Comparison

Discourse Hub vs ntfy

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Discourse Hub

Connect with online communities and manage discussions from anywhere. This app allows you to join multiple communities, discover new ones, and stay updated with instant notifications. Engage in conversations, ask questions, and share insights effortlessly.

Highlights
  • Access multiple communities
  • Discover new communities
  • Receive notifications
  • Post and reply instantly
  • Seamless community switching
Features
Read full description

The official mobile app for Discourse, the leading open-source platform for building and managing online communities.  With Discourse, people around the world connect, share knowledge, and engage in meaningful conversations. Discourse makes it easy to stay connected wherever you go. FEATURES: ALL YOUR COMMUNITIES IN ONE APP Add multiple Discourse communities and switch between them seamlessly, so you’re always in the loop. DISCOVER NEW COMMUNITIES Use the Discover feature to find and join new communities that match your interests. STAY UPDATED ON THE GO Receive notifications for new messages, replies, and updates, so you never miss anything important. INSTANT POSTING AND REPLYING Join conversations, ask questions, and share insights effortlessly. Discourse keeps you connected to the discussions that matter most to you.

About

ntfy

This app allows you to send push notifications to your phone from scripts or other applications using simple HTTP requests. It acts as a client for a free, open-source pub-sub service, enabling you to receive alerts and updates directly on your device.

Highlights
  • Send notifications via REST API
  • Subscribe to topics
  • Publish messages via HTTP
  • Integrates with Bash/PowerShell
  • Free and open source client
Features
Read full description

Send push notifications to your phone from any Bash or PowerShell script, or from your own app using PUT/POST requests, e.g. via curl on Linux or Invoke-WebRequest. ntfy is a client for https://ntfy.sh, a free and open source HTTP-based pub-sub service. You can subscribe to topics in this app, and then publish messages via a simple HTTP API. Uses: * Notify yourself when a long-running process is done * Ping your phone when a backup has failed * Alerts when someone logs into your server Example: $ curl -d "Your backup is done" ntfy.sh/mytopic Find more examples and usage instructions here: https://ntfy.sh/docs

Screenshots

Discourse Hub4 screens
ntfy2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ntfy at 79% against Discourse Hub's 26%. ntfy also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.9) and ratings volume (425 vs 10). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ntfy holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ntfy has 425 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 26% of Discourse Hub's written reviews are positive against 79% of ntfy's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Discourse Hub ships an update every 3 weeks, ntfy fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on July 28, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Discourse Hub versus ntfy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDiscourse Hubntfy
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (10 ratings)4.8 (425 ratings) — better
Positive reviews26.1% of reviews78.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings10425 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB3 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperDiscoursePhilipp Heckel

Customer experience

Discourse Hub

All ratings10 ratings
Positive70.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews138 reviews
Positive26.1%
Neutral13.8%
Negative60.1%

ntfy

All ratings425 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral1.6%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews142 reviews
Positive78.9%
Neutral4.9%
Negative16.2%

User reviews

Discourse Hub

From 10 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎯 Centralized hub for multiple Discourse communities
  • 🔔 Push notification support across forums
  • 👤 Persistent login across multiple accounts
  • 🌙 Dark mode support
  • 📱 Mobile-optimized interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Persistent notification badge issues
  • 🌐 Web view wrapper rather than native app
  • ⚠️ Frequent app crashes and freezes
  • 🔐 Login persistence problems
  • 📝 Text input field positioning issues

ntfy

From 425 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Simple and easy to use
  • 🔒 Great for self-hosting
  • 👍 Reliable and works as expected
  • 🚀 Quick and easy to set up
  • 🚀 Lightweight and functional

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Notification issues on iOS
  • 🔍 Limited features compared to other platforms
  • 🔍 Lacks customization options
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or delivery issues

Bugs and requests

Discourse Hub

Reported bugs

15 issues
  • Notifications won't clear (red badge persists)
  • App freezes on launch requiring force quit
  • White page flash when returning to feed in dark mode
  • Post editing interface misaligned on iOS 26.1
  • Links open in Safari instead of in-app
Show 10 more
  • Login redirects to website instead of app
  • App crashes on iPad with iOS 17.7.10
  • Blank/white screen on app launch
  • Keyboard input stops working when switching apps
  • Attachment viewing requires app restart
  • Private message and flagged post notifications stuck
  • App hangs on login
  • Thread loading extremely slow with tracking protection enabled
  • Editing post jumps to wrong thread position
  • App loses place when backgrounded

Requested features

14 requests
  • Native app instead of web view wrapper
  • Font size customization
  • Tab support for multiple threads
  • iCloud sync across devices
  • Forum naming/customization
Show 9 more
  • Forum list sorting options
  • Dark mode toggle reflecting OS settings
  • Split view support on iPad
  • Dual account support per forum
  • In-app support/feedback submission
  • Search functionality
  • Persistent scroll bar option
  • Back button in standard iOS UI position
  • Camera access support

ntfy

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Notifications not working on iOS
  • Broken click URLs in notifications
  • Compatibility issues with iOS notification summarizing

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to change notification sounds
  • Support for Apple Watch
  • Customizable topic names/aliases
  • Improved iOS notification handling
  • All topics view and read/unread indicators

In-app purchases

None

Discourse Hub

No in-app purchases

None

ntfy

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Discourse Hub free?
Discourse Hub is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ntfy free?
ntfy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Discourse Hub or ntfy?
ntfy is rated higher. Discourse Hub averages 3.9 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while ntfy averages 4.8 from 425 ratings.
Do Discourse Hub or ntfy have ads?
Neither Discourse Hub nor ntfy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Discourse Hub or ntfy?
Discourse Hub ships an update every 3 weeks, and ntfy fortnightly. Most recently, Discourse Hub was updated on July 28, 2026 and ntfy on September 24, 2026.

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