StoreFast vs Advanced Installer for Microsoft Store submissions

What Advanced Installer does for the Store

Advanced Installer is a Windows packaging tool from Caphyon. It authors MSI installers and, from the Professional edition up, MSIX packages. For the Store, the useful part is its build distribution setting. You add an MSIX build on the Builds page and set its Distribution to Microsoft Store. That build isn't signed and uses the Publisher ID from your package information, which is what the Store expects, since Microsoft signs the package after certification. You can keep a second, signed sideloading build for your website in the same project, and one build makes both.

A few more things to know, all from Advanced Installer's own pages.

• Its MSIX publishing guide and its update guide walk through Partner Center by hand: start a submission, open Packages, upload the file, fill in the listing and submit.
• Version 17.9 added an importer and editor for .msixupload files, for quick edits to a package before you upload it to the Store.
• For MSI and EXE apps, its MSI and EXE guide has you host the installer yourself and enter its download link in Partner Center.
• You can build from the command line with AdvancedInstaller.com /build, and Caphyon's GitHub Action installs it on a runner and builds your project. Neither page mentions uploading to the Store.
• The pricing page lists Professional at $399, Enterprise at $1,399 and Architect at $3,599 per user a year, with perpetual licenses too. There's a free edition for basic installers, but it doesn't include MSIX.

What StoreFast does

StoreFast publishes MSIX updates to the Microsoft Store and doesn't build or sign anything. You connect Partner Center once by signing in with Microsoft and giving StoreFast's app the Manager role. Then you can send an update four ways.

• Dashboard. Drop the .msix on your app's page, write What's new once in English and click Translate all to get it in every listing language, in your app's own writing style.
• GitHub Action. legendaryspy/storefast-publish@v1 uploads the package and takes the notes from your CHANGELOG.md or GitHub release. The action docs have the details.
• API. The REST API starts a release, uploads the package, saves and translates the notes and submits, from any CI system or script.
• Coding agent. Claude Code, Cursor or Codex can publish through the MCP server, and it waits for your yes before it submits.

Before anything reaches Microsoft, StoreFast checks that the package name matches the app and that the version is higher than the live one. Around the update, it edits the listing's description, features, search terms and screenshots in every language, and shows downloads, installs, ratings and reviews, with reviews translated into English.

Side by side

Package with Advanced Installer, publish with StoreFast

In your Advanced Installer project, add an MSIX build with Distribution set to Microsoft Store and give it a name, like StoreBuild. Make sure the package name and Publisher ID match the Product identity in Partner Center, and that the version is higher than the one that's live, with the last part left at 0. The MSIX update guide explains both rules.

From there you can drop the .msix on your app's page in StoreFast. To do it from CI, build on a Windows runner with Caphyon's action, then hand the package to the StoreFast action in a second job. Put your Advanced Installer license and a StoreFast API key in the repository's secrets.

on:
  release:
    types: [published]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: caphyon/advinst-github-action@main
        with:
          advinst-license: ${{ secrets.ADVINST_LICENSE }}
          aip-path: MyApp.aip
          aip-build-name: StoreBuild   # the build set to Microsoft Store
          aip-output-dir: out
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: msix
          path: out/*.msix

  publish:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4   # so the action can read CHANGELOG.md
      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: msix
      - uses: legendaryspy/storefast-publish@v1
        with:
          api-key: ${{ secrets.STOREFAST_API_KEY }}
          app: 9PJWF4W8V4WG
          package: '*.msix'

By default the update waits on your app's page in StoreFast until you click Submit. Add submit: true to the StoreFast step when you want the workflow to send it for certification on its own. If you'd rather script it, the same flow works with the API, and the msstore and StoreBroker guide compares the free command line options.

If you ship an MSI or EXE

Advanced Installer makes MSI installers too, and the Store does take MSI and EXE apps. They work differently, though. You host the installer yourself and give Partner Center its download link. StoreFast doesn't publish those yet. The EXE, MSI or MSIX guide covers what changes with each, and if you're moving a .NET desktop app over, the WPF and WinForms guide walks through packaging it as MSIX.

Who it's for

Questions

Can Advanced Installer submit my app to the Microsoft Store?

Its docs don't describe a way to. Advanced Installer builds the package, and its own Store guides walk you through uploading it in Partner Center by hand. Its command line and GitHub Action build projects, and neither mentions a Store upload.

Can I package with Advanced Installer and publish with StoreFast?

Yes. Add a build with Microsoft Store as its distribution, build the .msix in Advanced Installer, then drop it on StoreFast's dashboard or send it from a workflow with the StoreFast GitHub Action. StoreFast checks the name and version, translates What's new and submits it.

Which Advanced Installer edition makes MSIX packages?

Its pricing page lists MSIX from the Professional edition up, at $399 per user a year. The free edition doesn't include MSIX.

Does StoreFast build or sign my package?

No. StoreFast takes an .msix you've already built. For a Store build, Advanced Installer leaves the package unsigned, and Microsoft signs it once it passes certification.

I ship an MSI or EXE made with Advanced Installer. Can StoreFast publish it?

Not yet, that support is coming. For now you add the installer's download link in Partner Center, or use Microsoft's msstore CLI, which handles MSI and EXE apps.