FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Appbot
Quick answers to the questions people ask before they start with Appbot. For setup and how-to guides, head to the Appbot Knowledge Base.
Getting started
9 questions What is Appbot?
Appbot is app review analysis and reply software for app developers, product managers and support teams. It tracks reviews from the Apple App Store and Google Play, including competitor apps, and applies sentiment analysis, topic detection and emotion analysis so you can see what customers think without reading every review.
You can ask questions about your reviews in plain English with Ask Appbot, or connect your review data to Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor with the Appbot MCP. Teams reply faster with Auto Replies, AI Replies and AI Drafts, and reply reporting shows who replied, how, and how quickly.
How does Appbot work?
Appbot aggregates reviews from the Apple, Google Play and Microsoft app stores across all countries - for your own apps or your competitors', with no app store authentication required. Once set up, reviews are analyzed in near real-time and delivered wherever suits you: in your Appbot account, by email, or through integrations like Slack. Appbot automatically categorizes feedback such as feature requests, bug reports, crashes and UX issues, generates reports on user sentiment and review content, and creates visualizations that make it easy to share feedback across your organization.
Who uses Appbot?
Appbot is for anyone who wants to understand their customers better, from solo developers to enterprise teams. It's used most by:
- Product managers who need to know which complaints and feature requests are growing
- Growth marketers tracking how campaigns, pricing changes and releases move ratings and sentiment
- App marketers and ASO teams watching review keywords, store ratings and performance across countries and languages
- UX researchers using reviews as a continuous source of qualitative feedback, coded by topic, emotion and sentiment
- Voice of the Customer and analytics teams who need review data alongside their other feedback channels
- Customer care and support teams replying to reviews at scale with Auto Replies, AI Replies and AI Drafts
- QA teams catching bugs and crashes in the wild, by version, device and OS
- Competitive and market intelligence teams benchmarking your app against rivals on volume, ratings and sentiment
- App marketing and development agencies reporting on multiple client apps from one account
What are the features of Appbot?
Appbot's key features include:
- Reply to reviews - from within Appbot, your developer console, or many popular CRMs
- Sentiment analysis - a proprietary algorithm designed specifically for app reviews
- Monitor app ratings & reviews - automatically aggregate your reviews & ratings across all the major platforms
- Natural language processing - machine-learning driven tools that identify patterns like bug reports and feature requests
- RESTful API & webhooks - build custom reports and connect tools like Tableau
- Integrations - route reviews to Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zendesk and more
Which app stores does Appbot support?
Appbot supports the Apple App Store (iOS and macOS), Google Play and Microsoft Store. Reviews are collected from every country each store is available in, and non-English reviews can be auto-translated to English. You can also monitor competitor apps across any of these stores.
Is there a free trial?
Yes, Appbot offers a free 14-day trial with no credit card required. You can set up in 5 minutes, connect your apps, and see real sentiment analysis and topic extraction on your actual review history before committing.
How long does it take to set up Appbot?
Setup takes about 5 minutes and doesn't require an engineer. Add your app's App Store or Google Play URL, connect the integrations you use (Slack, Zendesk, etc.), and Appbot immediately backfills your full historical review data so you can start analyzing. No credit card required for the 14-day free trial.
Can I get a live demo?
We don't offer live demos - Appbot is designed to be a self-service product, even for Premium users, and our whole team operates around this self-service principle. To help you get started there is a short video demo (around 10 minutes) and a Quick Start Guide that walks new users through the platform.
What customer support options does Appbot provide?
Appbot provides customer support via email, with a target response time of one business day - Premium subscribers receive priority handling. Appbot is designed to be a fully self-service product for all customers, including those on the Premium tier, so we deliberately keep support to email only (no live demos, phone support or dedicated account management). This is a key way we keep our pricing competitive for everyone.
Sources & data
8 questions What are sources?
A source is a single app in a single app store. For example, your iOS app and your Google Play app would count as 2 sources. Appbot fetches reviews for all countries for each source you track.
What's the difference between app ratings and reviews?
An app rating is a star score from 1 to 5 that requires no written text, while an app review is that same star score plus a written comment. Every review carries a rating, but most ratings never come with one, so your star average shows the scale of user sentiment and your reviews explain the reasons behind it. Read more about the difference between ratings and reviews.
Can Appbot track reviews and ratings for multiple apps?
Yes - this is one of the core features of Appbot. The number of apps you can monitor depends on your plan. The built-in Reviews, Words, Topics, Custom Topics, Tags, Compare, Exports and Dashboards reports all let you select multiple apps in a single report.
How many sources can I track?
You can track 5 sources on the Small plan, 40 on the Medium plan, and 100 on the Large plan. If you need more, custom enterprise plans are available.
Can I track my competitors' apps?
You can track any apps that you're interested in - yours, your competitors, top apps in your category, you choose! Each app you track counts as a source.
Does Appbot offer competitor analysis?
Yes. Add the competitor apps you want to analyze to your Appbot account, and once their reviews load you can use the Compare page for an overview of how your apps stack up against competitors on review volume, star ratings and sentiment. You can also build custom dashboards that show your own metrics alongside key competitor data, and get a daily digest email with a regular snapshot of the comparison. Read more about competitor analysis.
How are translations counted?
For each source, you may choose to have non-English feedback translated to English. A translation is counted for each complete piece of feedback (e.g. 1 review) that we translate. For team members tracking the same sources, we count unique translations only.
Do you offer an API?
Replies
3 questions How do I reply to App Store and Google Play reviews?
Appbot lets you reply to both App Store and Google Play reviews from a single inbox. Connect your developer accounts once, then reply directly from Appbot, from Slack, from Zendesk, or from whichever tool your support team already uses. AI-drafted replies and canned responses are available, and replies post back to the store automatically.
Can Appbot draft replies with AI?
Yes. Appbot writes replies from the actual review using its rating, sentiment and specifics, in your brand voice and the reviewer's language. Start with one-click drafts, let Appbot draft automatically for your approval, or hand off routine replies entirely with Auto Replies. However hands-off you go, you set the rules.
Are replies unlimited?
Yes. You can send as many replies as you wish per month. Each person on your team who replies to reviews will need their own Appbot account.
Plans & billing
10 questions How much does Appbot cost?
Appbot comes with a free 14-day trial of our Large plan when you sign up. After your trial, our plans start at $49/month billed annually, or $59 billed monthly. Visit the pricing page for full details.
What pricing plans does Appbot offer?
Appbot offers four different subscription tiers. The Small, Medium and Large tiers can all be purchased either monthly or annually. The Premium tier is available on an annual basis only. When choosing a plan, consider:
- How many account users and seats you need
- How many sources you want to track
- Whether you need review replies - the Large plan is recommended for full reply functionality
- Whether you need CSV exports - available on the Large plan
Do you offer a discount for paying annually?
Sure! You can save up to 25% with Annual plans. Visit the plans page to see the savings available with annual billing.
What's the difference between the Large and Premium plans?
Large plans include up to 50 seats and optional API access (extra fee). They are credit card only and can be purchased directly. Premium plans start from 20 seats, also offer optional API access, and are customized to each customer - they can scale up to hundreds of seats. Premium additionally includes invoice billing with purchase order acceptance, and Single Sign On (SSO) using SAML 2.0 compatible providers. Both plans are subject to Appbot's standard terms of service.
Am I locked in?
Monthly plans offer total flexibility - cancel or downgrade your plan any time. Annual plans give you a chunky discount though!
What happens at the end of my trial?
You subscribe to a plan and we skip off into the sunset together! If you don't purchase a plan your account becomes inactive and we will no longer fetch new data for your apps. You can reactivate your account, complete with any Dashboards, Custom Topics or other customizations, at any time by purchasing a plan. Please note that we cannot back-fill Ratings data though, so if Ratings history is important to you please make sure you purchase before your trial lapses.
Which credit cards do you accept?
We accept VISA, MasterCard and AMEX. Your details will be stored securely according to PCI data security standards.
Can I pay via invoice, ACH or check?
Invoice billing with up to 1 hour of procurement support is available for Premium customers only, starting at US$5,388 annually for 20 users - submit a Premium Enquiry to get started. Annual Large plans can be paid by wire transfer, but Large plans are self-service only: Appbot will not complete procurement or security documentation, and the subscription will not commence until the payment has been received. Small, Medium and Large plans can be purchased via credit card, and you can download a paid invoice as soon as payment is completed to share with your finance team.
Can I use Appbot for academic purposes?
Yes, Appbot's paid plans support academic use, though no student discount is available. Note that Appbot data may not be published publicly (either online or offline) without the prior express written consent of Appbot. To publish Appbot data for academic purposes, contact our support team with details of your intended use and distribution method.
Can we negotiate terms of service?
All Appbot plans, including Premium plans, are subject to the Appbot terms of service. Standardizing our terms is a key way we keep our pricing down so we have designed them to be very customer-friendly.
Didn't find your answer?
Setup and how-to questions live in the Appbot Knowledge Base. For anything else, email support and a human will reply.
