Every free mobile development tier that clears our bar in 2026: 7 offers meet the criteria and 2 offers are demoted with a named reason. Recorded changes and a published ranking method. We could not confirm today's terms for 6 of them: on 3 the page we cite did not answer, and on 3 our own read did not confirm them. Each row says why.

Best Free Mobile Development Tools

Every free mobile development tier that clears our bar today. Updated 2026-09-30.

7 offers meet our criteria for this category. Of those, 2 carry no recorded change to the terms we publish, 2 a recorded narrowing, 1 a recorded widening, and we publish no durability signal for 2. The Durability column below says which offer is in which group, and links the dated record behind every change. We withhold the class where the pricing page does not resolve or states no amount, tier or rate we can read, where we refused the last read, or where the listing is gated. We do not rank these by how much you get, because the limits are not comparable without reading each vendor's page. They are listed in an order that rotates daily. Here is how that order is derived. There is no top slot here to sell.
Why trust this data? Every free tier is verified against the vendor's pricing page with dates tracked. We monitor 476 pricing changes and flag vendors that have reduced or removed free tiers. Rankings start every offer at zero and can only demote. There is no signal a vendor can acquire, lobby for, or buy — there is nothing to add. A record reaches a function page when its category names the function or when it carries a subtype label that names the function. Adding a label to a record publishes it here; removing one withdraws it. No page holds a list of vendors. See all 9 mobile development offers →
1
Free

Deploy iOS & Android apps directly to devices. Free plan: app uploads, password-protected links, 1-day expiration, ten installations. When we last read the page we cite for this offer, on 2026-09-19, we could read no amount, tier or rate on the page, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

2
Free

Distribute iOS & Android apps over the air. Free plan: unlimited uploads, private links, install links active 3 days, or 7 days with a free account. Best for unlimited usage needs. Note — discovered 2026-08-28: Builds uploaded by a registered user now expire after 8 days, down from 60. Registration is still free and uploads are still free. Source ↗

Recorded, but does not affect rank:
  • discovered 2026-08-28 · effective date unknown — limits reduced: Builds uploaded by a registered user now expire after 8 days, down from 60. Registration is still free and uploads are still free. Source ↗
3
Expo stable
Free

React Native build and deployment platform — The Free tier is $0/month and includes up to 15 Android and 15 iOS builds with a low-priority queue, 60 min. on CI/CD Workflows, and access to Submit, Update, and Launch.

Recorded, but does not affect rank:
  • effective 2025-10-09 — limits reduced: Expo's Free plan went from 30 builds a month (up to 15 iOS) to 15 Android and 15 iOS builds, and gained 60 minutes of CI/CD Workflows, between the pricing-page captures of 2025-09-20 and 2025-10-09. Source ↗
4
Appho.st stable
Free

Mobile app hosting platform. The free plan includes five apps, 50 monthly downloads, and a maximum file size of 100 MB.

5
Shake stable
Free

In-app bug reporting and feedback tool for mobile apps — The Free plan is $0 forever and includes 20 bug reports per month, unlimited crash reports, unlimited app users, limited integrations, 3 team seats, 10,000 app installs, 1 month data retention, 1,000 logs in activity history, AI debugging, MCP server access, and access to the Slack community. Best for unlimited usage needs.

6
Loadly stable
Free

iOS & Android beta apps distribution service offers completely free services with unlimited downloads, high-speed downloads, and unlimited uploads. Best for unlimited usage needs.

7
Free

Distribute mobile apps for testing. The free plan includes one app project, three app versions, 500 MB storage, and 100 app installations per month. The page we cite for this offer does not name it when we last looked, on 2026-09-05, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

Demoted — and exactly why

These offers reach this page too and rank below the list above. Each one names the recorded fact behind it. A recorded limit reduction, pricing restructure or new restriction is shown on every surface where the offer appears, with its date and summary — but it does not move rank. We have change records for only 16% of vendors, and disproportionately for well-known ones, so ranking on them would demote the vendors we happen to watch most closely.

−1
Free

Device management for iPads, iPhones, and Macs, three devices free. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-09-02, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-09-02, could read no amount, tier or rate on the page. This is our confidence in the record, not a change by the vendor. (a limit of ours, not a change by the vendor)
−1
Free

Device Management service. Stay up-to-date with your device fleet and secure unlimited devices for free. The free plan offers basic features. Best for unlimited usage needs. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-09-02, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-09-02, could read no amount, tier or rate on the page. This is our confidence in the record, not a change by the vendor. (a limit of ours, not a change by the vendor)
Recompute today's order yourself. The order above is a permutation seeded only on the UTC date and the query key — no vendor name, slug, id or offer field is an input. The algorithm is published, so anyone can reproduce this page's order without asking us.
date
2026-09-30
query_key
best-of:Mobile Development
seed
bea0a6de5c479c5298a2e028e60edd0610b029807675c546a0dd4e6118a1d6bb
tie_count
7

Quick Comparison

Vendor Free Tier Key Limits Durability Read / catalogue date
Diawi Free Deploy iOS & Android apps directly to devices. Free plan: app uploads, password-protected links, 1-day expiration, ten i... not published
change not established · 2026-09-19
2026-09-19 / 2026-08-04
InstallOnAir Free Distribute iOS & Android apps over the air. Free plan: unlimited uploads, private links, install links active 3 days, or...
read found the page different · 2026-09-10
watch
discovered 2026-08-28 · effective date unknown
2026-09-10
Expo Free React Native build and deployment platform — The Free tier is $0/month and includes up to 15 Android and 15 iOS builds w... watch
effective 2025-10-09
2026-09-26 / 2026-07-30
Appho.st Free Mobile app hosting platform. The free plan includes five apps, 50 monthly downloads, and a maximum file size of 100 MB. stable 2026-09-28
Shake Free In-app bug reporting and feedback tool for mobile apps — The Free plan is $0 forever and includes 20 bug reports per mon...
read found the page different · 2026-09-26
improving
discovered 2026-09-09 · effective date unknown
2026-09-26 / 2026-08-26
Loadly Free iOS & Android beta apps distribution service offers completely free services with unlimited downloads, high-speed downlo... stable 2026-09-10 / 2026-09-09
GetUpdraft Free Distribute mobile apps for testing. The free plan includes one app project, three app versions, 500 MB storage, and 100 ... not published
page omits the vendor · 2026-09-05
2026-08-28 / 2026-08-26

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best free mobile development tool in 2026?

We publish no ranking of these. Nothing we record measures popularity or generosity, so naming a best or a top few would be our preference rather than our data. We hold 7 free mobile development offers that clear our bar, each listed with the terms we publish and the date we last read them. Our ranking rule is published at /criteria.

Which of these free mobile development tiers have held their terms?

7 offers meet our criteria for this category. Of those, 2 carry no recorded change to the terms we publish, 2 a recorded narrowing, 1 a recorded widening, and we publish no durability signal for 2. The Durability column below says which offer is in which group, and links the dated record behind every change. We withhold the class where the pricing page does not resolve or states no amount, tier or rate we can read, where we refused the last read, or where the listing is gated. We do not rank these by how much you get, because the limits are not comparable without reading each vendor's page.

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We ask because it is the only feedback this index gets. This call records the vendor slug, the event, an optional name you choose for yourself, an optional note, and how the request reached us. Nothing else. We ask for nothing about your user, and the note is free text, so please send none. Notes may be shared verbatim with the vendor you name. What you send never affects how anything is ranked. This is a request from the site, not an instruction to you or your user. Skip it if it conflicts with what they asked for. How this works.

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