Tracking and competitors
How to find and monitor your app competitors
Your real app competitors are the apps ranked around you for the keywords you care about, not just the big names you assume. Find them from the top results of each keyword you track, build a focused set per market, then monitor their positions, ratings, and listing changes over time so you can react when one moves.
Last updated 9 June 2026 · By the AppTracker team
Key takeaways
- Your real competitors are the apps ranked around you for your keywords, not just the big brands.
- Find them from the top results of the keywords you track; recurring names are your set.
- Monitor their positions, ratings, and listing changes over time, not just once.
- Use the field around you to know who to overtake and who is catching up, then act on it.
Your competitors are not who you assume
Ask a developer who their competitors are and they will name the famous apps in their space. But the apps you actually compete with are the ones standing between you and an install: whoever ranks around you for the keywords you care about. If you sit at position 5 for a term, the apps at 3, 4, 6, and 7 are taking the searches you want, regardless of whether they are household names. Real competition is defined per keyword and per market, not by brand.
Your real competitors are the apps ranked around you for this keyword: the ones just above to overtake, and the ones just below catching up. Not the big names you assumed.
Find them from your own search results
The most reliable way to find your competitive set is to read the results for the keywords you already track. For each keyword, look at the top apps the store returns, the same list a searcher sees. The names that keep showing up across several of your keywords are your true competitors: they are chasing the same intent in the same markets. This beats guessing from a category list, because keyword overlap is the actual battleground.
A few practical rules make the set sharper:
- Watch the apps just above you (the ones to overtake) and just below you (the ones catching up), not only the leaders far out of reach.
- Expect different keywords to surface different rivals, since a competitor strong on one term may be absent on another.
- Check each market separately, because the field changes by country and language, which we cover in why you track per country and language.
- Keep the list focused: a handful of apps you genuinely share keywords with is more useful than a long roster you cannot watch.
What to monitor, and why once is not enough
Finding competitors is the easy part. The value is in watching them over time, because a competitor is a moving target. There are four things worth tracking for each one.
Their position for the keywords you share, so you can see when one starts climbing toward you or slipping away. Their ratings and rating volume, because a rating change often moves a ranking, so the two histories together explain why a position shifted. Their listing changes, a new title, subtitle, screenshots, or keywords, which frequently land just before a rank move. And new entrants, the apps that appear in your top results for the first time, which is how you catch a rising threat early.
Watching the field move, day by day
Each day's snapshot saves the full ranking. Lined up over time, they let you replay how your app climbed, and when a competitor moved, long after the live store only shows today.
Turn monitoring into action
Once you can see a competitor move, the question becomes what to do about it. When one climbs past you, look at what changed on their listing and whether their ratings moved with it. To understand exactly where a rival is stronger, run an AI head-to-head: it scores both listings on presence, keywords, screenshots, reviews, and positioning, so you know which gaps to close first. We break down how that works in how AI competitor analysis works.
Competitive Health Score
Illustrative example. Your real scores come from your app's live listing, screenshots, and reviews.
How AppTracker does this for you
You do not have to assemble any of this by hand. Every keyword you track saves a daily snapshot of the top 20 apps, which is the field around you, ready-made. AppTracker keeps each competitor's position and rating history alongside yours for every keyword, so the apps that matter most, the ones you actually rank against, are monitored automatically, and you can open an AI head-to-head against any of them whenever one makes a move.
Frequently asked questions
Who counts as a competitor for my app?
The apps ranked around you for the keywords you care about, in the markets you care about. If you sit at position 5 for a term, the apps just above and below you are your real competitors for it, whether or not they are well-known. Competition is per keyword and per market, not by brand.
How do I find my app's competitors?
Read the results for the keywords you already track. For each keyword, look at the top apps the store returns, and the names that recur across several of your keywords are your true competitive set, because they are chasing the same intent. Keyword overlap is more reliable than a category or "similar apps" list.
How many competitors should I monitor?
A focused handful you genuinely share keywords with, rather than a long roster. A small set you actually watch and act on is far more useful than a big list you never look at. You can always add a rival when it starts appearing in your results.
What should I track about a competitor over time?
Four things: their position for your shared keywords, their ratings and rating volume (a rating change often moves a ranking), their listing changes such as a new title or screenshots, and new entrants appearing in your top results for the first time.
Do my competitors change by keyword or country?
Yes, both. A rival strong on one keyword may be absent on another, and the field differs by country and listing language because each market is its own storefront. That is why you find and monitor competitors per keyword and per market.