Birdathon vs Active Defender
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Birdathon
This app helps birdwatchers create and organize detailed checklists of their observations. It automatically records time and location, allowing for easy editing and customization. Users can visualize their sightings on maps, add field notes, and export data for sharing or further analysis.
- Observation-centric checklists
- Automatic time and location recording
- Customizable maps with boundary overlays
- Field notes for additional observations
- Multiple checklist sorting options
- Data export to CSV and other formats
- Create checklist templates
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Birdathon is an observation-centric tool for creating birding checklists. It helps you organize your checklists and share them with others. Use Birdathon in the field to quickly record whether and where a bird is seen or heard and the number observed. The time and location of each observation is automatically recorded. You can adjust the location, time entries and the count of birds observed at any time to ensure your records are accurate. You can add breeding codes to your observations. Checklist maps display the locations of your observations. You can overlay county boundaries for every US state. You can add a range circle such as a 5MR (5-mile Radius) to your maps. You can import and overlay custom kml/kmz files onto your maps. An Overview feature lets you see your combined observations for any time period, and displays a map showing any boundaries you have selected, so you can utilize the map feature even when you are not actively checklisting. You can export Overview data into a csv text file or create a new checklist template from the Overview. Your checklists can be viewed in taxonomic order, alphabetically, by rarity or as a timeline of species. You can enrich your checklist with field notes and add observations such as mammals, butterflies, wildflowers, etc., to make it a more complete record of your experience. You can organize your checklists into categories such as Day List, Year List, County List, Life List, etc., and assign color themes to your lists. Bird species may be added and deleted from your lists at any time. You can create new checklist templates from your previous lists or import templates created by others. You can change which template is being used. You can import text files into Birdathon, making them into templates or new checklists. Different export options for your checklists allow you to import into eBird or another copy of Birdathon. The bird species source data and other resources used in this app come from the following sources: AviList, a unified global checklist of birds, is the core data set used for Birdathon. https://www.avilist.org. Some data has been integrated from the following sources: The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world (https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/), the American Ornithological Society's (AOS) Checklist of North and Middle American Birds (https://checklist.americanornithology.org), and the American Birding Association's (ABA) checklist of North American Birds (https://www.aba.org/listing-taxonomy/) Alpha codes come from The Institute for Bird Populations’ Standardized 4- and 6-letter Bird Species Codes. https://www.birdpop.org/pages/birdSpeciesCodes.php. County boundary data is from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) TIGER/Line 2019 Shapefiles found on the United States Census Bureau's website at https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.2019.html. Boundaries should be used as general guidelines and not be considered precise. Note especially where county boundaries follow creeks, rivers, ridge lines and other natural features, and so are of much finer resolution than can be shown on Birdathon’s maps. California breeding bird atlas blocks come from the California Bird Atlas, https://www.californiabirdatlas.org. California Bird Atlas logo and breeding code descriptions used with permission.
Active Defender
This app provides real-time emergency maps to reduce chaos and confusion during critical incidents. It offers instant visual guidance for students, staff, and first responders, ensuring everyone knows what to do and where to go. It facilitates communication and provides crucial information for swift and effective emergency response.
- Real-time emergency map
- Instant multistory mapping
- Emergency alerts
- Real-time chat communication
- Crisis location and nature
- Campus-wide information sharing
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Imagine there is an emergency at a school or a business. During emergencies, there can be a lot of chaos and confusion. Active Defender provides a real-time emergency map that removes the confusion. Everyone can know where to go and what to do regardless of the emergency. IMPORTANT! To use this app in your school or business, make sure they have a cooperate Active Defender account. You will get a login from your school or school district to fully login, connect, and participate with this app. Active Defender can INSTANTLY provide a multistory emergency map: To First Responders To Students To Staff To Vistors Everyone can know what to do and where to go! Active Defender’s purpose is to provide clarity and remove chaos while making sure everyone knows what the problem is and where the problem is relative to where they are located. WHY? Because you only make good decisions based on what you know and where you are. Focus on “safety and security is everyone’s responsibility.” Whether there is a fight, fire, active shooter, medical emergency, or extreme weather event, Active-Defender gives real-time, life-saving information to everyone that needs to know. Active-Defender allows you to: - Warn other staff members, school resource officers, and first responders with the touch of a button that an emergency is taking place. - Receive map alerts as to the exact nature and location of the crisis. - Use the chat window to engage in real-time communication with responders. - Provide details to others on your campus while simultaneously giving first responders the information they need to respond with speed and precision. Active-Defender: Saves Time - Provides Clarity - Saves Lives!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Active Defender at none against Birdathon's 4. Active Defender also leads on update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 4 months) and rating (4.9 vs 4.7). On price, review sentiment, ads and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Birdathon sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Active Defender asks for nothing beyond the download.
Active Defender holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 15 and 54 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Birdathon ships an update every 4 months, Active Defender every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Birdathon | Active Defender |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (15 ratings) | 4.9 (54 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 15 | 54 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.1 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 192 MB | 214 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Barry Langdon-Lassagne | MMOJ |
Customer experience
Birdathon
Active Defender
In-app purchases
Birdathon
- Good Tip$0.99
- Great Tip$1.99
- Amazing Tip$2.99
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- Incredible Tip$4.99
Active Defender
No in-app purchases







