Appcircle alternative: the same release chores, priced for small teams
Appcircle is a full mobile DevOps platform: cloud builds, signing identities, testing distribution, an enterprise app store, store publishing and a self hosted edition. It is built for mid size and large companies, and its paid plan is an annual licence quoted by sales.
AppForShare is for the team that has outgrown a free tier but does not want an enterprise contract. Builds run on your own GitHub Actions, testers install from a link, and the store steps (device registration, listings, App Store review) run with your own keys, with a person pressing each button.
Pick AppForShare if
- You want a paid plan you can buy with a card today, monthly or yearly, with a 7 day Pro trial.
- You already use GitHub and want builds on your own Actions minutes, set up with one pull request.
- You are an agency and want client projects, a client portal and signed approvals next to the builds.
- Your testers are clients who should install from a link with no account.
Pick Appcircle if
- You need a self hosted or private cloud install, SSO or LDAP sign in, or an MDM such as Intune.
- You want builds on the vendor's own machines instead of GitHub Actions, or CodePush style over the air updates.
- You need an in-app update SDK today. AppForShare has no in-app SDK.
Side by side
- Price
- AppForShare
Free, Pro $12/month with a 7 day free trial, Team $39/month (5 seats). Yearly = 10 months. Lower regional prices in many countries.
- Appcircle
Free Starter plan; Corporate is a tailored annual licence paid by bank transfer, no public price
- Free tier limits
- AppForShare
Free: 150 MB per build, links live 7 days, 10 GB bandwidth a month
- Appcircle
Starter: 20 builds a month (30 min each), 100 testing downloads and 5 store publishes a month
- Builds
- AppForShare
iOS and Android on your own GitHub Actions minutes, workflow and secrets set up by one pull request (Pro up to 2 repositories, Team no limit)
- Appcircle
Cloud build machines and self hosted runners
- Testers
- AppForShare
Open the link on the phone and install. No tester account, no extra app. Tester groups and install status with reminders on Team.
- Appcircle
Testing groups, testing portal with optional sign in, SSO and LDAP on Corporate
- Apple devices
- AppForShare
UDID onboarding link, one click registration on Apple and ad hoc profile remake with your App Store Connect key (Pro and Team)
- Appcircle
Apple devices module with UDID invite link and portal registration
- Store steps
- AppForShare
TestFlight and Google Play uploads from GitHub builds, App Store and Play listing editor, App Store review checklist and submit by an Admin (Pro and Team)
- Appcircle
Publish to App Store, Google Play, Huawei AppGallery and Intune
- Store readiness check
- AppForShare
Every build checked against current App Store and Google Play rules, with a fix per issue (Free and up)
- Appcircle
Not found in its public docs
- CI tools
- AppForShare
CLI, GitHub Action and Fastlane plugin, with the store readiness result in the pipeline (Pro and Team)
- Appcircle
CLI on npm, Fastlane plugin, Jenkins and Azure DevOps plugins
- AI coding tools
- AppForShare
MCP server for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, VS Code and Gemini CLI: uploads, install links, readiness, release status and reviews (Pro and Team)
- Appcircle
MCP server with build, signing, distribution and publishing tools
- Agency tools
- AppForShare
Client projects with a portal, deliveries, feedback and e-signed sign offs (Pro limited, Team unlimited)
- Appcircle
Multi tenancy on Corporate
- Self hosting
- AppForShare
No, hosted only
- Appcircle
Yes, on Corporate
Appcircle details checked on October 2026 from its public pages (Appcircle pricing, Appcircle docs). Plans change; tell us at contact if something here is out of date.
Moving a project over
Connect the repository on the GitHub builds page and AppForShare opens a pull request with the iOS or Android workflow. Testing groups map to Team tester groups, and an Appcircle testing distribution profile maps to an AppForShare project with Beta and Live channels.
Store keys are added once on the Stores page: an App Store Connect team key and a Google Play service account. They are encrypted with Google Cloud KMS and never shown again.
Questions
- Does AppForShare build my app on its own machines?
- No. Builds run on GitHub Actions in your own GitHub account. AppForShare writes the workflow, stores the secrets it needs and receives the result.
- Can AppForShare submit to the App Store?
- An Admin of your workspace can send a version for App Store review from AppForShare with your own App Store Connect key, after a checklist of what Apple needs. AppForShare never sends it on its own.
- Is there an in-app update SDK like Appcircle has?
- Not today. Testers get the newest build through a channel link and QR code that never changes.
Try it with your next build
No account needed for a first upload. Free accounts keep links for longer.