The highly-referred quote, “the best things in life are free“, by French fashion designer Coco Chanel is often read without the part succeeding it, “the second best are very expensive“. Looking at this from the perspective of smartphones, you’ll agree that while some of the greatest apps for both Android and iOS are the ones available for free, there are many great apps which require you to pay. For example, while games like PUBG Mobile and Fortnite are great examples for the dandy freebies, other games like Final Fantasy, Limbo, The Room Series, and more are not. If only there was a way to get paid apps for free.

Well, for those of you who do not wish to (or cannot, for some reason) pay for such apps and games, we have listed some of the sources you can use to grab paid apps for free legally. Most of the options listed here will serve Android users whereas a few apply to iOS, Windows, and macOS users as well.

Get Paid Apps For Free Using These Services

1. AppsFree

AppsFree is a simple and straightforward app which notifies you about the apps which are available for free at a particular moment. On the homepage itself, you can see a long list of paid apps that you can avail 100% discount on at that moment. If you want to fine-tune this list, you can apply search filters based on parameters like the minimum rating, number of downloads, categories etc. It also gives you the option to exclude apps which use a specific keyword or are developed by any particular developer from the search results, as well the liberty to chuck out apps that come with ads or in-app purchases.

While there is no option to search a specific app or be notified when any of the apps you aspire to have becomes available for free, you can set category-wise notifications. Furthermore, you can also dismiss those apps from the list which you do not wish to see in the future. The app also has an option to remove ads for 24 hours by watching a 30-second-long video. Overall, a search feature and the ability to add app-wise notification would have made AppsFree the best service to find and download paid apps for free.

Download AppsFree: Free, in-app ads

2. AppSales

Created by the same developer as the app above, AppSales also helps you download paid apps for free, but offers better sorting and listing features. Inside the app, you will not only be able to find the top paid apps which can be downloaded for free but also find a histogram showing the price of the app in the past. By long-pressing on a specific app, you can see this detail and get access to other options.

Besides downloading paid apps when they’re available for free, you can utilize the app to check out apps which are on sale or have striking discounts on them. However, the developer has taken due care to not merge the two streams and kept totally free and partially discounted apps separate. AppSales lets you either blacklist a particular app so that it is not visible to you next time it is on sale, or add any app to your Watchlist such that the next time it is on sale or available for free, you will be notified. While there is no option to search an app directly, you can look for a particular app while adding it to your Watchlist.

Overall, I find the ability to see both free deals and discount offers in a single app but unlike the previous one, there’s no option to remove ads.

Download AppSales: Free, in-app ads

3. Paid Apps Gone Free (PAGF)

Paid Apps Gone Free or PAGF, as implied by the name, curates a list of apps which are available for free for a limited time. However, unlike the two listed above, the PAGF app simply redirects to a blog by the alias of “Ubuntu Vibes“, which features a list of paid apps available for free and this list is refreshed daily. While on the outside, the blog may seem less visually attractive compared to dedicated apps listed above, PAGF’s search is commendably fast and fetches results in real-time.

Besides this, the app offers you a host of sorting and filtering options including the choice of category, and sorting on the basis of overall ratings, the number of total downloads, and the usual price of the app. You can also filter out apps that come with ads or in-app purchases and even change the style in which this list of temporarily-free paid apps is displayed.

Download PAGF: Free

4. Freapp

As another platform to satisfy your hunger for premium apps available for free for a limited duration, Freapp shows you a long list of free and discounted apps. You can add your Google account in Freapp so that it can learn about the kind of apps you prefer using and downloading from the Play Store and thus, recommend you the apps suited for your usage.

You can tap on the first icon at the bottom to learn about the on-going discounts and sales on paid apps. Freapp appears is an app recommendation platform, not just for paid apps momentarily free but also most downloaded games and apps, segmented as per categories. Besides Android, you can also use Freapp on as a web app.

Download Freapp: Free, in-app ads

5. Shareware on Sale

Unlike other options in the list, Shareware on Sale is an online portal (not an app) which lets you find several Android and Windows apps which have undergone a price cut lately or are available for free. While the ads on the platform can be somewhat overwhelming, it can be a good option for those who do not want to install a special app to score discounts. However, do note that there is no option to get reminded or notified if you’re fishing for discounts on a specific app available.

Visit Shareware on Sale: Android / Windows (Free)

6. Giveaway Of The Day

Giveaway Of The Day is another discovery platform that lets you download paid apps without spending a single penny. Like others in the list, it also shows you an assortment of daily deals, not just for Android but also for Windows and iOS devices. Besides showing you a list of apps discounted by the developers, this platform also hosts exclusive giveaways at its end, with a limited number of activation licenses to offer.

To grab a great offer as part of these giveaways, you’re required to sign up and share a specific link on your social media. Based on the number of times you share the link, you get the points and the top users with the highest points can download the paid apps for free.

Visit Giveaway Of The Day: Android / iOS / Windows (Free)

7. AppShopper

AppShopper is an app directory helps you discover new apps for iPhones and iPads by skimming through the best deals on the iOS App Store. It works pretty similar to the options like PAGF and AppsFree (listed above) and uses a very simple interface with no advertisements, allowing you to browse apps with great ease.

Besides searching for apps, you can also create an account on AppShopper and add apps to your wishlist in order to be reminded when a paid iOS app goes on sale or is available for free. While there’s an iOS app for AppShopper, it has not been updated for a while and you will not be able to run it unless your iOS device is running on iOS 10 or lower.

Visit AppShopper: iOS / macOS

8. Google Opinion Rewards

If you didn’t know, Google rewards you for helping it improve the overall user experience. If you can spare a few minutes and answer questions related to your usual web browsing, as well as preferences related to YouTube viewing habits, choices of movies, shopping taste etc, you will be repaid with monetary rewards which can be collected over time.

The app is not only available on Android, but also on iOS. While Android users can use the rewards points as Google Play credits which can be redeemed in exchange for paid apps, iOS users can transfer the money into their Paypal accounts (since they cannot buy Android apps).

Download Google Opinion Rewards: Android / iOS (Free)

Bonus: Reddit

While these apps and platforms can keep you abreast with the latest deals and discounts on paid apps, subreddits like r/googleplaydeals and r/AppHookup can also be useful for tracking the latest discounts. On the former, the pinned post keeps a tab of some of the popular apps and games that are discounted frequently, so you can refer to it if unless you’re looking for a niche app.

Paid Apps for Free: A Blessing in Disguise

We hope that a few of the above-listed options will help you make the best out of your software experience by downloading paid apps for free. Furthermore, all of these options are completely legal and will free you from any sort of guilt associated with piracy. All of these options land you to official stores for the respective operating system (except the ones for Windows) which is the safest bet while downloading apps. This will ensure that you not only get a great deal but also download an app without causing potential harm to your smartphone or computer.