If you have ever tried to build a competitor report for the App Store manually, you already know how tedious it gets. You open the store, search for a keyword, scroll through results, copy the app name, paste it into your sheet, go back, copy the rating, and paste that too. Multiply that by 25 apps across 5 keywords, and you have burned most of your morning before the actual analysis has even started.
There is a faster way. The Marketing Data Extractor add-on for Google Sheets lets you pull App Store data directly into your spreadsheet. Search for apps by keyword, extract full metadata for any app, and pull hundreds of user reviews, all from a sidebar inside Google Sheets. No code, no Apple developer account, no API keys required.
This guide covers exactly how it works, what data you can extract, and how marketers are using it to cut research time significantly.
Table of Contents
What Is the Marketing Data Extractor for App Store?
Marketing Data Extractor is a Google Sheets add-on built by Smacient. It pulls publicly available data from the Apple App Store directly into your spreadsheet without any technical setup.
It works as a sidebar inside Google Sheets, which means you never leave your spreadsheet to use it. There are three extraction modes: Search by Keyword, App Details, and Reviews. Each mode is built around a specific type of App Store research, and you can use them independently or together depending on what your workflow needs.
What Data Can You Extract from the App Store?
App Search by Keyword
Keyword research is where most App Store work starts, and it is also where manual research breaks down fastest. The App Store search interface is built for users finding apps to download, not for marketers doing competitive analysis. You cannot export results, sort by rating, or compare apps side by side from within the store.
The Search mode changes that. Type in any keyword and get back up to 200 results with app names, numeric App IDs, ratings, and more, all in structured rows your spreadsheet can work with. When you can see 100 or 200 search results laid out in a table, patterns become obvious. You can spot which categories are dominated by a few strong players, identify keywords where top-ranked apps have surprisingly low ratings, and find the gaps worth targeting before your competitors notice them.
Full App Metadata
A rating and a download count tell you something, but the metadata behind an app listing tells you much more. Developer name, category, pricing model, content rating, description, and version history together paint a picture of how an app is positioned, how actively it is maintained, and where it sits in the market.
App Details mode lets you pull all of this for any app using its App Store URL or numeric App ID. The real advantage is bulk processing. Paste a list of 20 competitor app URLs and get back structured metadata for all of them in one extraction. Doing that manually across 20 app pages would take the better part of an afternoon.
User Reviews
Reviews are one of the most underused sources of competitive intelligence in app marketing. Engagement metrics tell you how many people interacted with something. Reviews tell you what those people actually thought, in their own words, about specific features, frustrations, and unmet needs.
The Reviews mode lets you extract up to 500 reviews per app. You can filter by country, sort by most recent or most relevant, and every review comes back with the reviewer’s name, star rating, review text, date posted, and developer reply if one exists. When you have 300 to 500 reviews in a spreadsheet, you can filter by star rating, scan for recurring themes, and build a picture of competitor weaknesses that no dashboard metric would surface on its own.
How to Extract App Store Data into Google Sheets Step by Step
Step 1: Install the Add-On
Open any Google Sheet. Go to Extensions in the top menu, click Add-ons, and select Get add-ons. Search for Marketing Data Extractor by Smacient. Grant the required permissions, and the add-on appears in your Extensions menu straight away. Installation takes under two minutes, and you get 30 free credits immediately with no credit card required.
Step 2: Prepare Your Inputs
Depending on which mode you plan to use, prepare your inputs in a column in your sheet. For keyword search, list your keywords one per row. For App Details, paste App Store URLs or numeric App IDs, one per row. Both URL formats and raw numeric IDs are accepted. For Reviews, you need just one app URL or ID per extraction run. Keeping your input column clean and consistent makes extractions run smoothly and makes it easier to reuse the same sheet week after week.
Step 3: Open the Add-On and Select App Store
Click Extensions in the top menu and open Marketing Data Extractor. The sidebar loads on the right side of your sheet. At the top, you will see the platform selector. Click the App Store icon to switch to the App Store extractor.
Step 4: Choose Your Mode and Enter Your Inputs
Select your mode from the three tabs at the top of the sidebar: Search, App Details, or Reviews.
For Search, type your keywords into the input field and press Enter after each one. You can add multiple keywords in a single session.
For App Details, paste your App Store URLs or numeric App IDs into the input field, one per line.
For Reviews, paste the app URL or numeric ID, then use the slider to set how many reviews you want per app. You can extract up to 500 reviews in a single run.
Step 5: Set Your Options
All three modes let you select a country, which determines which regional App Store your results come from. Ratings, review volumes, and pricing can vary significantly between regions, so this setting matters more than it might seem.
Search mode also lets you set how many results to return per keyword. Reviews mode includes a sort order option where you can choose between most recent and most relevant.
Step 6: Check Your Credit Estimate and Extract
Before running anything, the sidebar shows you a live credit estimate based on your current configuration. Once you are satisfied with the setup, click the extract button. Results populate directly into your active sheet with labelled column headers, one row per result, ready to filter, sort, and analyse.
App Store Research Workflows
ASO Keyword Research at Scale
You are building out a keyword strategy for an app in the productivity category. Instead of manually searching each keyword in the App Store and noting results by hand, you paste your 10 target keywords into the sidebar and run a Search extraction. Within minutes, you have up to 200 results per keyword sitting in your spreadsheet, with ratings, App IDs, and metadata that let you immediately assess keyword difficulty and spot where weaker apps are holding positions they should not.
What would take the better part of a day to do manually now takes one extraction and a few minutes of filtering.
Competitor Monitoring on a Weekly Schedule
You need to keep tabs on 15 competitor apps across your category. Price changes, description updates, and version releases. All of it matters, and none of it is easy to track manually across 15 separate app pages.
Keep a permanent sheet with all 15 App Store URLs. Run App Details extraction every week and paste the results into a new tab with a date column. After a month, you have a structured timeline of how competitor listings are evolving. You see who is updating frequently, who changed their pricing, and whose descriptions shifted. This is the kind of competitive intelligence most teams wish they had but never build because the manual version is too slow to maintain.
Review Mining for Product and Marketing Insights
A client’s app has been receiving more negative reviews lately, and they want to understand why. You run a Reviews extraction pulling the last 300 reviews sorted by most recent. You filter to 1 and 2-star reviews and start reading for patterns.
Within an hour, you have identified three recurring themes: users complaining about a specific onboarding step, frustration with the notification settings, and confusion about the pricing model. None of that required a user research budget. It was sitting in the reviews the whole time. The same workflow applied to a competitor’s app tells you exactly where their users are frustrated, which is information you can use directly in your positioning and messaging.
Agency Client App Audits
You manage App Store marketing for several clients and need to deliver a full category audit by the end of the week. Build a template once in Google Sheets: a tab for keyword rankings, a tab for competitor metadata, and a tab for review themes. Run your extractions for each section, paste the results in, and the spreadsheet is populated with live data the same day. What used to take two days of manual research and formatting now takes one focused session.
What Makes This Different from Using the App Store API Directly?
Apple’s App Store data is accessible via various APIs, but none of them is designed for marketers. Getting structured data out of the App Store programmatically requires understanding API endpoints, handling authentication, parsing responses, and writing export logic to get anything into a usable format. Even for someone with technical experience, that setup process takes real time.
Marketing Data Extractor handles all of that behind the scenes. You never write a line of code, never touch an API key, and never leave Google Sheets. The add-on is built specifically for marketers who need App Store data in a format they can actually work with, fast. It is not a workaround. It is the right tool when your job is analysis and insight, not building infrastructure.
Pricing
Marketing Data Extractor uses a credits model with no monthly subscription and no seat fees. Credits never expire, so you buy once and use them whenever you need.
The Free plan gives you 30 credits per month with no credit card required, which is enough to run a few extractions immediately after installing.
| Plan | Credits | Price |
| Free | 30/month | No card needed |
| Starter | 600 | $9 one-time |
| Professional | 1,500 | $19 one-time |
| Business | 2,500 | $29 one-time |
| Enterprise | 4,500 | $49 one-time |
App Store search costs 1 credit per 10 results returned. Reviews cost 1 credit per 10 reviews. App details extractions are 1 credit per app, making bulk URL lists very efficient.
All plans are one-time purchases. There is no monthly lock-in, and your credits will still be there whenever you need them.
Who Should Use This Tool
App marketers and ASO specialists who need keyword and competitive data without spending hours on manual research
Marketing agencies delivering App Store audits and category analyses to clients who need structured, data-backed findings
Growth and product teams who want to monitor competitor app updates, review trends, and positioning shifts over time
Content and product managers who use review data to identify user pain points and unmet needs
Brand managers need a fast, repeatable way to compare their app’s standing against competitors.
Anyone who has looked for an App Store data export option and found that one does not exist
Best Practices for Getting the Most Out of Your Extractions
Start with a Search extraction to map out the competitive landscape before going deeper into specific apps.
Use App Details in bulk by pasting a full list of competitor URLs in one go rather than running them one at a time.
Set your review count thoughtfully. 200 to 300 reviews per app is usually enough to identify meaningful patterns without spending unnecessary credits
Filter extracted reviews by star rating straight away. Sorting 1 and 2-star reviews into their own view saves time when you are scanning for recurring issues.
Run App Details extractions on a regular schedule and archive each run in a dated tab so you can track changes over time.
Combine App Store data with other sources in the same sheet. Layering it with ad performance data or web traffic gives you a fuller picture of what is driving results.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all. If you can use Google Sheets, you can use Marketing Data Extractor with no technical knowledge required.
No. The add-on handles everything behind the scenes. You never need to set up any external accounts or credentials.
Yes. The tool extracts publicly available data from any public App Store listing.
No. Credits are permanent. Buy once and use them whenever you need, with no expiry and no monthly subscription.
Up to 200 results per keyword, which is the Apple API limit.
Up to 500 reviews per app in a single extraction run.
Does it work for international App Stores?
Do I need to reinstall the add-on to access the App Store extractor?
No. If you already have Marketing Data Extractor installed, the App Store module is already in your sidebar.
Related Blogs
- How to Extract and Export YouTube Channel Data, Video Stats and Comments in Google Sheets (No Code)
- How to Scrape Instagram Data into Google Sheets (No Code)?
- How to Extract Google Maps Reviews Without Code
- TikTok Data Extractor Tutorial: Get Profile Data in Google Sheets
- How to Extract Google Play Store Data into Google Sheets
