US dollars and Admiral Media in euros.

| Agency | ASO price on its own site (October 18, 2026) | Store testing it names | Terms it states |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Admiral Media](https://admiral.media/aso-agency-pricing/) | From €2,900 a month covering a single app on both stores in a single market and language; €1,500 a month for each extra market or language; one-time: ASO audit €2,500, audit and workshop €9,500 | Apple product page optimization and Google Play store listing experiments, “where traffic allows” | Term set in the proposal |
| [App Masters](https://appmasters.com/pricing) | $1,000 a month for two ASO projects a month on one app; plans up to $5,000 a month add ad channels, plus a custom Enterprise tier | Not named on the pricing page; custom product pages from the $1,500 plan up | Month to month, cancel anytime |
| [AppTweak](https://www.apptweak.com/en/aso-mobile-growth-consulting-services) (consulting) | None | A/B testing strategy, execution and reporting; custom product pages for Apple Ads | None stated |
| [Gummicube](https://www.gummicube.com/app-store-optimization-service/) | None | Google Play experiments; App Store tests with Search Ads creative sets; tests with paid traffic through Splitcube | None stated |
| [Moburst](https://www.moburst.com/services/organic/app-store-optimization/) | None | A/B testing; store tools not named | None stated |
| [NinjaPromo](https://ninjapromo.io/top-app-store-optimization-companies) | Starts at $3,200 a month, in its own list of ASO agencies | ASO metadata and visual testing; tool not named | None stated for ASO |
| [Phiture](https://phiture.com/app-store-optimization) | None | “Apple and Google Play native tools or third-party platforms” | One-time audit, a project or a retainer |
| [Promodo](https://www.promodo.com/solutions/aso) | From $2,000 a month; lists 15 design hours, extra hours $35 | A/B testing; tool not named | None stated on the ASO page |
| [RadASO](https://radaso.com/app-store-optimization) | None; its site describes fixed pricing per country | A/B testing of icons, screenshots and videos; tool not named | Fixed price per country, or a monthly subscription that adds localizations over several months |
| [SplitMetrics](https://splitmetrics.com/app-marketing-agency/app-store-optimization/) (Growth Services) | None; a custom plan | Continuous A/B/n testing (several versions at once); tool not named on the ASO page | None stated |
| [Strataigize](https://www.strataigize.com/services/mobile-app-marketing/app-store-optimization/) | One bounded 30-day engagement, ASO overhaul or creative-testing rebuild, at $9,000 USD fixed | In ongoing work, icon, screenshots and preview video tested on real store visits; store tools not named. The sprint delivers an experiment plan | Fixed price, one deliverable; ongoing ASO sits inside our growth retainer with paid acquisition and creative, which starts above every published monthly starting price in this table and runs month to month only after the first 3 months |
| [The ASO Project](https://www.theasoproject.com/) | None | Says it will “test, learn, and compound results month after month”; store tools not named | None stated |
| [yellowHEAD](https://www.yellowhead.com/app-store-optimization/) | None | Ongoing creative A/B testing; store tools not named | None stated |
| [Yodel Mobile](https://yodelmobile.com/app-store-optimization/) | None | “an always-on A/B testing strategy”; tools not named | None stated |

Read each price with its scope. App Masters’ entry plan covers two ASO projects a month for one app, and its higher plans add Apple Search Ads and other ad channels, at published prices up to $5,000 a month, with a custom Enterprise tier above that. Admiral Media’s base fee is for a single app in a single market and language. A US app that adds two more markets, each counted once, would pay €5,900 a month on Admiral Media’s price list, by our arithmetic. The page does not say whether a market that also needs a new language counts once or twice, so get that in the proposal. Promodo lists 15 hours of banner and screenshot design, with extra hours at $35, and does not say whether those hours recur each month. NinjaPromo’s $3,200 starting price appears in its own list of ASO agencies with no term attached, so ask what term and notice period that price assumes.

The nine agencies without a published ASO price are not cheaper or more expensive by default. Send each one the same brief: stores, markets, languages, creative production, the tests you expect and who publishes changes. Then compare written fees for that brief.

Their published scopes still separate them. Gummicube’s ASO service includes running your Apple and Google ad campaigns. Phiture says it connects ASO “with your paid UA and CRM strategy”, meaning paid user acquisition and customer messaging. The ASO Project lists Apple Ads, custom product pages and Google Ads management alongside its ASO work. Yodel Mobile lists localization for 35+ languages, Moburst more than 25 and AppTweak’s consulting team 18+. yellowHEAD’s ongoing service lists ratings and review monitoring, in-app events and custom product pages alongside creative testing.

## Give an agency store access without handing over the account

App Store Connect is the Apple console that holds your store page, tests and analytics, and its user roles decide what an agency can change. The Account Holder signs legal agreements with Apple, and only one person can hold that role ([Apple](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/manage-your-team/overview-of-accounts-and-roles/)). Editing app information, creating product page tests and building custom product pages each require the Account Holder, Admin, App Manager or Marketing role ([app information](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/create-an-app-record/view-and-edit-app-information/), [tests](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/create-product-page-optimization-tests/create-a-test/), [custom product pages](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/create-custom-product-pages/configure-multiple-product-page-versions/)).

Give the agency the Marketing role and limit it to the apps in scope. Apple lets you restrict app access for App Manager, Customer Support, Developer, Marketing and Sales users without Access to Reports, while anyone with the Admin or Finance role sees every app. Leave Access to Reports off for the agency: Apple says a user given access to reports, or to Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles, sees every app, with no way to restrict it ([Apple](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/manage-your-team/edit-access-to-apps/)). App Manager also covers pricing and app delivery, which is more than ASO needs. Apple contacts Marketing users when an app is considered for featuring, so keep someone from your own team in that role as well ([Apple role permissions](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/reference/account-management/role-permissions/)).

Google Play Console permissions can be set per app. Grant the agency “Manage store presence” on the app it works on, which covers editing the store listing’s text and images and running store listing experiments. Google bundles more into that permission: pricing, in-app products, distribution and content rating, and promotions, so set an access expiry date when you invite the agency and check its changes. Replying to reviews is a separate permission, so add it only if the agency will handle replies. Only the account owner and admins can invite or remove users, so keep both roles in-house ([Google Play Console Help](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9844686)).

Then decide who presses publish. One model gives the agency read access while your team publishes the changes it prepares; Admiral Media’s pricing page describes read access to both consoles in weeks one and two. Whichever model you choose, write into the contract who keeps the keyword research, creative source files, test records and reports, and remove the agency’s access on its last day.

## Ask which store tests your traffic can finish

Both stores have built-in A/B tests, which show different versions of a store page to randomly chosen visitors and compare the results. Apple’s product page optimization tests up to three alternate versions of the icon, screenshots and app previews against your current page, one test at a time, for up to 90 days ([Apple](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/product-page-optimization/)). Apple can label a version Performing Better or Performing Worse once it reaches 90% confidence, and marks it Likely to be Inconclusive when the results so far suggest it is unlikely to reach statistical significance ([Apple Analytics Help](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect-analytics/acquisition/product-page-optimization)). Alternate icons have to be built into the published version of the app, and any new metadata in a test needs App Review approval first.

If each Apple test needs its full 90 days, one test at a time allows about four tests a year, by our arithmetic. A proposal that promises a new test every week on a small app has to explain how. If a test runs the full 90 days and ends inconclusive, you have paid three months of fees without learning which version is better.

Traffic decides whether a test can finish at all. The worked example in our [ASO creative testing playbook](https://www.strataigize.com/insights/aso-creative-testing-playbook/) assumes one version against the original and the usual statistical settings: a 5% false-alarm rate and an 80% chance of detecting a real difference of the size you are looking for. On those settings, telling a 20% conversion rate from 21% takes 51,166 visitors in total, about 103 days if 500 visitors a day enter the test, which is past Apple’s 90-day window. Telling 30% from 33% takes 7,526 visitors, about 15 days at the same rate, so allow at least 16 full days. That is a planning check, not Apple’s own statistical method, but it shows whether a proposed test schedule is possible.

Google Play’s store listing experiments test up to two variants against the current listing. Per app, you can run a single experiment on the default graphics or as many as five localized ones in parallel, and Google ends any experiment after six months ([Google Play Console Help](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/12053285)). The target metrics are unique users clicking Install, Open or Pre-register. A winning variant shows more of those clicks, which is a step before an installed, paying user.

Some agencies test outside the stores. Gummicube’s ASO page lists “A/B Testing with any paid traffic source using Splitcube.” That audience is people who clicked an ad, who may behave differently from people searching the store, so ask which audience each test used.

Keyword pages are the newer scope item. Apple allows up to 70 custom product pages per app, which are extra versions of your store page, each with its own screenshots, previews, promotional text and keywords ([Apple](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/create-custom-product-pages/configure-multiple-product-page-versions/)). Apple’s developer news of October 29, 2025 announced that a custom product page with assigned keywords can appear in search results for those keywords in place of your default page ([Apple Developer News](https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=gf6mgrs6)). Google Play allows up to 50 custom store listings and lets you choose the Play Search keywords that lead to each one ([Google Play Console Help](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9867158)). Admiral Media prices this work as an add-on at €1,500 a month: as many as six keyword-targeted custom product pages each quarter, with Play custom listings. Apple’s product page tests do not run on custom product pages, so ask how the agency will judge each one ([Apple](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/create-product-page-optimization-tests/overview-of-product-page-optimization/)).

## Read the agency’s report the way the stores count

Apple’s conversion rate is total downloads and pre-orders divided by unique-device impressions, and impressions include views on the Today, Games, Apps and Search tabs ([Apple metric definitions](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect-analytics/reference/metrics-definitions)). Being featured, a new ad campaign or a shift in where visitors come from can move that rate whether or not the listing improved. For a creative change, the product page test result is the cleaner read, because the test splits visitors at random.

For keyword work, ask for App Store Search downloads over matched periods, with your Apple Ads spend and installs for the same dates beside them. Three other source types, App Store Browse, App Referrer and Web Referrer, separate store browsing and links from apps and websites. A report that shows only total downloads mixes all of these together.

On Google Play, read explore as well as search, since Google counts category searches and autocomplete taps as explore, and ask the agency how it will connect its keyword work to installs. Google Play’s store performance report has also replaced the legacy conversion rate with a click-through rate: the share of store listing visitors who clicked Install, Open or Pre-register ([Google Play Console Help](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9859173)).

Before the agency touches the listing, record your starting numbers from your own consoles: impressions, page views, conversion by traffic source and search downloads. For a subscription app, add trial starts and first payments for the same weeks from your subscription data, because installs that never pay do not cover the agency’s fee. Hold case studies to the same standard. SplitMetrics says its clients “typically see 15-25% conversion uplift within six months”; before a claim like that shapes a budget, ask for the apps, calendar dates, starting values and paid spend behind it.

## Rule out tactics that can get your app removed

Apple’s guideline 5.6.3, on discovery fraud, prohibits manipulating any part of the App Store experience, including charts, search, reviews and referrals. The business section of the same guidelines warns that a developer who manipulates reviews, or inflates chart rankings with paid, incentivized or fake feedback, or hires a third-party service to do either, may be expelled from the Apple Developer Program ([App Review Guidelines](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/)). Google Play’s policy says “Developers must not attempt to manipulate the placement of any apps on Google Play” and bars rewards for ratings or reviews and automated inflation of installs or ratings ([Google Play policy](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9898684)).

If a package lists app installs or reviews among its deliverables, ask where they come from before you pay. Paying for incentivized installs meant to move rankings, or for reviews written on your behalf, is paying for conduct both stores prohibit, with your developer account at stake. Put a clause in the contract that the agency will not buy incentivized, fake or automated installs, or any ratings or reviews, for your app.

Keywords have rules too. Apple’s guideline 2.3.7 asks for keywords that accurately describe the app, warns against packing metadata with trademarked terms or popular app names, and says Apple may modify inappropriate keywords at any time. Ask to see the keyword list before it ships. Ratings have a sanctioned route: guideline 5.6.1 tells developers to use the provided API to prompt users for a review and disallows custom review prompts, so an agency’s ratings advice should start there.

## What a fixed project buys next to a monthly plan

Admiral Media lists a one-time ASO audit at €2,500 and an audit and workshop for in-house teams at €9,500, which adds a metadata refresh, team training and half a year of follow-up to the audit. Phiture sells a one-time audit or project without a published price. As an ASO overhaul, our 30-day sprint, priced in the table, delivers a keyword matrix, metadata, a screenshot set and an experiment plan, handed over in working form. The client keeps the deliverable whether or not a retainer follows.

A monthly plan buys ongoing work. Admiral Media’s monthly plan, for example, lists keyword work, metadata, creative review, store A/B tests when volume permits, monthly reporting and a weekly call with a senior specialist. A one-time project suits a listing that needs one rebuild and a person on your team who will run it afterwards. A monthly plan suits a team with nobody free to own the listing and enough store traffic to keep tests running. If your listing only needs small, steady changes, a monthly plan will serve you better than any one-time project, ours included.

Thin traffic changes the answer for every option: Admiral Media’s pricing page recommends “a one-time audit only” for pre-launch or very low-traffic apps. We will not promise a specific lift on a 30-day clock, and you should distrust anyone who does.

## Choose a specialist, a combined team or a one-time project

Our view is published on our [how-we-work page](https://www.strataigize.com/how-we-work/): “Use one team when work crosses campaigns, search, your website or product, and supporting systems. A specialist can fit a narrow scope when your team already owns the handoffs.” That view decides the second and fourth cases below; the store testing limits and the fixed-project comparison above decide the first and third.

-   If the app is pre-launch or gets little store traffic, buy a one-time audit (Admiral Media lists one at €2,500; Phiture sells one without a published price), or an ASO tool run by someone on your team; our [ASO tools comparison](https://www.strataigize.com/insights/best-aso-tools/) covers the software. A monthly testing plan would pay for tests your traffic cannot finish.
-   If the listing is the only problem and your team already runs paid acquisition and the product, hire a specialist on a monthly plan. Compare the published prices from App Masters, Promodo, Admiral Media and NinjaPromo with written quotes from the others for one brief.
-   If the listing needs one rebuild and someone in-house will run it afterwards, buy a fixed project with a named deliverable: Admiral Media’s audit and workshop, a Phiture project, or our sprint in the table.
-   If store conversion and paid buying are underperforming together, hire one team and hold it to one revenue number, so the handoffs between those parts have an owner. Gummicube and The ASO Project list Apple and Google ad management with their ASO work, App Masters adds ad channels in its higher plans, and Phiture connects ASO with your paid acquisition and customer messaging. Our growth retainer runs acquisition, ASO and creative as one program, at a monthly price that starts above every published starting price in the table, month to month after the first 3 months.

Before you sign, send every shortlisted agency the same three questions. What will the work cost for your brief, in writing? Which tests will it run first, and how many weeks does your current traffic need to finish each one? Which report will it use to keep Apple Ads and brand searches out of its results? Ask, too, which App Store Connect role and Play Console permission it needs. Marketing and Manage store presence, limited to your app, cover the work described here, and the Google permission also reaches pricing and distribution, so set an expiry date. Hire the agency whose answers you can verify, in writing and in your own consoles.

Author

**Ian McGavin**

Founder of Strataigize, connecting business strategy, growth marketing and applied AI. His expertise includes paid media, measurement and AI-search visibility.

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