Native Android Development — hobby stack.
For each requirement below, pick the option that fits your build — recommended first, then free and cheaper alternatives — or skip what your project doesn't need. Tap the info icon next to any requirement to see why it matters.
Android Build Farm / Ubuntu Runners for Gradle Builds
Automates testing and deploying your code. Saves enormous time and prevents “works on my machine” releases.Pricing & free-tier limitsGitHub Actions: Free 2,000 Linux min/mo then $0.008/min, 2-core $0.016/min, 4-core $0.032/min; Private repo cache 10GB free then $0.25/GB; Bitrise Free 200 credits/mo, $0.02/credit overage, Pro $50/mo (1,000 credits) annual $33.33/mo, Elite $400/mo; CircleCI Free 6,000 min/mo then Performance $15/mo + $0.008/min
Google Play Developer Account
A piece of your stack you may or may not need, depending on scope. Pick the option that fits — or skip it if your project doesn’t require this capability yet.Pricing & free-tier limits$25 one-time registration fee (2026 unchanged); $0/mo ongoing; Identity verification free; Organization verification free; Payment profile free; No annual renewal; API access free
Code Signing & Play App Signing Infrastructure
A piece of your stack you may or may not need, depending on scope. Pick the option that fits — or skip it if your project doesn’t require this capability yet.Pricing & free-tier limitsPlay App Signing free; Upload keystore self-managed free; Google Cloud KMS Software $1/key version/mo + $0.03/10k operations; KMS HSM $5/key/mo + $0.25/10k ops; AWS KMS $1/key/mo + $0.03/10k ops; Local keystore generation free (keytool)
CI/CD Pipeline Orchestration for Android (AAB builds & Tracks)
Automates testing and deploying your code. Saves enormous time and prevents “works on my machine” releases.Pricing & free-tier limitsFastlane free OSS; GitHub Actions $0.008/min Linux, $0.08/min Windows, cache free 10GB; Bitrise Free 200 credits/mo $0.02/credit over, Pro $50/mo 1,000 credits, Concurrency $90/mo 2 concurrencies; CircleCI Free 6k min, Scale $35/mo + credits
Artifact Storage for APK/AAB, Mapping, dSYMs & Symbols
Where you keep files users upload or you serve — images, videos, documents — and how fast they reach visitors around the world.Pricing & free-tier limitsGitHub Artifacts Free 500MB storage (public unlimited), $0.25/GB/mo over + $0.50/GB bandwidth over; S3 Standard $0.023/GB/mo first 50TB, $0.00099/1000 PUT, $0.0004/1000 GET; R2 Free 10GB/mo storage + 10M reads free, then $0.015/GB/mo + $4.50/M Class A ops; Glacier $0.00099/GB/mo; AppCenter distribution retired 2025
Device Farm - Android Real Device Testing
A piece of your stack you may or may not need, depending on scope. Pick the option that fits — or skip it if your project doesn’t require this capability yet.Pricing & free-tier limitsFirebase Test Lab Free 30 physical tests/day + 60 virtual tests/day (Blaze), then Physical $1/device-hr ($0.17/15min) Virtual $0.08/hr + $5/hr iOS; AWS Device Farm $0.17/device-min ($10.20/hr) unlimited testing $250/device slot/mo; BrowserStack Starter $129/mo 1 parallel + 100 min, Team $199/mo 2 parallel 1k min ($0.15/min over), Scale $599/mo 5 parallel
Crash Reporting & ANR Tracking
Rates, labels, and tracking for physical goods. Needed once you actually ship products.Pricing & free-tier limitsCrashlytics Free unlimited crash reports + ANR + NDK, BigQuery export free on Blaze; Sentry Free 5k errors/mo + 10k transactions + 1k replays, Developer $29/mo 50k errors $0.000355/error over, Team $89/mo 100k errors + 50k replays; Bugsnag Free 7.5k sessions/mo, Startup $79/mo 50k sessions
Push Notification Service (FCM for Android)
Reaches users on their phone via SMS or push. Useful for verification codes and re-engagement; watch the per-message cost.Pricing & free-tier limitsFCM Free unlimited notifications to Android, no quota cost (Firebase dependent); OneSignal Free 10k subscribed users + 10k emails/mo, Growth $9/mo includes 1k subs then $3/1k subs CPM ($0.003/sub), Professional $99/mo 2k subs + $100 for 10k; Airship Starter $199/mo 10k pushes; Batch.com Free 1k MAU
Analytics for Android (User Behavior & Vitals)
Understands your users and supports them. Drives product decisions and retention.Pricing & free-tier limitsFirebase Analytics Free unlimited events (500 distinct params), BigQuery Streaming export free; Android Vitals free in Play Console; Matomo Self-hosted free OSS (~$10-20/mo VM); Cloud Run hosting free 2M req/mo; Mixpanel Free 1k MTU, Growth from $28/mo 1k MTU $0.28/add MTU; Amplitude Free 50k MTU, Plus $49/mo 50k MTU then $0.30/MTU
Backend BaaS / Auth & Database for Android Apps
Where your code actually runs and serves requests. Picking the right host affects speed, scaling, and how much ops work you do.Pricing & free-tier limitsFirebase Auth Free 50k MAU then $0.0055/MAU (to 100k) $0.0046 thereafter; Firestore Free 50k reads/day 20k writes/day 1GB; Blaze: Auth $0.0055/MAU, Firestore $0.06/100k reads $0.18/100k writes $0.02/GB; Functions $0.40/M invocations free 2M; Supabase Free 50k MAU 500MB DB 1GB storage, Pro $25/mo 100k MAU $0.00325/MAU over 8GB DB, Team $599/mo
Secrets Management & Keystore Vault
Stores API keys and credentials safely, separate from your code. Leaking secrets is one of the most common breaches.Pricing & free-tier limitsGitHub Secrets Free unlimited for public, private free with Actions; Google Secret Manager Free 6 active secrets + 10k accesses/mo, then $0.06/secret/mo + $0.03/10k accesses; Doppler Free 5 users 100 secrets, Developer $10/user/mo; Vault HCP $0.03/hr dev ~$22/mo, Plus $0.07/hr; AWS Secrets Manager $0.40/secret/mo + $0.05/10k API calls
How this hobby native android development checklist works.
Each requirement below is something a hobby native android development build typically needs. Pick one of the four researched options — recommended, free, cheaper or paid — add your own with "Other", or skip the requirement if your project doesn't need it. Nothing is mandatory; the plan on the right tracks what you've decided so nothing gets forgotten.
Your picks are saved in this browser automatically, so you can come back anytime. Options are researched per build level and refreshed as vendors change their plans — always verify details on the provider's page before committing.