When a developer gets done with creating a top-notch app, the next thing he gets bothered with is the question that where he should place his app or which app store will prove to be more fruitful than the other app stores? Like many other developers, you will think of pushing your app and embark on your career using Google Play Store. Google play store has a large and diverse audience as well as it is thought and proved to be the most successful app publishing platform among all other app stores. But why only Google Play Store? As a developer won’t you love to place your app on many other platforms that will unlock the doors of revenue, success, and fame for you? OfF course you would love to. There are some countries like China and Korea which do not have access to Google App Store at all which means that if you place your app only on Google Play you will miss a large number of audience which you could have gained access to by publishing your app on some other app stores which are accessible to people in different geographical regions. One way to gain a huge number of audience is to publish your app on as many application stores as possible. Listing your app on many platforms will not be of any damage rather it will prove to be helpful in flourishing your app as well as it will increase the opportunities for people to locate your app with greater ease.

Here is the list of the top five Android app stores at present:

1. Google Play

Google Play is a robust app store for publishing your apps. It helps the developers to publicize, sell, and distribute their apps among people around the globe. Google Play is the most visited and used platform by the app developers because of its ability to publish the apps rapidly among more than 2 billion Android users. App developers mostly or in some cases always go for Google Play because of its easy access to Android users. Google play store releases your newly developed app into the app marketplace in minutes. Google Play is a go-to place for many Android users and one reason behind its popularity is that it is pre-installed in Android devices. Now the thing is why the app developers are limited to Google store only? Besides many positive points of releasing your app in Google Store, the downside of this app is that it is overly crowded which makes it somehow hard to locate the newly launched apps. Therefore you should also approach some alternatives to Google Play. There are many other various app stores, though not as big as Google play but still, those app stores carry a huge customer base and can make your app available to thousands of users every day. And what is so bad about publishing your app on many platforms? It will increase your app’s visibility which will result in the enhancement of your revenue.

2. Amazon App Store

When we talk about some good app stores how can we forget to mention Amazon App Store? This app store is not as old as Google Play still it would not be wrong to say that Amazon App Play is a fine competitor of Google Play. We can determine its progress through the fact that before Amazon only used to offer content to kindle owners but with the passage of time it has progressed so much and now Amazon has expanded itself into a full-blown app store. Amazon now stands among the fine app stores where the developers can launch their apps. The advantage of using Amazon App Store as a platform for pushing your app in is that it highlights all the apps on a regular basis which is a free advertising tool for any app developer to utilize. Unlike the Google App Store, where it becomes difficult to find the apps, Amazon App Store is a nice choice because in this app store apps can be found and located easily without any difficulty. Amazon also has a review process which helps in editing and reviewing the app descriptions. This feature can be a bonus for the app developers who do not want to get their apps out into the market immediately. Therefore, Amazon App Store seems to be a very good opportunity because it is a growing marketplace with thousands of apps and a huge customer base.

3. SlideMe

SlideMe is an excellent Android marketplace for games and it is operating since 2008. It is one of the oldest app stores which offers all sorts of free and paid Android apps. It is almost as old as Google Play, and it is a long-term player in the business of app stores. On SlideMe the competition is not as fierce as on Google Play. But SlideMe has a shorter review process than Amazon and it has a large user base which makes this store highly popular in the market of app stores. You can get your app offered in this store for free or at a price. By using this platform, you can make your application different and unique than the other application as you can make its free versions as well as paid versions. Also, the process of publishing of app is quite simpler than the other app stores. SlideMe costs 20% commission from the publisher’s income. It provides many payment methods including Paypal. Paypal is one of the most favorable payment methods in the world. Therefore, this method shows great payment convenience to users using SlideMe.  SlideMe offers custom distribution channels and there is no restriction of countries across different Android devices. As it is older than Google Play thus it connects the app developers with a huge amount of Android users. So why not to give such a smart app store a try?

4. GetJar

Get Jar is another oldest app store that offers a wide range of apps in the Android Market. Get Jar is the world’s largest free app store with almost over 2 billion downloads till today. On Get Jar, app developers are provided with the ability to target any phone or platform which shows the great flexibility of this app store. Do you also know that Angry Birds debuted no Get Jar? Therefore, this clearly shows its popularity among audiences as well as the success of your app is guaranteed on Get Jar. Users of Get Jar can easily browse for the desired apps anywhere and anytime as its website and app share the same view. Get Jar is a platform that allows apps that are free of cost. An app developer must be mindful of the amazing fact of Get Jar that this platform is best known for having apps that were previously paid for and of course everyone likes a bargain. But only one thing that will make you think twice before you go for this platform and that is the long process it takes for the submission of your app.

5. Mobango

Mobango app store allows the developers to launch their apps free of cost. The app store is growing at a much faster pace. With a base of huge customers and many downloads per day, this app is the best alternative to Google Play. Developers working with this app store enjoy the promotion of their apps in the premium section of the store. This app store does not offer a monetization form for the app developers, instead, things like promotion and subsequent downloads of the developer’s app are the incentive of publishing on this platform. With so many advantages, this platform deserves to have a look from the app developers.

How to choose an app store for your Android app

To choose an app store for the app publication you should consider the following facts:

1. How many users there are on the app market?
2. How many apps are published there?
3. How often apps are updated there?
4. How much does it cost to publsih an Android app?
5. How long does it take to publish an app?
6. Are there limits for publising apps?
7. What requirements does the app store have?
8. What app categories does it have?
9. What is the average app install rate for a popular app?

Summary

There you have it, a fine list of many app stores where you can distribute your apps. I really hope that this article and the aforementioned information about the number of app stores did help you in deciding which app store you will submit your app to. Creating an Android app is itself a huge task that requires a lot of hard work and dedication but its growth highly depends on its distribution. So apart from Google Play Store, today app developers have several choices to decide about the publication of their application. App developers should take some time and try a few app stores to see which fits best with his needs. Although, I cannot deny the importance of publishing apps on Google Play Store but still these third-party app stores can get you some potential users. I have mentioned several good app stores and the sole purpose was just to assist you in deciding the perfect application publishing platform.

Frequently Asked Questions