In this article, we'll give you a brief overview of Apptile, how it works, and the pros and cons. We'll compare it to 5 different Apptile alternatives including our own platform, MobiLoud, which we believe is the ideal choice for serious businesses to convert web stores to professional eCommerce apps.
What is Apptile?
Apptile is an app builder platform that uses "tiles" (aka blocks) to allow users to drag and drop their way to eCommerce apps for iOS and Android.
Now let's take a look at Apptile's pricing.
Apptile Pricing
Apptile offers 3 tiers of pricing:
- Core: Use Apptile for free but with a 5% success fee
- Plus: $600/mo - no success fees
- Enterprise: $1200/mo - no success fees
If you don't mind the 5% success fee, the Core plan which gives you design with unlimited tiles, unlimited push notifications (manual & automated), 3 standard integration tiles, and phone & email support is an OK pick. Upgrading to the Plus plan gives you 6 standard integration tiles, an implementation specialist, custom pages, custom fonts & icons, and advanced analytics. You can also opt into the Enterprise plan if you want to have a dedicated account manager & designer, custom events, and premium & custom integrations.
Apptile Pros & Cons
Apptile is generally well reviewed and has a well thought-out suite of integrations and features. However as a block-based editor it will be hard to go beyond a simple and "cookie cutter" app that fails to recreate the richness of your web store. Apptile has ~15 integrations for Shopify - covering some of the biggest ones. But Shopify has thousands of plugins and tools, the vast majority of which you'll have to ditch!
Now we've had an overview of the tool, its pricing, and its pros and cons. It's time to move on and start looking at some Apptile alternatives, starting with our own site-to-app platform, MobiLoud.
Apptile Alternative #1: MobiLoud
MobiLoud powers thousands of top apps, and allows you to convert your site into native eCommerce apps in just days, for a fraction of the cost of custom development.
Our eCommerce app platform integrates with any CMS - whether it's Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop or any other - and let you reuse every plugin, feature and functionality from your main web store.
MobiLoud is the best way to convert your web store into native eCommerce apps for iOS and Android, as well as the best alternative to Apptile.
There are several key reasons why:
- No templates, no blocks, no APIs - we don't restrict you to our pre-built front-ends, we allow you to convert your web store completely, and to reuse all your existing plugins, themes, and tech stack.
- Keep what works - you already built your ideal site for the web, tweaking it endlessly for conversions and sales. With MobiLoud you can translate that directly into m-commerce native apps, without needing to reinvent the wheel. You already did the hard part, we handle the rest!
- Easy Management - many app builder platforms like Apptile gives you an extra CMS to manage, adding work for you and your team. Since MobiLoud apps sync with your web store in real time, this work is eliminated, you just need to keep managing and updating your store as usual, and if you want to change something specifically for the apps, use our easy no-code UI.
- Done for you - there's no need for you to fiddle, drag-and-drop, or waste time trying to set the apps up. You just need to tell us any special requirements, add some key information, and our team handle all technical aspects of the app build including submissions to Google Play and the AppStore.
MobiLoud Pricing
We have two standard pricing tiers:
- Startup - For fast launching and validation: $170/month
- Growth - Perfect for more established businesses: $382/month
We also have custom, corporate plan for more demanding projects. Read more about our pricing here.
The difference between MobiLoud and Apptile is clear.
Apptile's block-centric platform is overly restrictive and can't compare with being able to reuse everything from your site. Even the range of integrations available on their top plan is highly limited compared to what you can achieve with MobiLoud.
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Now we've blown our own trumpet, here are a few other Apptile alternatives that you're likely to see around the web.
Apptile Alternative #2: Vajro
Vajro is a budget-friendly Shopify-focused drag-and-drop app builder, primarily catering to smaller eCommerce apps. They utilize templates and drag-and-drop widgets to create branded apps connected to Shopify via API. However, users will find limitations in recreating their web stores accurately, even on higher-tier plans.
Vajro Pricing
Vajro has four plans:
- Starter - basic features and integrations - $99/mo
- Core - advanced features and integrations - $249/mo
- Premium - premium features and integrations - $499/mo
- Plus - premium features, integrations, and priority support - $999/mo
The more costly the plan is, the better app functionalities and benefits you get.
Apptile Alternative #3: Tapcart
Tapcart is a mobile app builder for Shopify, allowing businesses to develop their apps without requiring any coding knowledge. It is well-regarded among small and medium-sized eCommerce businesses.
Tapcart Pricing
Tapcart has three plans:
- Core - 15 blocks, basic features, and basic integrations - $200/mo
- Ultimate - unlimited blocks, advanced features - $400/mo
- Enterprise - unlimited custom blocks, dedicated customer success manager, and premium integrations - $1K/mo
The more costly the plan is, the better app features and benefits you get.
Apptile Alternative #4: Mowico
Mowico is another platform designed to assist eCommerce brands in crafting their own apps without any coding knowledge. It works smoothly with Shopify and WooCommerce, and soon it will also support PrestaShop, BigCommerce, and Wix. This platform provides easy integration with features like Smile, Langify, and Judge.me, and includes pre-set options like push notifications and AR shopping. However, it's essential to remember that Mowico also has its limitations. While it can create a basic eCommerce app with your products and logo, it won't be able to fully replicate the advanced features, design, and plugins of your web store. When they mention "integration" with Shopify, it means they can access some data from your store, but you'll still be constrained by their pre-built integrations, which won't give you anywhere near the flexibility on offer with the web or MobiLoud.
Mowico Pricing
Mowico has three plans for each eCommerce platform. For Shopify, they have:
- Startup - basic features - $79/mo
- Growth - everything from Startup plus enhanced features - $399/mo
- Enterprise - premium features, custom feature integrations, and tailor made development - custom
The pricing may vary for each eCommerce platform but keep in mind that, the more costly the plan is, the greater benefits you get.
Apptile Alternative #5: Shopney
Shopney, an easy-to-use app builder for Shopify eCommerce stores, is known for its integrations, themes, and features. If you're seeking a simple app that mirrors your site's product catalogue, Shopney might be a viable option. However, due to its template-based nature, it cannot fully transform your site into iOS and Android apps or employ all your existing plugins, themes, and features. This will prove restrictive for businesses with complex and unique needs, pushing your store to fit within their predefined templates.
Shopney Pricing
Shopney has four plans:
- Silver - basic features with flexible design - $99/mo
- Gold - basic features with flexible design with 20 elements - $199/mo
- Platinum - advanced features and unlimited design elements - $499/mo
- Enterprise - premium features and functionalities and a dedicated success manager - starting from $999/mo
Let's Build Your eCommerce Apps
We've looked at a few Apptile alternatives, and given you some key information about each.
As we've seen, many of these tools share the same fatal flaws. On the one hand - their reliance on blocks, themes, templates, and pre-built widgets does allow you to build and launch (some kind of) eCommerce app fast, affordably and easily compared to custom development. On the other, this same reliance puts you and your brand in a straightjacket.
It means that you will only ever approximate your web store, and you'll be forever at the mercy of whatever pre-built features they have as well as whatever data they can fetch via API (which can change). The apps will be a branded shell with some of your data pulled in and not much more.
While this is OK for simple stores is basic and small product ranges and features, this will almost always be a deal breaker for serious eCommerce brands. You probably have a finely-tuned tech stack, along with all the plugins, third-party integrations, and custom features you need to drive sales and revenue optimally. To discard all this hard work for cookie-cutter apps with your logo on will rarely make strategic sense.
That's why, although we're biased of course, we believe MobiLoud is not only the best Apptile alternative but a superior alternative to every eCommerce mobile app builder on the market.
The first key reason: we allow you to reuse everything from your site in the apps.
If it already works well on the mobile web, it'll be even better as iOS and Android apps. It makes no sense to ditch that winning formula and those painstakingly chosen tools just to compromise with restrictive templates. That's too much of downgrade from what you've already built, and with MobiLoud - unnecessary. Keep what already works.
The second core reason: it's so simple to manage MobiLoud apps.
Platforms like Apptile will often add hours per week to your workflow with effectively a new CMS to manage. In contrast - MobiLoud apps sync in real time with your site. There's no need to manually add new product lines, update pricing, or worry about keeping the apps up to date. The apps will reflect changes and updates to your site instantly.
This goes for any core changes you make to your site too. You can switch out plugins, pull off a major rebrand, or build whatever custom functionality you choose. It doesn't matter what it is - it'll work straight out of the box in the apps, which can grow with your brand into the future.
On top of this, our team handle any ongoing updates and maintenance needed as part of our service, along with all fiddly aspects of the app build and bringing them live to Google Play and the AppStore. We work with you to ensure your apps are a success, and we're only ever an email or phone call away.
MobiLoud allows you to combine the best of the web with the best of native apps. It's a winning formula, check out the success these eCommerce brands have had:
Over 1000 other businesses have used MobiLoud to build winning apps - and you can too.
Unlike with Apptile, there's no risk. We don't do long-term contracts and we'll refund you if you're unhappy with the apps. If you're like most of our eCommerce customers - the apps will pay for themselves almost immediately.
It all starts with a call with one of our app experts, where we go over your exact requirements for the apps and answer your questions.
