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A BuildFire alternative for small business apps
BuildFire is a plugin based app platform from $165 a month that publishes to the App Store and Google Play for you and includes a push notification quota. OneCraft is far cheaper per month: an AI agent writes the app as Expo code with its own database, and you submit it from your own store accounts.
Updated , competitor details checked . BuildFire is a trademark of its owner. OneCraft is an unrelated product and claims no affiliation with or endorsement by it.
Indunil Asanka · Co-founder
2 min read · Published
The short verdict
BuildFire is the better pick for an organisation with a budget of a few hundred dollars a month that wants a large plugin marketplace, push notification campaigns, a team to design or build the app, and every store submission and update handled for it. OneCraft suits a small business that wants an app written to its own brief for $8 to $125 a month and is willing to run store submission from its own accounts.
| Feature | BuildFire | OneCraft |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Standard $165 a month, Growth $315, Scale $440; 20% off on annual billing checked 2026-10-21 | Free $0 with 100 credits a month (about 3 AI projects), Starter $8 with 500, Pro $25 with 1,500, Pro+ $125 with 7,500 |
| How an app is made | Build with 150+ plugins, custom features on request, or our team builds the whole app checked 2026-10-21 | An agent plans up to 14 screens and 3 to 5 tabs ending with an Account tab, and checks every tab at 390 and 768 and Home in dark mode |
| Features | Boost plugins on Standard; Accelerate and Maximize plugins on higher plans checked 2026-10-21 | 65 capability guides the agent builds from scratch into the site's own database, nothing pre-made |
| Platforms | Publish on any platform (iOS, Android, tablet, PWA) checked 2026-10-21 | An Expo + Expo Router + React Native Reusables + Uniwind project in its own repository, previewed in phone and tablet frames |
| Store submission | App Store and Google Play submission, approvals and every update, included checked 2026-10-21 | You submit from your own App Store and Google Play accounts with eas submit; Apple 99 USD a year, Google Play 25 USD once |
| In-app purchases | One in-app purchase on Growth; unlimited on Scale checked 2026-10-21 | Stripe Checkout as a direct charge on your own connected Stripe account; platform fee Starter 2%, Pro 1%, Pro+ 0.5%, Stripe fees on top; the free plan cannot take payments |
| Admin seats | 1 admin seat on Standard; additional admin seats on Growth and Scale checked 2026-10-21 | A site_admins table and an /admin area, or Admin tab in an app, shown only to admins |
| Storage | 5GB on Standard, 15GB on Growth, 50GB on Scale checked 2026-10-21 | Two buckets on the site's database: site-files (public, 10 MB a file) and site-private (25 MB a file) |
| Code | Developers build full apps or features with developer tools and SDK checked 2026-10-21 | Download as a zip with app.json filled |
Where BuildFire is better
Store publishing handled
BuildFire submits to the App Store and Google Play and handles approvals and every update on every plan. OneCraft never submits; you do it with eas submit from your own accounts.
Push notification campaigns
BuildFire includes 100,000 to 300,000 push notifications a month, with geofence and segment targeting on higher plans. Push is not part of what this comparison can promise for OneCraft.
People to help
BuildFire offers designers, an account manager and a professional services team that can build the whole app. OneCraft is self serve.
Plugin marketplace
BuildFire lists 150+ plugins to switch on. OneCraft's agent writes each feature as code from a capability guide instead.
Where OneCraft is different
A fraction of the monthly cost
OneCraft's paid plans run from $8 to $125 a month. Generation and builds use credits: a measured app generation used 55 to 72 credits and each Expo build costs 5.
Code you own
The app is an Expo project in its own repository that downloads as a zip, so a developer can take it on if you outgrow the builder.
Your own Stripe account
Card payments go to your own connected Stripe account as direct charges, so refunds and payouts sit in your Stripe dashboard.
Plugins or written code
BuildFire apps are assembled from plugins: you choose a booking or loyalty plugin and configure it. That is quick when a plugin fits and slower when it nearly fits. OneCraft's agent writes each feature into the app as code, guided by a capability guide for things like bookings, classes, loyalty or orders, and stores the data in the app's own Supabase database. A change that no plugin offers is a chat message rather than custom development.
The real monthly bill
BuildFire's Standard plan is $165 a month, or about $132 billed annually with the 20% discount. OneCraft's Pro plan is $25 a month with 1,500 credits and Starter is $8 with 500 credits, and both include a hosted site database. Apple's 99 USD a year and Google Play's 25 USD one-off fee apply on both routes.
What you take on yourself
With OneCraft you create the Apple and Google developer accounts, run the store submission and answer review questions. A new personal Google Play account must first run a closed test with 12 people for 14 days. If that sounds like too much, a managed service like BuildFire's is worth its price.
Who should stay with BuildFire
Stay with BuildFire if you want the stores, updates and approvals handled for you, rely on push campaigns, or want a team to build and maintain the app. Move if a few hundred dollars a month is out of reach and you are comfortable submitting a written app from your own Apple and Google accounts.
Questions people ask
Can OneCraft publish my app to the stores for me?
No. OneCraft runs Expo test and store builds on paid plans, then you submit from your own App Store and Google Play accounts with eas submit. The listing, the reviews and the payouts from the stores stay in accounts you control.
Does a OneCraft app work on iPad and Android tablets?
The builder previews every app in phone and tablet frames, and the review checks each tab at a 768 pixel tablet width as well as a 390 pixel phone width. Store builds target iPhone and Android, and the layouts adapt to tablets.
Can I white label apps for clients with OneCraft?
There is no reseller or white label programme. Each site belongs to one owner account. An agency could build an app in its own account and hand over the downloaded code, but there is no client dashboard like BuildFire's reseller platform.
How do members sign in to a OneCraft app?
With email and password, including password reset, or with Google through OneCraft's sign in broker. Google sign in works in the installed app and on the published website but not in the builder preview. Every table the app reads is guarded by row level security, so a signed in member sees only their own rows.
What if I need a feature the agent has no guide for?
Ask for it in chat. The 65 guides cover common business features, but the agent writes code, so it can attempt other features too. Each change is built before it is kept, and a failed build is rolled back automatically.
Try the website side of OneCraft
The button opens the generator with a starting prompt already filled in. Change the wording to match your own work before you run it.
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What the module actually does, feature by feature: the AI website builder page, and the websites maker page.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .