Parking Kitty vs Ridwell
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Parking Kitty
Manage your entire parking experience directly from your smartphone. Pay for parking, extend your session, and receive notifications about your remaining time. This official city app simplifies street parking.
- Pay for parking sessions
- Extend parking time remotely
- Receive low time notifications
- Manage parking history
- Get email receipts
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Parking just got easier in Portland! Parking Kitty, the City of Portland’s official mobile parking app, provides users with the convenience of handling the entire parking experience from their smartphone. Park, pay, extend and manage your parking session from your fingertips. It’s the cat’s meow! Get Started Today: Download the free Parking Kitty app Park where you see the Parking Kitty signs Pay for your parking session from your phone The Perks of Parking Kitty: - Receive “meow” notifications when your parking session time is low - Extend your parking session through the app - Receive email receipts at the end of your parking session - Manage your parking history through the mobile app Parking Kitty mobile parking app is making Portland meow! Make your parking experience as simple as possible -- download Parking Kitty today.
Ridwell
Easily dispose of hard-to-recycle items with convenient doorstep pickups. Schedule collections, track your impact, and feel good knowing your items are being reused or recycled by trusted partners.
- Schedule doorstep pickups
- Collect hard-to-recycle items
- Receive real-time notifications
- Track community impact
- Transparent item destinations
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Get rid of your stuff the right way with Ridwell. Seamlessly schedule your upcoming pickups, receive real-time notifications, and see the impact you’re making with the Ridwell community! Collect hard-to-recycle items in your Ridwell bags. We give you bags to store your plastic film, threads, and other hard-to-recycle things that might otherwise go to waste. Easy pickups from your front door. We come to your front door to pick up your stuff every two weeks. Just let us know when you have stuff to pick up! Feel great about where your stuff goes. You’ll always know where your stuff is going to be reused or recycled with one of our partners. Together, Ridwell members save tons from the landfill every year to support our community, keep our oceans clean, and build a brighter future. If you're in need of any support, please contact us at app@ridwell.com.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Parking Kitty at none against Ridwell's shown. Parking Kitty also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and iOS requirement (13 vs 17.0). Ridwell's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 35 months) and review sentiment (73% vs 61%). On price, rating, ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Parking Kitty against 4.9 for Ridwell. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8.8K and 8.2K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 61% of Parking Kitty's written reviews are positive against 73% of Ridwell's.
Parking Kitty ships an update every 35 months, Ridwell every 2 months. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Parking Kitty | Ridwell |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (8.8K ratings) — better | 4.9 (8.2K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 61.0% of reviews | 72.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 8.8K — better | 8.2K |
| Update frequency | Every 35 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 64 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | City of Portland | Ridwell, Inc. |
Customer experience
Parking Kitty
Ridwell
User reviews
Parking Kitty
From 8.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Convenient
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 👍 Simplicity
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 👍 Saves time
Room to improve
- 🐛 Doesn't work with UK debit cards
- 💰 Excessive fees/surcharges
- 🚫 Can't cancel/end sessions early
- 🚫 Doesn't recognize UK mobile numbers
- 🚫 Predatory monopoly practices
Ridwell
From 8.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💚 Excellent for the environment
- 🙌 Convenient pickup service
- 🤗 Helpful customer service
- 👍 Easy to use app
- 🎉 Reduces waste
Room to improve
- 🚫 Missed pickups
- 🤔 Inconsistent service
- 💰 Overcharging for extras
- 🏢 Inaccessible for apartment buildings
- 🤷♀️ Unclear communication
Bugs and requests
Parking Kitty
Reported bugs
2 issues- Glitches causing multiple simultaneous charges
- Inconsistent parking enforcement despite app payment
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to pay and extend time from Apple Watch
- Provide option to rollover unused parking time
- Add ability to end parking sessions early
- Improve notification system to better alert users of expiring time
- Integrate zone identification based on geolocation
Ridwell
Reported bugs
2 issues- Incorrect pickup status notifications
- Drivers unable to access buildings
Requested features
3 requests- Advance scheduling for pickups
- More recycling categories
- Proactive notifications for missed pickups
In-app purchases
Parking Kitty
No in-app purchases
Ridwell
No in-app purchases
