How Codemagic works
Codemagic is a CI/CD service built for mobile apps. It builds Flutter, React Native, native iOS and Android, Ionic and Capacitor projects on hosted Mac minis, from GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket or any Git URL. Capacitor projects are configured in a codemagic.yaml file at the root of the repo — the visual workflow editor is for Flutter only. Its Ionic guide runs npx cap sync, CocoaPods and Gradle, so the iOS and Android projects need to be in the repo already.
With an App Store Connect API key, Codemagic can fetch or create the certificates and profiles, publish to TestFlight and submit for App Store review with control over release timing. For Google Play you add a service account and pick a track, and you upload your Android keystore.
How CapWrapp works
Connect the GitHub repo your project lives in — Lovable, Bolt and Base44 sync to GitHub in one click. If it is still a website, CapWrapp commits Capacitor, the open-source native runtime from Ionic, along with the iOS and Android projects. When you pick a commit, CapWrapp starts GitHub Actions in your own account: the web app is built and bundled into both apps, signed with keys from CapWrapp’s vault, and uploaded to TestFlight and Google Play’s internal testing track. From the Releases page you send a tested version to App Review or promote it to production on Google Play, with What’s New already translated. The store listing is written once and translated by AI. More in how CapWrapp works.
The real cost is the setup
On build minutes alone, Codemagic is generous. What you pay in is time: adding Capacitor and the native projects, learning Apple’s distribution certificates and profiles, creating and safeguarding an Android upload key, writing the YAML, and keeping it working as Xcode, Gradle and the stores change. CapWrapp does that work for you and stays out of the way afterwards — the pipeline is a GitHub Actions workflow and Fastlane files in your repo that you can read and change.
If you are a mobile team with tests to run and several apps on different frameworks, that flexibility is worth the setup, and Codemagic is the better tool.
Pricing
Codemagic’s free plan includes 500 macOS M2 build minutes a month with one concurrent build. After that, pay as you go is $0.095 a minute on an M2 Mac mini, or fixed annual plans with unlimited minutes start at $3,990 a year.
CapWrapp is a subscription priced by active apps, with every feature on every plan: $29 a month for up to 3 apps, $99 for 10 and $249 for 50 — $20, $79 and $199 a month billed yearly. An app counts as active for 30 days after you ship it, teammates are free, and every plan starts with a 14-day free trial with no card. Builds run on your GitHub account’s Actions minutes. Whichever tool you pick, Apple charges $99 a year for a developer account and Google $25 once.
Leaving CapWrapp for Codemagic later
Nothing locks you in. CapWrapp keeps standard Capacitor iOS and Android projects in your repo, so moving to Codemagic means writing a codemagic.yaml and uploading your signing keys — you can download the Android keystore CapWrapp created from its Settings.