Picking an attribution tool in 2026 feels like shopping for a car when all you need is a bicycle. The big names assume you're running a performance marketing team with six-figure ad budgets. Most developers and small brands just want to know which marketing channel is driving purchases.
Here's a breakdown of what's actually available, sorted by what you'll pay.
Enterprise tier: $500+/month
AppsFlyer
The default choice for funded startups and established apps. AppsFlyer tracks installs, in-app events, and ad spend across every major network. Their data is solid and their integrations cover practically every ad platform that exists.
The free tier (formerly "Zero") gives you limited attribution for up to 10,000 installs per month. Beyond that, pricing starts around $500/month and scales with volume. The dashboard is comprehensive but complex — expect a learning curve.
Good for: Teams spending $5,000+ on paid acquisition who need granular campaign-level attribution across multiple ad networks.
Not great for: Solo developers, small brands, or anyone not running significant paid campaigns. You're paying for infrastructure you won't use.
Adjust
Similar to AppsFlyer in scope and pricing. Strong on fraud prevention — their fraud detection catches invalid installs that other tools miss. They were acquired by AppLovin in 2021, which brought tighter integration with AppLovin's ad network but raised questions about data neutrality.
Pricing isn't public but starts around $500/month for smaller apps. Enterprise plans go much higher.
Good for: Apps with fraud concerns (gaming especially) or those already in the AppLovin ecosystem.
Branch
Branch started as a deep linking tool and added attribution on top. Their strength is the combination — deep links that also track attribution, so you can send users to specific content within your app while measuring where they came from.
Pricing starts around $500/month for attribution features. The deep linking product has a free tier.
Good for: Apps where deep linking matters (content apps, marketplaces, e-commerce). If you need both deep links and attribution, Branch is the obvious choice.
Mid-range: $50-200/month
Kochava
Positioned between enterprise MMPs and lightweight tools. Kochava offers a free tier for up to 10,000 monthly active users, with paid plans starting around $100/month. Their free tier is genuinely usable, not just a trial.
They also offer a "Kochava Foundry" marketplace where you can access data enrichment services. The interface isn't as polished as AppsFlyer's but the data is reliable.
Good for: Growing apps that have outgrown simple tracking but aren't ready for $500/month.
Singular
Focuses on combining attribution with cost aggregation — pulling your ad spend from every platform into one dashboard alongside your attribution data. This gives you actual ROI numbers per channel, not just install counts.
Pricing starts around $200/month. Their free tier is limited but exists.
Good for: Teams running paid campaigns across multiple platforms who want unified cost-per-install and cost-per-action reporting.
Budget tier: Free or pay-per-event
Firebase/Google Analytics for Firebase
Free. Google's attribution product for mobile apps. Handles basic campaign tracking through UTM parameters and Google Ads integration. It's deeply integrated with Google's ad ecosystem but limited for non-Google channels.
Attribution data from Firebase tends to over-credit Google channels (Search, YouTube, Display) because that's what it tracks best. Non-Google channels often end up under "direct" or "organic" which isn't helpful.
Good for: Apps that primarily use Google Ads for acquisition and want free basic tracking.
Not great for: Understanding performance across social media, influencer campaigns, or non-Google paid channels.
LinkOwl
Full disclosure: this is our tool. LinkOwl takes a different approach — instead of tracking everything, it tracks specific marketing links. You create a tracked link per campaign or per influencer, and when someone clicks through and eventually purchases, the purchase is attributed to that link.
Pricing: 5p per attributed purchase. No monthly fee. If your marketing drives zero purchases, you pay nothing. At 100 attributed purchases per month, that's £5.
The tradeoff: you only get attribution for traffic that goes through your tracked links. Someone who sees your TikTok, searches the App Store directly, and downloads without clicking any link won't be attributed. For most small apps and brands, this captures enough signal to make informed decisions about where to spend.
Integrates with RevenueCat, Stripe, and Shopify webhooks. SDKs for Swift (native iOS) and React Native.
Good for: Indie developers, small brands, and anyone doing influencer marketing who wants to know which creator or channel drives actual sales — without a monthly fee.
Tenjin
Has a free tier that handles basic attribution for small apps. The paid plans start around $100/month. Tenjin focuses on ad revenue attribution alongside IAP tracking, which makes it useful for ad-supported apps.
Their data pipeline approach (they store your raw attribution data and let you query it) appeals to data-savvy teams but is overkill for most.
Good for: Ad-supported games and apps where you need to attribute both ad revenue and in-app purchases.
Self-built attribution
Some teams skip third-party tools entirely and build attribution in-house. This usually means UTM parameters on links, server-side logging of click events, and matching clicks to purchases through a shared identifier.
It works but it breaks easily. UTM parameters get stripped by some platforms. Cookies expire or get blocked. Cross-device attribution is nearly impossible without a third-party solution. And you'll spend engineering time maintaining something that isn't your core product.
That said, if your marketing is simple — a handful of channels, no paid ads, mostly organic content — a basic UTM setup with Google Analytics might be enough to start.
How to choose
Spending $5,000+/month on ads across multiple networks: AppsFlyer or Adjust. You need the granularity and integration depth.
Running influencer or creator campaigns: LinkOwl. Per-sale pricing means you only pay when it's working, and the per-link tracking tells you exactly which creator converts.
Google Ads only: Firebase. It's free and integrates natively.
Growing app, multiple channels, need unified cost data: Singular or Kochava.
Just starting, need basic tracking: Start with LinkOwl or Firebase. Both are free (or effectively free) to start. Upgrade when your marketing spend justifies it.
The worst choice is no attribution at all. Even basic link tracking gives you something to optimise against. The second-worst choice is an enterprise tool you pay $500/month for and barely use.