Your app ends before 2028
Ionic keeps Appflow running for existing customers until December 31, 2027. If the app will be retired or rebuilt before then, staying may cost less effort than a migration. [1]
Ionic Appflow alternative
The Ionic Appflow alternative for Capacitor live updates and native builds
For Capacitor and Cordova teams that use Appflow Live Updates or Native Builds. Ionic stopped selling Appflow to new customers on February 11, 2025, and access for existing customers ends on December 31, 2027.
Verdict Capgo covers what Appflow teams use most, live updates with channels and rollback plus cloud native builds, and keeps running after 2027. Migration swaps one plugin and your upload step.
14-day unlimited free trial. No credit card required
9,400+ teams. 90M+ devices. 2,559+ GitHub stars. Trusted in production by:
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Kick
20M+ installs
-
Suez
3.2M installs
-
Nana
2.5M installs
-
Snowqueen
1.8M installs
-
Pizza Hut
1M+ installs
-
Shelf
950K installs
-
Janitor
750K installs
-
RemNote
500K+ installs
-
Vella
400K+ installs
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Revel
250K+ installs
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IREC
150K+ installs
-
OurLiving
80K+ installs
Side by side
Capgo vs Ionic Appflow at a glance
| Area | Capgo | Ionic Appflow |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $12/month billed yearly or $14 billed monthly. 14-day free trial, no credit card required. No free plan. | Live Updates started at $499/month. Not sold to new customers since February 11, 2025. [1] |
| OTA live updates | Ships JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and asset changes without waiting for store review, with delta downloads and end-to-end encryption. 1B+ updates per month. | Live Updates for Capacitor and Cordova apps. [2] |
| Native builds | Capgo Builder builds and signs iOS and Android binaries in the cloud, typically in 2–3 minutes, and can upload them to the stores. Build time is included in plans. | Cloud iOS and Android builds with App Store and Google Play publishing. Apple uploads need an Apple ID and an app-specific password. [2] [3] |
| Framework support | Capacitor apps built with React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Ionic, or any web framework. Live updates also work for Cordova and Electron. Not for React Native. | Builds for Capacitor, Cordova, React Native, and native iOS and Android. Live Updates only for Capacitor and Cordova. [2] |
| Open source and self-hosting | Updater plugin and Capgo plugins are free under MPL-2.0. Backend source is on GitHub under AGPL-3.0. Run your own update server, or use licensed self-hosting on Enterprise. | Commercial hosted service. Ionic lists Appflow among the paid products it is winding down. [1] |
| Rollback and channels | Dynamic channels, device and channel overrides, progressive rollouts, automatic rollback when a bundle fails to start, and one-click revert to a previous bundle. | Live Update channels, and rollback to a previous build on a channel. [4] |
| Support | Discord and email with the engineers who build Capgo. Priority plugin fixes on any plan, and Premium Support for production deadlines. | For existing customers until access ends on December 31, 2027. [1] |
| Company status | Independent and bootstrapped, founded in 2021. 9,400+ teams, 4.7K+ apps, and 90M+ devices. SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 on the Enterprise plan. | Ionic, part of OutSystems since October 2022. No new customers since February 11, 2025; access for existing customers ends December 31, 2027. [1] |
Sources
Competitor details are as of September 2026 and were checked against the vendor pages below. Plans and prices change, so confirm on the vendor site before you decide.
Honest take
Where Ionic Appflow is the better choice
No tool fits every team. These are the cases where we would point you to the other option.
You build non-Capacitor apps
Appflow also builds React Native and native iOS and Android apps. Capgo Builder targets Capacitor apps, so those projects need another build service. [2]
You want one hosted CI/CD dashboard
Appflow bundles CI/CD automations in the same dashboard. Capgo does not replace your pipeline: you trigger Capgo from GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or Jenkins. [2]
Migration path
How hard is migration?
The official guide covers the plugin swap, configuration, and CI changes. Ionic enterprise plugins have direct Capgo replacements listed below.
-
Install the Capgo updater
Uninstall
@capacitor/live-updatesand install@capgo/capacitor-updater. -
Replace the sync code
Call
notifyAppReady()instead of the Appflow sync, download, and reload code. -
Upload from your CI
Upload bundles with
npx @capgo/cli@latest bundle uploadinstead of the Appflow CLI.
Ionic enterprise plugins: equivalents in Capgo
If you use Ionic's enterprise plugins, here are the direct Capgo replacements and migration guides.
| Ionic plugin | Capgo alternative | Migration guide |
|---|---|---|
| Ionic Secure Storage | Fast SQL or Data Storage SQLite | Migration guide |
| Ionic Auth Connect | Social Login | Migration guide |
| Ionic Identity Vault | Native Biometric + Fast SQL or Data Storage SQLite | Migration guide |
| Ionic Zebra Scanner | Zebra DataWedge | Migration guide |
If your Appflow stack includes Ionic enterprise plugins, use the Ionic Enterprise Plugins guide. Paid support is available on demand: see support options. Need a hands-on migration? We offer paid migration services.
From Martin
Why teams move from Appflow to Capgo
Capgo founder Martin on migrating live updates and release automation while keeping your repo, credentials, and release control in your hands.
Martin, Founder, Capgo
Customer proof
What Capgo customers say
Named reviews from teams that ship Capacitor apps with Capgo.
The Capgo Capacitor Updater plugin completely transformed how we ship updates. What used to take days now takes just minutes.
Being able to push production OTA updates instantly without waiting for full App Store review cycles has been a massive operational advantage.
Getting set up took less than a day. Channel-based rollouts let me test on my own device before anything hits production users.
More reviews from Capgo customers
FAQ
Common questions
- Do I need to change my CI/CD setup?
- Nope. Whatever you're using now (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc.) keeps working. Just change the upload step to use our CLI instead of Appflow's.
- What about native builds?
- Yes. Capgo Builder builds and signs iOS and Android binaries in the cloud, typically in 2–3 minutes. Trigger it from the CLI or from your existing CI; Capgo does not replace your CI/CD pipeline.
- Will this save money?
- Appflow Live Updates started at $499/month and is no longer sold to new customers. Capgo starts at $12/month billed yearly ($14 billed monthly), with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required.
- How's the reliability?
- Capgo delivers 1B+ updates per month to 90M+ devices. Live status and incident history are public at status.capgo.app.
- How do App Store credentials compare for native builds?
- Appflow stores your Apple ID and app-specific password to upload binaries. Capgo uses App Store Connect API keys (.p8): scoped, revocable, and independent of personal Apple ID password changes. For cloud builds, credentials are only used in ephemeral environments — not parked on a vendor server indefinitely.
- Why is Capawesome Ionic's migration partner and not Capgo?
- In September 2026 Ionic named Capawesome its preferred migration partner for Appflow and its enterprise plugins. Capgo has never been an Ionic partner. For years we built open alternatives to Ionic's paid products and fixed gaps in the Capacitor ecosystem ourselves, often going further than Ionic's own team, which never made us a fit for their program. Capawesome has always worked the way Ionic prefers. Partner status is a business relationship, not a technical ranking: Capgo and Capawesome have both moved Appflow customers, so compare the products on their merits.
Try Capgo on your own app
Start a 14-day free trial with no credit card. After the trial, plans start at $12/month billed yearly or $14 billed monthly.
