Apsalar pulls free mobile attribution analytics, shifts to all-paid model

In the mostly free mobile analytics market, niche contender Apsalar is pulling its free mobile attribution product and shifting to an all-paid model.

“Effective Jan. 1, Apsalar will stop providing free access to mobile attribution analytics and other advanced reports and functionality,” the company said today in an email to developers who use its services, adding that “our account team would be happy to help you upgrade to the Apsalar plan that would best fit your needs.”

Apsalar is a strong analytics performer on iOS, and apps using its services tend to benefit, with an average 13.2 percent higher user rating than other apps, according to our recent VB Insight Mobile App Analytics report. Its solution is not meeting developer approval on Android, however, with 14,000 SDK uninstalls on Google Play apps to only 1,000 current installs in the 1.8 million app sample.

[Update: Apsalar CEO Michael Oiknine told me that was due to a partnership with another SDK that saw its installs skyrocket, but then drop after the partnership lapsed.]

Developers will lose access to the following features, according to Apsalar:

• Traffic Report
• Cohort Report
• Revenue Analysis Reports
• Attribution Tracking & Postback Workflow
• Raw Data Exports
• API Access

They will still be able to use Apsalar for free, however, for basic functionality:

• Dashboard
• Trending Analysis Reports
• Event Reports
• Funnel Report
• Operational Analysis Reports

The reason for the shift? Simply support costs, Apsalar says.

“Apsalar’s attribution analytics is a valuable service for marketers. It helps them measure the efficacy of their marketing spend on more than 300 mobile ad networks, including Facebook, Twitter and Google,” the company said in its email. “As such, this service requires different levels of customer and ad network support by Apsalar teams, which generate costs for the company.”

Apsalar starts at $1,000 a month.

Other solutions such as Kochava monetize on paid acquisition, while giving away their analytics capability. Tune’s MobileAppTracking, another top contender in the VB Insight analytics report, is free for up to 50,000 attributions, with graduated pricing thereafter.