Kochava Alternative for Small App Teams in 2026

TL;DR: Kochava is a full mobile measurement partner with a generous free tier: 10,000 attributed conversions or 500,000 app events per month at $0, with paid plans starting at $500 per month (as of October 2026). WarpLink is link infrastructure for small teams whose growth runs through owned links, referrals, creators, email, and QR codes. It combines deep linking, install attribution, and real-time analytics with published click-based tiers from $0 to $149 per month. If you buy paid media at scale and need fraud tools or SKAN, Kochava is the better fit.

Kochava vs. WarpLink at a Glance

The two products overlap on links and installs, and they split on everything around paid advertising. The table below puts the published facts side by side. Kochava figures come from its own pricing and product pages, checked in October 2026, and each one is listed in the Sources section.

	Kochava	WarpLink
Free tier	$0/month: up to 10,000 attributed conversions or 500,000 app events per month, no card (pricing)	$0/month: 10,000 clicks per month, no card
Entry paid price	Foundation from $500/month with 33,000 conversions per month (pricing)	Starter $19/month with 100,000 clicks
Higher tiers	Enterprise from $2,000/month with 200,000 monthly active users (pricing)	Growth $49, Scale $99, Unlimited $149 per month
Pricing model	Attributed conversions or monthly active users	Click volume, attribution on every plan
Deep linking	Listed on its free plan page, though its own pages disagree on SmartLinks in the free plan (product, support)	Universal links and app links, hosted AASA and assetlinks.json
Deferred deep links	Listed on its free plan page (pricing)	Yes, on every plan
Install attribution	Paid and owned media measurement (product)	Referrer, device ID, fingerprint, and raw signal cascade with a confidence score
Analytics	Install and event analytics (product)	Real-time click and install analytics
SDKs	Kochava Measurement SDKs	iOS, Android, and React Native at 1.1.0, MIT, zero dependencies
Paid media measurement, fraud, SKAN	Core focus	Not offered

One caution on the deep linking row. Kochava's pricing page and its free plan product page both describe SmartLinks as part of the free plan, while its support article says SmartLinks are not available there. We cannot resolve that from the outside, so we do not state either version as fact. If SmartLinks matter to your decision, ask Kochava to confirm the entitlement in writing before you build on it.

The Short Version

If your acquisition runs on ad networks, Kochava is built for you, and its free plan is a real gift to a young app. If your acquisition runs on links you control, such as referral invites, creator codes, newsletters, QR codes on packaging, and share buttons, the question changes. You do not need a measurement contract. You need links that open the app, survive the install, and tell you which link produced which install.

That second group is who we build for. WarpLink is link infrastructure with three pillars: deep linking, install attribution, and real-time analytics. Redirects resolve at the edge in sub-10ms, and links never stop redirecting, even when an account passes its plan limit.

The rest of this guide explains where each product fits, so you can choose on facts and not on a feature checklist.

What Kochava Does Well

Fairness first, because the strengths are real.

A generous free tier

Kochava's free App Analytics plan covers up to 10,000 attributed conversions per month or 500,000 app events per month, costs $0, and asks for no card. For an app that is still finding its audience, that is more measurement than most vendors give away. WarpLink's free tier is 10,000 clicks per month. The units differ, so do not compare the two numbers directly. A conversion is an attributed install or action. A click is a tap on a link. An app that drives few installs from many link taps can find Kochava's allowance larger in practice, and one that drives many link taps with modest installs can find ours larger.

A measurement partner for paid media

Kochava is a mobile measurement partner. Its product is built around attributing installs and events to ad campaigns across networks, reconciling spend, and feeding results back to those partners. That is a different job from link infrastructure, and it is the job that paid acquisition teams need done.

Fraud prevention and SKAN support

Kochava markets fraud filtering and SKAdNetwork and AdAttributionKit support as part of its measurement offering. WarpLink has neither. If you spend on iOS campaigns and need SKAN conversion handling, or you buy traffic where click farms and ad stacking are a concern, a link service is not a substitute.

Room to grow into a larger contract

Kochava publishes plans that scale from free to Foundation to Enterprise, with monthly and annual prepayment. A team that expects to become a heavy paid-media buyer can start on the free plan and grow within one vendor.

Where WarpLink Fits Better

Your growth is driven by owned links

Think about how a typical small app actually grows: a founder shares a link in a newsletter, users invite friends, a creator posts a code, a product page carries a QR code. Every one of those is a link you control, and none of them involves an ad network. The work to be done is routing the tap correctly on iOS, Android, and web, carrying the destination through the install, and counting what happened.

That is what WarpLink does, with a single link per destination:

• Deep linking: universal links on iOS and app links on Android, with web fallbacks. We generate and host the AASA and assetlinks.json files for each app, and regenerate them when your app configuration changes.
• Deferred deep links: a user who taps a link without the app installed goes to the store, installs, opens the app, and lands on the screen the link pointed to. See the deferred deep links concept guide for the mechanics.
• Install attribution: each install is attributed to the link that drove it by a match cascade of referrer, device ID, and fingerprint, then raw signals. Every result carries a confidence score, so you can see how certain each match is. The attribution concept guide covers match types and privacy details.
• Real-time analytics: click events flow through the same edge pipeline that serves redirects and appear in the dashboard within seconds.

For a practical example of this pattern, see how to attribute installs to creator links. For the underlying approach, read install attribution without an MMP.

Predictable, click-based pricing

Kochava prices by attributed conversions or monthly active users. That is sensible for a measurement partner, and it also means your bill follows your success in a way that is hard to forecast. WarpLink prices on click volume, and attribution is included on every plan.

Plan	Price	Clicks per month
Free	$0	10,000
Starter	$19/mo	100,000
Growth	$49/mo	500,000
Scale	$99/mo	2,000,000
Unlimited	$149/mo	No ceiling

Annual billing charges ten months for twelve. There is no sales call and no contract, and the full details are on the pricing page.

The gap between Kochava's first paid plan and ours is the plainest difference in this guide. As of October 2026, Kochava's Foundation plan starts at $500 per month. Our Scale plan, which covers 2,000,000 clicks per month, is $99. These are not equivalent products, since Foundation includes paid media measurement that we do not offer. They are equivalent only if the paid media part is work you do not need.

Links that keep working

When an account passes its monthly click limit on WarpLink, redirects continue to work. Analytics are gated behind an upgrade prompt, and you get warnings at 50, 80, and 90 percent of the limit. Links printed on packaging, sent in email, or posted in bios never return an error page because a quota ran out.

SDKs you can read

The WarpLink SDKs for iOS, Android, and React Native are MIT licensed, open source, and carry zero third-party dependencies. All three are at version 1.1.0. Teams that audit what ships inside their app can read exactly what the SDK collects and sends.

When Kochava Is the Better Choice

We would rather you pick the right product than the wrong one. Choose Kochava if any of the following is true.

You buy paid media across ad networks. If installs from Meta, Google, TikTok, or programmatic partners are your main channel, you need a measurement partner that integrates with those networks and reconciles spend. WarpLink has no ad network integrations and does not send postbacks to ad partners.

You need fraud prevention. Click farms, install fraud, and ad stacking are paid-traffic problems. Kochava markets fraud tooling for them. WarpLink has no fraud suite.

You depend on SKAdNetwork or AdAttributionKit. iOS paid campaign measurement leans on Apple's privacy-preserving frameworks. WarpLink does not support SKAdNetwork. If you spend on iOS ads, this alone settles the question.

The free allowance fits your volume. Ten thousand attributed conversions or 500,000 app events per month, at $0, covers a lot of early-stage apps. If your needs are measurement-shaped and the allowance covers you, taking it is reasonable.

You expect to scale paid acquisition. If you plan to move from owned links toward large paid campaigns, starting with a measurement partner avoids a later migration.

You need a measurement contract shaped around channels. Enterprise measurement, cost aggregation, and partner reconciliation are what a measurement partner is for.

There is also a middle path. You can keep a measurement partner for paid campaigns and run owned links, referrals, and deep linking through WarpLink. The migration guide describes this directly: if Kochava also serves as your measurement partner for paid campaigns, fraud filtering, or spend reconciliation, keep that integration in place alongside WarpLink.

A Decision Guide

Answer four questions.

1. Where do your installs come from? Mostly owned links and referrals points to WarpLink. Mostly ad networks points to Kochava.
2. Do you need fraud filtering or SKAN? If yes, you need a measurement partner. If no, a link service covers the work.
3. How will your costs scale? Click-based tiers with a published ceiling are easy to forecast. Conversion-based or MAU-based billing tracks your user growth and your ad success.
4. What does your team have time to run? A measurement partner brings configuration, partner integrations, and reporting to maintain. A link service brings links, an SDK, and a dashboard.

If you land on owned links, no fraud or SKAN requirement, and a preference for forecastable pricing, WarpLink fits. If you land on paid media, Kochava fits. If you land in between, run both, with each doing the job it is built for.

For a wider view across the category, read Best Deep Linking Alternatives for Small Teams in 2026. Related comparisons cover Branch, AppsFlyer, and Adjust.

How to Move from Kochava SmartLinks to WarpLink

This section is a summary. The full walkthrough, with parameter mapping and code for each platform, is in the Kochava migration guide.

Step 1: Decide what Kochava does for you today

Write down every job Kochava does for your app. Separate owned-link work (SmartLinks, deep links, referral links) from paid media measurement, fraud filtering, and SKAN. Plan to move the first group and keep Kochava for the rest. This is the most useful ten minutes of the whole process.

Step 2: Create a WarpLink account and register your app

Sign up for the free plan, with no card. Register your iOS bundle ID, your Android package name, or both. We host the AASA and assetlinks.json files for your link domain and keep them current.

Step 3: Export and recreate your SmartLinks

Kochava's Links API lists your SmartLinks with filtering and pagination, so page through it and build a spreadsheet of what exists. There is no documented bulk CSV export of link configurations. Then recreate each link in WarpLink through the dashboard or the REST API. Deep link destinations map to iOS and Android URLs, the not-installed destination maps to the web destination, and link previews map to Open Graph fields. The migration guide has the full table.

Step 4: Swap the SDK

Remove the Kochava measurement SDK for the links you are moving. Add the WarpLink SDK for iOS, Android, or React Native, and configure it with an SDK key from the Keys page. The deferred deep link check runs automatically at configure time, and a match arrives in the same link callback as an ordinary deep link.

Step 5: Update domains and published links

A Kochava smart.link domain is hosted on Kochava's own infrastructure, so leaving Kochava is not a DNS repoint. Plan for a new link domain on WarpLink, either your app's own subdomain or a custom domain. Keep the existing Kochava associated domains and app link entries while you cut over, so links already in the wild keep resolving. Then replace the links in ads, emails, social bios, and QR codes with the new URLs.

Step 6: Test and cut over by app version

Test deep links and deferred deep links on physical devices. Then ship the cutover by app version instead of leaving two attribution SDKs live indefinitely against the same domain, which risks double-counted installs and conflicting link handling.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best Kochava alternative for small app teams?

For teams that grow through owned links, referrals, creators, email, and QR codes, WarpLink is a strong Kochava alternative. It combines deep linking, deferred deep links, install attribution, and real-time analytics with click-based tiers from $0 to $149 per month. Teams that buy paid media at scale should keep a measurement partner.

Is Kochava free?

Kochava offers a free App Analytics plan at $0 per month, covering up to 10,000 attributed conversions or 500,000 app events per month, with no card required as of October 2026. Paid plans start at $500 per month for Foundation. The free allowance is generous, and it is the main reason to shortlist Kochava.

How much does Kochava cost after the free plan?

As of October 2026, Kochava's published Foundation plan starts at $500 per month with 33,000 conversions per month. Enterprise starts at $2,000 per month with 200,000 monthly active users. Kochava offers monthly and annual prepayment. WarpLink's paid plans run from $19 per month for 100,000 clicks to $149 per month with no click ceiling.

Does WarpLink replace Kochava for paid ad attribution?

No. WarpLink does not offer ad network integrations, postbacks to ad partners, SKAdNetwork support, or a fraud suite. It attributes installs to the links that drove them, using a referrer, device ID, and fingerprint cascade. If your growth depends on paid media measurement, keep Kochava or another measurement partner for that work.

Can I run WarpLink and Kochava together?

Yes. You can keep a measurement partner for paid campaigns and fraud filtering while moving owned links, referrals, and deep linking to WarpLink. Stagger the cutover by app version and avoid registering both SDKs against the same link domain, because two attribution SDKs on one domain risk double-counted installs or conflicting link handling.

How long does it take to move from Kochava SmartLinks to WarpLink?

A small app with a handful of SmartLinks can usually finish in an afternoon. You export SmartLinks from the Kochava Links API, recreate them in WarpLink, swap the SDK, and update your associated domains. The slower part is replacing published links, because a Kochava smart.link domain does not repoint through DNS. Every ad, email, and QR code needs the new URL.

Sources

Checked October 2026. Kochava prices and allowances can change, so confirm them on the vendor pages before you decide.

• Kochava, Get started and pricing: the Free App Analytics plan at $0 per month with up to 10,000 attributed conversions or 500,000 app events per month and no card required, Foundation from $500 per month with 33,000 conversions per month, Enterprise from $2,000 per month with 200,000 monthly active users, and monthly and annual prepayment.
• Kochava, Free App Analytics: the free plan feature list, covering paid and owned media measurement, install and event analytics, and deep linking.
• Kochava, Links overview: the support article that says SmartLinks are not available in Free App Analytics, which conflicts with the two pages above.
• WarpLink, Kochava migration guide: Kochava Links API fields, the smart.link domain hosting model, and the capabilities WarpLink does not replace.
• WarpLink, pricing: plan prices and click limits.

Related Guides

• Kochava migration guide: parameter mapping, SDK swap, and domain configuration for each platform.
• Install Attribution Without an MMP: how link-level attribution works without a measurement partner.
• Creator Link Attribution: attributing installs to creator and referral links.
• Complete Guide to Deep Linking: universal links, app links, deferred deep links, and attribution from the ground up.
• Best Deep Linking Alternatives for Small Teams in 2026: the category side by side.
• Branch.io Alternative for Indie Developers: the same three-pillar comparison against Branch.
• Adjust Alternative for Small Teams and AppsFlyer Alternative for Small Teams: related measurement partner comparisons.

Getting Started

Create a free account, with no card, and follow the quickstart guide to create your first link in minutes. The free tier includes 10,000 clicks per month, full API access, deferred deep links, install attribution, and real-time analytics. If you are moving off Kochava SmartLinks, the migration guide walks through each step.