Comparison

Countdown GO vs BirthdayHQ

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

Head to head
About

Countdown GO

Track upcoming events and activities with personalized visuals. Share your countdowns across Apple devices via iCloud. Use your iPad as a dynamic photo frame for your events.

Highlights
  • Add multiple activities
  • Personalize with pictures
  • iPad photo frame mode
  • iCloud device sharing
Features
Read full description

A fresh, modern look and a handy new feature! • Event history — Look back at all the events that have already passed, right from Settings. • Redesigned add screen — Creating an event is now a live preview: pick your photo and instantly see how your countdown will look. • Refreshed Premium & Privacy screens — Cleaner, clearer, and easier on the eyes. • Fixed a date bug — Events set for tomorrow no longer show up as "Today". • Various visual polish and small improvements.

About

BirthdayHQ

Organize all your important dates in one place, from anywhere. This app helps you remember birthdays by importing them from various sources and allowing you to set custom reminder timings based on your relationship with individuals. It also provides gift ideas and quick ways to send well wishes.

Highlights
  • Import birthdays from contacts, Facebook, and calendars
  • Scan WhatsApp chats for birthday wishes
  • Manually add birthdays
  • Organize contacts into relationship circles
  • Customizable reminder timings
  • Jot down gift ideas and notes
  • Quick send options for cards and messages
Features
Read full description

Every birthday, in one place, organized by who they actually are to you. These days, birthdays are scattered across platforms, apps, and calendars, making it hard for even the most organized people to remember all of them. BirthdayHQ fixes this. Bring birthdays in from wherever they already live: • Import directly from your Contacts, with your permission • Scan a WhatsApp chat export for birthday wishes • Browse and import your Facebook birthdays, or bring in a calendar export • Add anyone manually in seconds Most birthday apps treat everyone the same. BirthdayHQ doesn't. Sort the people you care about into circles: Immediate Family, Extended Family, Close Friend, Wider Network, and let each one get the reminder timing it actually deserves. Two weeks' notice for your sister. A quiet nudge on the day for your wider network. You decide. Never scramble for a gift again. Jot down notes on what someone's into, or what you got them last year. When their birthday arrives, BirthdayHQ surfaces gift ideas suited to their age, and quick ways to send a card — digital or physical — or a text, WhatsApp message, or email wish in one tap. Built around your privacy, BirthdayHQ doesn't have accounts, logins, or a server that stores your data. Everything — birthdays, notes, relationship circles — stays on your device. Nothing is tracked, sold, or used for advertising. Stop relying on someone else to remember for you. Get organized, on your terms.

Screenshots

Countdown GO3 screens
BirthdayHQ3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: BirthdayHQ at 100% against Countdown GO's 40%. BirthdayHQ also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.0) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks). Countdown GO's advantage is ratings volume (16 vs 3) and device support (5 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Countdown GO sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and BirthdayHQ sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

BirthdayHQ holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Countdown GO has 16 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of Countdown GO's written reviews are positive against 100% of BirthdayHQ's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Countdown GO ships an update every 3 weeks, BirthdayHQ every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 20, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Countdown GO versus BirthdayHQ: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCountdown GOBirthdayHQ
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (16 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings16 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS27.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJeroen ZonneveldJordan Chancellor

Customer experience

Countdown GO

All ratings16 ratings
Positive43.8%
Neutral12.5%
Negative43.8%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%

BirthdayHQ

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Countdown GO

One-time1
  • Premium$0.99
1 purchases

BirthdayHQ

One-time1
  • Unlock Everything$4.99

Questions

Is Countdown GO free?
Countdown GO is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BirthdayHQ free?
BirthdayHQ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Countdown GO or BirthdayHQ?
BirthdayHQ is rated higher. Countdown GO averages 3.0 out of 5 from 16 ratings, while BirthdayHQ averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Countdown GO or BirthdayHQ have ads?
Neither Countdown GO nor BirthdayHQ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Countdown GO or BirthdayHQ?
Countdown GO ships an update every 3 weeks, and BirthdayHQ every 4 days. Most recently, Countdown GO was updated on October 20, 2026 and BirthdayHQ on October 20, 2026.

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