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Mobile Development · head to head

Adapty vs BuildFire

Adapty logo

Adapty

Mobile Development

In-app subscription and paywall platform, free below 5,000 USD of monthly revenue then 1 percent, with add-ons charged separately

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
BuildFire logo

BuildFire

Mobile Development

Launch your app in weeks

From
$165/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Adapty has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Adapty the 1 percent headline is only the base rate; Refund Saver at 0.2 percent of revenue, Ads Manager at 3.5 percent of ad spend, Attribution at 0.03 USD per install and Adapty Mail at a 20 percent revenue share stack on top and are individually easy to switch on.; BuildFire standard plan at $165/month is limited to 1 in-app purchase, 1 admin seat and 5GB storage
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Adapty and BuildFire actually diverge.

Attributes where Adapty and BuildFire differ
AttributeAdaptyBuildFire
Starting priceFree$165/month
Pricing modelPer month by tracked revenuesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsiOS, Android, Web, React Native, FlutterWeb

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Mobile Development).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Adapty

  • Visual paywall builder
  • A/B testing on paywalls
  • Cross-platform entitlements
  • Subscription analytics
  • Refund Saver add-on
  • Attribution and Ads Manager add-ons

Only in BuildFire

Nothing recorded that Adapty does not also cover.

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Adapty

  • A growth marketer who needs to test paywall pricing weekly without an engineering ticket or an app releasenot BuildFire
  • A small subscription app that wants to stay free longer than the 2,500 USD threshold offered by the main competitornot BuildFire
  • Consolidating subscription analytics and paywall experimentation in one place rather than wiring an analytics tool to a billing SDKnot BuildFire
  • Automating Apple refund responses where a measurable share of revenue is lost to refund requestsnot BuildFire

BuildFire

  • Publishing apps to iOS, Android, webnot Adapty
  • Building community apps without codingnot Adapty
  • Sending geofenced push notifications to usersnot Adapty
  • Monetizing apps with in-app purchasesnot Adapty

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Adapty

  • The 1 percent headline is only the base rate; Refund Saver at 0.2 percent of revenue, Ads Manager at 3.5 percent of ad spend, Attribution at 0.03 USD per install and Adapty Mail at a 20 percent revenue share stack on top and are individually easy to switch on.
  • Revenue is calculated before platform fees, so the fee applies to money Apple and Google have already taken a 15 to 30 percent cut of, making the effective rate on received cash noticeably higher than the quoted figure.
  • Adapty Mail at a 20 percent revenue share is a large ongoing cost for a channel most teams would otherwise run through an email platform they already pay a flat fee for.
  • The integration ecosystem, third-party tutorials and hiring pool are smaller than the category leader, so engineers are less likely to have used it before and edge cases have fewer public answers.
  • Paywall configuration and entitlement state live with the vendor, so a migration later means rebuilding both the billing integration and every paywall the marketing team has created.

BuildFire

  • Standard plan at $165/month is limited to 1 in-app purchase, 1 admin seat and 5GB storage
  • Unlimited in-app purchases require the $440/month Scale plan

Pricing, plan by plan

Adapty

Free
  • Pro under thresholdFree
    • Free until monthly revenue reaches 5,000 USD
    • All core features, no tiers and no fixed costs
    • Paywall builder and A/B testing included
  • Pro$undefined/month
    • 1 percent of monthly revenue above the 5,000 USD threshold
    • Refund Saver adds 0.2 percent of monthly revenue
    • Ads Manager adds 3.5 percent of monthly ad spend
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Quoted
    • White-glove onboarding
    • 24/7 dedicated Slack support and a success manager

BuildFire

$165/month
  • Standard$165/month
    • 100K push notifications
    • 5GB storage
    • 1 admin seat
  • Growth$315/month
    • 150K push notifications
    • 15GB storage
    • Monetization with one in-app purchase
  • Scale$440/month
    • 300K push notifications
    • 50GB storage
    • Unlimited in-app purchases
  • Professional Services$null/month
    • Custom pricing

Which should you pick?

Choose Adapty if

  • You need visual paywall builder.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web, React Native, Flutter.
  • You also want a/b testing on paywalls.
Adapty review

Choose BuildFire if

Nothing in the data separates BuildFire from Adapty on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

BuildFire review

Questions people ask

Is Adapty or BuildFire better?
Neither clearly leads. Adapty starts at Free and BuildFire at $165/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Adapty or BuildFire?
Adapty has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Adapty and $165/month for BuildFire.
Does Adapty or BuildFire run on more platforms?
Adapty runs on iOS, Android, Web, React Native, Flutter. BuildFire runs on Web.
Can I use Adapty for free?
Yes. Adapty has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. BuildFire starts at $165/month.
What is Adapty best used for?
Adapty is most often used for a growth marketer who needs to test paywall pricing weekly without an engineering ticket or an app release, a small subscription app that wants to stay free longer than the 2,500 usd threshold offered by the main competitor, consolidating subscription analytics and paywall experimentation in one place rather than wiring an analytics tool to a billing sdk, automating apple refund responses where a measurable share of revenue is lost to refund requests. Of those, a growth marketer who needs to test paywall pricing weekly without an engineering ticket or an app release and a small subscription app that wants to stay free longer than the 2,500 usd threshold offered by the main competitor are not what BuildFire is typically brought in for.
What can Adapty do that BuildFire cannot?
Adapty covers Visual paywall builder, A/B testing on paywalls, Cross-platform entitlements, Subscription analytics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Adapty: How much does it cost above the free threshold?

1 percent of monthly revenue, measured in USD before platform fees, with billing starting once you exceed 5,000 USD in a 30 day period.

BuildFire: What are BuildFire's pricing tiers?

Standard starts at $165/month, Growth at $315/month, and Scale at $440/month. All plans support iOS, Android, tablet, and PWA publishing. Professional services with custom development are available at custom pricing.

Source
Adapty: Is the free tier really more generous than RevenueCat?

On the base product yes, 5,000 USD against 2,500 USD of monthly revenue, but add-ons are priced separately where the competitor bundles more into its single rate.

BuildFire: Does BuildFire offer an annual discount?

Yes. All pricing tiers receive a 20% discount when billed annually instead of monthly, allowing for upfront savings on development costs.

Source
Adapty: Can marketing change paywalls without a release?

Yes, that is the main reason teams choose it; paywalls are configured server side and published without going through app review.

BuildFire: What push notification limits apply to BuildFire plans?

Standard includes 100K monthly push notifications, Growth includes 150K, and Scale includes 300K. Push notifications are a key metric for engagement tracking across all tiers.

Source
Adapty: What does Refund Saver actually do?

It responds to Apple refund requests with transaction evidence to contest them, and it costs an additional 0.2 percent of monthly revenue.

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