Compare
The best analytics tools for indie app founders, honestly compared
Updated 2026-11-02. Prices are from each vendor's public pricing page on that date.
Short answer: most indie founders need a purchases tool (RevenueCat, Adapty or Superwall), App Store analytics (App Store Connect itself or Appfigures), and something that ties revenue to what changed. That last job is what WhyItChanged does.
| Tool | Best for | Free tier / price |
|---|---|---|
| WhyItChanged | Why conversion and revenue moved, across App Store, ads, RevenueCat, Stripe and your backend | Free for 1 app; from $19/mo |
| RevenueCat | In-app purchase infrastructure and subscription charts | Free up to $2.5K monthly tracked revenue, then 1% |
| Adapty | Paywalls, subscription analytics, Apple Ads management add-on | Free under $5K/month revenue, then 1% |
| Superwall | Paywall experiments and revenue analytics | Free up to $10K/month paywall-attributed revenue, then 1% |
| Appfigures | Store analytics, ASO, reviews, Google Play | Free Starter; paid from $9.99/mo |
| ChartMogul | Subscription metrics: MRR, churn, cohorts | Free up to $10K MRR; from $69/mo |
| PostHog | Product analytics and a data warehouse you query yourself | 1M events/month free, then usage-based |
How to choose
- Just launched, no ads: App Store Connect plus RevenueCat's free tier is enough.
- Running Apple Ads or Google Ads: you need spend next to revenue per channel. That's WhyItChanged's core use case.
- Selling on web and App Store: pick a tool that adds both revenues: RevenueCat web billing, ChartMogul, or WhyItChanged.
- Doing ASO seriously: Appfigures or a dedicated ASO tool.
- Want to build your own dashboards: PostHog's warehouse has App Store Connect, RevenueCat, Stripe and ad sources, but you write the queries.
Head-to-head
- WhyItChanged vs Appfigures: Appfigures for ASO, reviews and store analytics; WhyItChanged for why revenue moved across app, ads and web.
- WhyItChanged vs ChartMogul: ChartMogul for deep subscription metrics; WhyItChanged for app + ads + web revenue on one change timeline.
- WhyItChanged vs Baremetrics: Baremetrics for SaaS metrics, dunning and forecasting; WhyItChanged for app founders who run ads.
- WhyItChanged vs RevenueCat Charts: Not either/or: WhyItChanged reads RevenueCat and adds ads, downloads, releases and alerts around it.
Questions
What's the cheapest way to track App Store revenue and ad spend together?
WhyItChanged is free for one app with every connector, including Apple Ads and Google Ads.
Do I need RevenueCat if I use WhyItChanged?
No, but they work well together. WhyItChanged reads RevenueCat; it doesn't process purchases.