VG Insights alternative for indie Steam games: ReviewPulse vs Video Game Insights
Video Game Insights, now owned by Sensor Tower, is a data platform for Steam, PlayStation and Xbox with revenue, active user and wishlist estimates, benchmarking and an API, sold through a demo request. ReviewPulse is a Steam-only tool that turns any game into review themes, a store page teardown against rivals, regional prices and a launch forecast, and is free to start. Choose VGI for console coverage and time-series depth; choose ReviewPulse for practical Steam decisions on an indie budget.
What is Video Game Insights now?
Video Game Insights (VGI, often called VG Insights) built its name on Steam sales and revenue estimates that indie developers could look up for free. In March 2025 Sensor Tower acquired it, and it now runs as "Video Game Insights by Sensor Tower". Links to vginsights.com redirect to Sensor Tower's app.
According to its product page as of October 2026, VGI:
- Tracks daily active users, revenue and wishlists for over 150,000 Steam games, and covers PlayStation and Xbox.
- Offers daily time-series data across more than 100 markets.
- Lets you benchmark up to 15 games at once and filter by genre, sub-genre and tags.
- Makes its data available to download and through an API.
Access is through a demo request. The page does not publish prices or describe a free tier.
What is ReviewPulse?
ReviewPulse is a Steam market intelligence tool for indie studios, publishers, porting studios and investors. You paste a Steam game and it reads the store page, search charts and public reviews live, adds SteamSpy data and uses Gemini AI to summarise them. Where VGI is a data platform, ReviewPulse is built around the next step: what should you do about it?
- Review analysis: what players love and hate by theme, hours played and language, the issues to fix first and a score without bot or free-key reviews.
- Competitor analysis: up to ten rivals and an AI teardown of your store page against theirs, with ideas to borrow and a rewrite.
- Launch forecast: first-week units, revenue after Steam's cut and the reviews to expect, from your wishlist count.
- Regional pricing for 16 countries, publisher and porting studio directories, and an investor view with estimate ranges and comparables.
How do ReviewPulse and VG Insights compare?
| ReviewPulse | Video Game Insights | |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Independent, made by Abhishek Rathi | Sensor Tower (acquired March 2025) |
| Platforms | Steam | Steam, PlayStation, Xbox |
| Data | Steam store, search charts and public reviews read live, plus SteamSpy | Modelled estimates; 50+ data points per game for over 150,000 games |
| Sales and revenue | Estimate ranges | Daily time series for revenue, units and active users |
| Wishlists | Used for the launch forecast | Wishlist tracking |
| Reviews | Themes from review text, with the source reviews, by hours played and language | Review tracking as a metric |
| Benchmarking | Up to ten matched rivals ranked by score, sales and price | Up to 15 games at once on metrics such as DAU, price and revenue |
| Store page teardown | Yes, with fix list and rewrite | Not described |
| Regional pricing advice | 16 countries | Data across 100+ markets; no pricing advice described |
| Export and API | Printable report and pitch deck | Download and API access |
| Pricing (as of Oct 2026) | Free plan; Indie Studio $9.99/month; Publisher $19.99/month; Investor $29.99/month | Not published; demo request |
| Free tier | Yes | Not stated on its product page |
When should you pick VG Insights?
- You need PlayStation and Xbox data next to Steam.
- You want daily time series and deep history for benchmarking, M&A or portfolio work.
- You need bulk exports or an API feed into your own models.
- Your company already licenses Sensor Tower and can add VGI to the contract.
For console coverage and depth of time-series data, VGI is the stronger product.
When should you pick ReviewPulse?
- You used VGI's free Steam pages and want a free starting point again.
- You care less about the exact revenue of a rival and more about why its players stay or leave.
- You want concrete store page fixes, a price per country and a launch forecast in one place.
- You are pitching publishers and need a deck and a shortlist built from Steam data.
How can you use VG Insights and ReviewPulse together?
- Screen the market in VGI. Filter by genre and tags to find the games that grew fastest across Steam and consoles.
- Explain the winners in ReviewPulse. Paste each into review analysis and note the themes players reward and the complaints that recur.
- Check your positioning. Run the store page teardown on your own page against those games.
- Price and plan. Set regional prices and a launch date, then compare your real Steamworks numbers with VGI's estimates after launch.
Video Game Insights details were checked on Sensor Tower's site on 31 October 2026. Confirm current access and pricing with Sensor Tower before you buy.
Frequently asked questions
Is VG Insights still free?
As of October 2026, vginsights.com redirects to Sensor Tower's app and the Video Game Insights product page offers a demo request. It does not publish pricing or describe a free tier.
Who owns Video Game Insights?
Sensor Tower announced it had acquired Video Game Insights on 18 March 2025. The product continues as Video Game Insights by Sensor Tower.
Does ReviewPulse show Steam revenue like VG Insights?
Yes, as estimate ranges built from Steam's public data and SteamSpy. ReviewPulse does not offer daily time series or console data; its focus is on reviews, store pages, pricing and launch planning.
Which platforms does VG Insights cover?
Its product page names Steam, PlayStation and Xbox. ReviewPulse covers Steam, plus an itch.io radar of rising games.
Try it on a real game
Paste any Steam link, app ID or game name and get rivals, review themes, pricing by country and a store page teardown in minutes. Free to start.