When people compare website-to-app conversion tools, they usually focus on features: push notification support, Android vs iOS coverage, WebView customization options. These are fair questions, but they are not the ones that determine which tool is right for a given situation.
The real differentiator is the pricing model. Whether you pay for access (monthly or annually) or pay for use (per build) determines the total cost over the lifetime of your app far more than any individual feature. A tool with slightly fewer features at $15 per year is a different proposition from a tool with more features at $1,200 per year, for an app that gets rebuilt three times in twelve months.
Monthly Subscriptions: Paying for Access
AppMySite is one of the better-known options in this space. Plans run $49 to $199 per month depending on features and iOS access. BuildFire is positioned at $159 to $299 per month, aimed at businesses with ongoing app management needs. Both cover Android and iOS, push notifications, and managed infrastructure.
The value proposition of monthly billing is that the vendor manages the ongoing work: platform compliance as Android and iOS requirements evolve, app store policy updates, and technical support when things go wrong. For a company that updates its app frequently and genuinely values that relationship, the monthly cost can be justified by what it delivers.
The honest math for everyone else: AppMySite at $99 per month is $1,188 per year. A small business that builds an app in January and updates it twice before December paid $1,188 for three actual build events. If you would describe your app as something you launch and revise occasionally rather than manage continuously, a monthly subscription charges you for a level of service you are not using.
Annual License: A More Honest Structure
Median.co takes a different approach. An annual license at approximately $179 per year covers Android and iOS builds throughout that period. The effective monthly cost is around $15, substantially lower than the major subscription tools while offering comparable platform coverage.
Median is aimed at developers and web professionals. The documentation assumes some technical familiarity, and the initial setup is more involved than consumer-facing tools. For agencies and freelancers comfortable with a terminal, it is worth evaluating. For a restaurant owner handling this independently, it is probably more friction than the savings justify.
Pay Per Build: Paying for Use
WebToAppConvert charges only when you build. No monthly or annual fee. Credits are purchased in packs and spent on builds: 10 credits for a debug build installed directly on a test device, 50 for a Starter build (signed APK for direct distribution), 100 for a Professional build (signed AAB for the Play Store, plus push notifications and AdMob).
The $15 pack contains 150 credits, covering one Professional build with credits remaining. The $30 pack contains 350 credits, enough for three Professional builds. For a typical small business that launches and updates twice a year, the annual cost is $15 to $30 total.
WebToAppConvert currently focuses on Android, with iOS coming. That puts you in front of 72 percent of the global smartphone market from day one, at a fraction of the cost of launching on both platforms simultaneously. Most businesses that think they need iOS on day one find that launching Android first, validating the app, and expanding to iOS later is actually the smarter sequence. If you need iOS alongside Android right now, two approaches work: run a subscription tool for iOS in parallel with WAC for Android, or contact us about a custom iOS build by our team.
DIY Templates: One-Time Purchase, Your Own Environment
WebViewGold on CodeCanyon costs around $35 and provides a configurable WebView template for Android developers who prefer working in their own Android Studio environment. For someone already comfortable with Kotlin, Gradle, and the Play Console upload process, it is a legitimate option with full control over the build output.
For anyone without Android development experience, the $35 understates the actual cost. Setting up a build environment, generating a signing keystore, and navigating the Play Console upload and review process for the first time can take a full day. The template is a starting point, not a complete solution.
| WebToAppConvert | AppMySite | Median.co | DIY Template | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay per build | Monthly subscription | Annual license | One-time purchase |
| Typical year-one cost | $15–$30 | $588–$2,388 | ~$179 | ~$35 + your time |
| Android | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Coming soon | Yes | Yes | Some templates |
| Push notifications | Yes (Professional) | Yes | Yes | Manual setup required |
| Free test builds | Yes (10 credits) | Trial period | Trial period | Self-managed |
| Technical skill needed | Minimal | Minimal | Some | Developer-level |
How to Choose
The decision comes down to how often you rebuild and whether you need iOS on day one.
For most businesses, the answer to the second question is "eventually but not right now." Android at 72 percent of global market share is the right first launch target. Start with WAC, get to market quickly and cheaply, validate the app, and expand to iOS when you are ready. iOS support is coming to WAC directly. Until then, if iOS is a hard day-one requirement, you have two options: run a subscription tool for iOS alongside WAC for Android, or talk to us about a custom iOS build.
If your app changes infrequently, pay-per-build is the more economical structure by a large margin. You pay only for what you use, with no monthly overhead for months when nothing changes.
If you are an Android developer who prefers full control over the build environment and does not need managed infrastructure, a one-time template purchase is worth considering.
For agencies managing builds across multiple clients, the API and credit system in WebToAppConvert scales without per-seat or per-app subscription costs. Credits cover multiple clients, builds can be automated, and new clients add no fixed overhead.