# Home Assistant vs Journelly

The clearest difference is price: Home Assistant at Free against Journelly's $14.99. Home Assistant also leads on ratings volume (4.1K vs 80) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 weeks). Journelly's advantage is review sentiment (97% vs 54%) and chart position (#146 vs unranked). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Home Assistant is free to download; Journelly costs $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Journelly holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Home Assistant has 4.1K ratings behind it against 80, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 54% of Home Assistant's written reviews are positive against 97% of Journelly's.

Home Assistant ships an update every 10 days, Journelly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Home Assistant | Journelly |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $14.99 |
| Rating | [4.7 (4.1K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/home-assistant/id1099568401/reviews) | **[4.9 (80 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/journelly/id6470714669/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **4.1K** | 80 |
| Positive reviews | 54.1% of reviews | **97.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 10 days** | Every 3 weeks |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | — | **#146** |
| Size | 232 MB | 13 MB |
| Requires iOS | **16.4** | 17.6 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | +4 | 17+ |
| Developer | [Nabu Casa, Inc](https://appshunter.io/developer/1525301324) | [Xenodium Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/304568690) |

## What reviewers say

### Home Assistant

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/home-assistant/id1099568401)

Control your smart home devices from anywhere with this open-source solution. Automate routines, monitor your home's status, and integrate thousands of devices for enhanced privacy and sustainability.

**Highlights:** Control thousands of smart devices, Automate home routines, Discover and configure new devices, Securely share location for automation, Receive home status notifications, Build custom widgets, Integrate with voice assistants

**Features:** Siri integration, Apple Watch app, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


### Journelly

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/journelly/id6470714669)

**Currently charting:** #146 Top Paid · Lifestyle (US App Store)

Capture thoughts, ideas, and memories in a private, offline-first digital journal. This app offers a familiar feed-like interface for quick notes, checklists, and more, with robust organization and markup support.

**Highlights:** Offline-first privacy, Familiar feed interface, Add images, links, and location, Markdown and Org markup support, Search and organize with hashtags, 14-day text snapshots for version history, Optional iCloud sync

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Excellent design and thinking
- 👍 Effective, simple, and a pleasure to use
- 👍 Just what I was looking for
- 👍 Perfect. Clean, crisp, and Org mode!
- 👍 Very well done

**Requested features**

- Markdown support for formatting text
- Concern about long term scalability of an Orgmode file


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Home Assistant free?

Home Assistant is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Journelly free?

Journelly costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Home Assistant or Journelly?

Journelly is rated higher. Home Assistant averages 4.7 out of 5 from 4.1K ratings, while Journelly averages 4.9 from 80 ratings.

### Do Home Assistant or Journelly have ads?

Neither Home Assistant nor Journelly shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Home Assistant or Journelly?

Home Assistant ships an update every 10 days, and Journelly every 3 weeks. Most recently, Home Assistant was updated on November 6, 2026 and Journelly on November 3, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*