How much does ASO cost?
ASO costs between nothing and roughly $15,000 a month, depending on who does the work. Doing it yourself with free store data costs time only. An ASO tool subscription runs $50–$500 a month. A freelancer or consultant charges $75–$200 an hour, or $1,500–$4,000 for a one-off audit and rewrite. Agency retainers cluster at $3,000–$15,000 a month on a three to six month minimum. An in-house ASO manager costs $80,000–$130,000 a year fully loaded. An AI agent sits at the bottom of the paid range, under $200 a month per app, because the recurring research and metadata work is automated rather than staffed.
Key takeaways
- The price gap between options is 100x, and the output gap is nowhere near that wide for routine metadata work.
- Agency retainers are priced per app and per locale — costs scale badly across a portfolio.
- A one-off audit and rewrite is often better value than a retainer for an app that ships infrequently.
- Budget for iteration, not a single project: a listing optimized once and left alone decays within a couple of quarters.
- Whatever you spend, tie it to impressions, product page views and conversion rate, not to deliverables.
2026 price benchmarks
| Option | Typical cost | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| DIY with free store data | Time only | Pre-launch and first-app founders |
| ASO tool subscription | $50–$500 per month | Teams who know what to do and need the data |
| Freelancer, hourly | $75–$200 per hour | Specific gaps and second opinions |
| One-off audit and rewrite | $1,500–$4,000 | Apps that ship a few times a year |
| Agency retainer | $3,000–$15,000 per month | Bespoke creative and multi-market entry |
| In-house ASO manager | $80,000–$130,000 per year | Portfolios of five or more apps |
| AI agent | Under $200 per month per app | Continuous metadata and keyword work |
These are US benchmark ranges gathered from published agency pricing, freelance marketplace rates and public salary data, and they move. Treat them as the shape of the market rather than a quote — every agency prices on app count, locale count and how much creative production is in scope.
What actually drives the price up
- Number of locales — most agencies price per market, and translation is billed separately from strategy.
- Creative production — screenshot and video sets are a design cost, not an ASO cost, and they dominate large invoices.
- Number of apps — per-app pricing is the single biggest driver of portfolio spend.
- Release cadence — a weekly-shipping app needs metadata work every cycle, which retainers price accordingly.
- Paid search overlap — engagements that include Apple Search Ads management carry a percentage-of-spend fee on top.
What your app should actually spend
Work from revenue, not from a category benchmark. If organic installs are worth less than a few thousand dollars a month to you, a retainer cannot pay for itself no matter how good the agency is — do the work with free data and a cheap tool, and revisit at scale.
Once organic installs are material, the useful test is cost per incremental install. A $4,000 monthly retainer needs to produce a few thousand extra installs a month to beat what the same money would buy in paid user acquisition. That is achievable, but it should be stated up front rather than discovered at month six.
- 1
Measure the baseline
Record impressions, product page views and conversion rate for the last 90 days before spending anything.
- 2
Value an install
Work out what an organic install is worth to you using your current LTV or paid CPI as the reference.
- 3
Set a break-even
Divide the proposed monthly spend by install value to get the incremental installs required, and agree that number with the vendor.
- 4
Review at 90 days
ASO changes surface within two weeks, so a quarter is enough to judge. Cut or renew on the number, not the report.
Frequently asked questions
How much does app store optimization cost per month?
Tool subscriptions run $50–$500 a month, AI agents under $200 a month per app, and agency retainers $3,000–$15,000 a month. An in-house ASO manager is $80,000–$130,000 a year fully loaded.
Is ASO cheaper than paid user acquisition?
Per install, almost always — organic installs have no ongoing media cost once the listing ranks. The catch is that ASO spend buys a probability of ranking rather than a guaranteed volume, so most teams run both and use ASO to lower blended acquisition cost.
Can you do ASO for free?
Yes, for a single app. Store autocomplete, competitor listings and your own App Store Connect and Play Console analytics cover keyword research and measurement at no cost. What you cannot get free is tracked ranking history across markets.
How long before ASO spend pays back?
Metadata changes usually affect ranking within two weeks, and a fair judgement window is 90 days. If a vendor asks for six months before any assessment, ask why the first two weeks produce nothing measurable.
appXL Research
App Store Optimization Research Team
The appXL research team analyzes App Store and Google Play ranking data across the apps our agent manages, and publishes what it finds.