Mobile apps & consumer tech competitor analysis
Criteria, weights, features, KPIs and sources for analysing competitors of consumer apps, games, fintech apps, health and fitness apps, productivity apps.
Apps compete on the store search page and in the first session. Store rating, screenshots, download velocity and the onboarding flow decide whether someone installs and stays. Store listings and reviews make the analysis concrete.
Use this template to score store presence, ratings, feature coverage, monetisation and retention signals.
What decides who wins
Score every competitor from 0 to 10 on these criteria. The weights are a starting point; adjust them to what your customers say matters.
| Criterion | Weight | What to look at |
|---|---|---|
| Store visibility (ASO) | 18% | Rank for main keywords, featuring, category rank |
| Rating & reviews | 18% | Average rating, review volume, recent complaints |
| Core features | 16% | Coverage of the main job |
| Onboarding & UX | 14% | Time to first value, design quality |
| Monetisation model | 12% | Free tier, subscription price, ads |
| Retention hooks | 12% | Streaks, notifications, social features |
| Update frequency & momentum | 10% | Release cadence, downloads trend |
Features and offers to compare
Mark each competitor yes, partly or no. Critical items missing from your offer are the first gaps to close.
- Free tier (Critical)
- Subscription (Important)
- Cross-platform sync (Important)
- Offline mode (Nice to have)
- Widgets (Nice to have)
- Social / sharing (Nice to have)
- Dark mode (Nice to have)
- Wearable integration (Nice to have)
- AI features (Nice to have)
- No ads option (Nice to have)
Where to find your competitors
- App Store and Google Play search for your main keywords
- Store 'similar apps' and 'you might also like' sections
- Product Hunt and Reddit communities in your niche
- Social media ads from Meta Ad Library for your keywords
Well-known players in related categories
Larger brands your customers may compare you with. Listed for research only; inclusion does not imply they compete with you.
- Music & audio streaming: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, JioSaavn, Gaana, Tidal, Deezer
- Video streaming (OTT): Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, JioHotstar, HBO Max, Apple TV, Hulu, Paramount+
- Fitness chains & apps: cult.fit, Planet Fitness, Anytime Fitness, Gold's Gym, Equinox, PureGym, Snap Fitness, Peloton
KPIs to benchmark
- Store rating and total ratings on iOS and Android
- Subscription prices and trial length
- Release notes cadence
- Keyword rank for your top 5 store search terms
- Most common complaint themes in 1-2 star reviews
Five Forces snapshot
Typical pressure in this market. Your local situation may differ; rate it in the Five Forces tool.
| Force | Typical level |
|---|---|
| Competitive rivalry | Very high |
| Threat of new entrants | Very high |
| Threat of substitutes | High |
| Bargaining power of buyers | High |
| Bargaining power of suppliers | High |
Estimating market share
For this industry, review counts are usually the most practical public proxy for share. Use the same source for every business and read the result as a share of the businesses you track. See how to estimate market share and HHI.
Mistakes to avoid
- Reading overall rating instead of the last 90 days of reviews
- Ignoring platform fees in price comparison
- Copying features that competitors' users complain about