Comparison

PiHelper vs Pi

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

Head to head
About

PiHelper

Easily connect to and manage your Raspberry Pi or Linux machine remotely. Monitor system resources, control GPIO pins, and access an SSH terminal. Browse and manage files with SFTP and perform server actions like rebooting.

Highlights
  • Real-time system monitoring (CPU, memory, disk, temp)
  • Interactive GPIO control
  • Full SSH terminal experience
  • SFTP file browser with upload/download
  • Remote reboot and halt server
  • Custom command execution
Features
Read full description

Get started with PiHelper: https://medium.com/swlh/using-pihelper-to-monitor-and-manage-raspberry-pis-9a24065febed PiHelper lets you connect and manage your Raspberry Pi or Linux machine easily. - Monitor CPU, memory, disk usage, processes and/or temperature statics in realtime. - GPIO Colorful pinout. Tap to change GPIO mode and output. - SSH Terminal Realtime shell with full xterm experience. - SFTP / File browser Browse files and directories. Easy upload, download, rename and delete. - Single tap to reboot / halt server. Custom commands are also supported. - Multi-language support: -- English -- 中文 -- 日本語 -- Русский (Thanks to Sergey Britov) -- Deutsche (Thanks to Daniel Wolf) -- Français (Thanks to Dorian Eydoux) -- Lietuvis (Thanks to Ernestas Kardzys) Report issue: - Email: pihelper@outlook.com - Twitter: @shaqian629 Notes: - Public/Private key authentication only supports RSA keys. - To use the GPIO tool with RPi 4, please upgrade wiringPi to 2.52+: cd /tmp wget https://project-down­load­s.­dro­gon.net/wiring­pi-lat­est.deb sudo dpkg -i wiring­pi-lat­est.deb Reference: http://wiring­pi.­com/wiring­pi-up­dat­ed-to-2-52-for-the-rasp­ber­ry-pi-4b/

About

Pi

Control your Pi-hole network ad blocker remotely. Quickly disable blocking, block specific services, and view real-time network statistics. Manage adlists, update gravity, and configure DNS/DHCP settings with ease.

Highlights
  • Disable/enable Pi-hole blocking
  • Block specific services
  • View real-time query logs
  • Add domains to whitelist/blacklist
  • Update gravity
  • Manage adlists
  • Configure DNS & DHCP settings
Features
Read full description

Take full control of your Pi-hole from your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Monitor your network, inspect DNS queries, manage blocking and lists, and control multiple Pi-hole instances from anywhere in the Apple ecosystem. *Disable Blocking* Quickly disable blocking from the app, interactive Home Screen widgets, your Apple Watch, or Siri. You'll see a Live Activity for the duration to remind you blocking is disabled! *Statistics & Queries* Look up what domains are queried most on your network, as well as clients that send out the most requests. View your Query Log as well as a 'Live Log' which shows queries on your network in real time. *Blocked Services* Want to quickly restrict access to Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Roblox, and more? Block all kinds of services effortlessly with just one tap. *Manage Your Pi-hole* Manage Clients & Groups, Domains & Adlists, and change all kinds of Pi-hole settings such as DNS/DHCP settings. *Interactive Widgets & Live Activity* Choose from a wide range of Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets that show your Pi-hole status or statistics. There are also interactive widgets to disable blocking without opening the app! When you disable blocking, you will even see a Live Activity on your Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, and Smart Stack. *Controls* Quickly toggle blocking right from your Lock Screen, Control Center, or Action Button. *Made for the Apple Ecosystem* Use Pi-hole Remote across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Your instances and preferences stay available across your devices through iCloud. Purchase Pi-hole Remote+ once and unlock it on every supported platform. == iPhone, iPad, and Mac features: - Enable or temporarily disable Pi-hole blocking - View detailed statistics and combined data from multiple instances - Search and filter your Query Log or watch queries appear in real time - Add domains to your allowlist or denylist, individually or in bulk - Block entire services such as social networks, streaming platforms, and games - Manage clients, groups, domains, adlists, DNS, and DHCP settings - Update Gravity and manage your Pi-hole configuration - Add and control an unlimited number of Pi-hole instances - Choose where each instance appears based on your Wi-Fi network - Connect securely using HTTPS, reverse proxies, custom paths, and custom headers - Use interactive widgets, Live Activities, and Lock Screen or Control Center controls - Control Pi-hole with Siri, App Shortcuts, Spotlight, and the Action Button - Sync settings and selected Pi-hole data between instances - Personalize the app with custom colors and alternative icons - Enjoy dedicated layouts for iPhone, iPad, and Mac - Full VoiceOver and Dark Mode support Apple Watch features: - View status and statistics, control one or all instances, access Blocked Services, and use complications and Live Activities Apple TV features: - View statistics and queries, control blocking and services, and switch between or combine instances on the big screen == Note: You need at least one working Pi-hole instance running on another device for this app to function and you must use Pi-hole Version 6.0 or up. Pi-hole Remote is a third-party app which uses the Pi-hole API and is in no way affiliated with Pi-hole. Find out more about Pi-hole at https://pi-hole.net/. This app offers a "Pi-hole Remote+" version with additional features, in the form of a lifetime purchase, a monthly subscription, or a yearly subscription. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period and will be charged to your App Store account. You can turn off auto-renew or manage subscriptions in your App Store account settings after purchase. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

PiHelper4 screens
Pi4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Pi at 4.8 against PiHelper's 4.1. Pi also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 5 months) and review sentiment (88% vs 64%). PiHelper's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 17.0). 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. PiHelper sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pi sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pi holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 255 and 1.3K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of PiHelper's written reviews are positive against 88% of Pi's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PiHelper ships an update every 5 months, Pi every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
PiHelper versus Pi: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPiHelperPi
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (255 ratings)4.8 (1.3K ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.3% of reviews88.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2551.3K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS8.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB85 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer茜 沙RocketScience IT

Customer experience

PiHelper

All ratings247 ratings
Positive76.9%
Neutral6.1%
Negative17.0%
Written reviews157 reviews
Positive64.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative27.4%

Pi

All ratings1,255 ratings
Positive94.9%
Neutral1.4%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews412 reviews
Positive88.1%
Neutral4.4%
Negative7.5%

User reviews

PiHelper

From 255 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💻 Convenient remote management
  • 📊 Useful monitoring features
  • 🔑 SSH and SFTP access
  • 🚀 Clean and intuitive UI
  • 💰 Reasonable pricing

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Compatibility issues with newer OS versions
  • 🔒 Unreliable authentication methods
  • 🖥️ Terminal interface limitations
  • 🔄 Abandoned by developers
  • ⚠️ Potential security concerns

Pi

From 1.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Amazing app!!
  • 🚀 Excellent app
  • 🚀 Perfect for managing Pi-hole
  • 🚀 Brilliant
  • 🚀 Great app to keep an eye on things

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Disappointing
  • 🔍 Pulled a bait-and-switch with paid features
  • 🔍 Widget unreliable
  • 🔍 Replaced block percentage with clients
  • 🔍 Unusable if not upgraded to pihole v6

Bugs and requests

PiHelper

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Inability to connect to Raspberry Pis
  • Clipboard data being accessed
  • Terminal crashes and text wrapping issues
  • Inaccurate CPU and GPU usage reporting
  • Incompatibility with newer SSH ciphers

Requested features

5 requests
  • Support for Raspberry Pi 5
  • Temperature monitoring in Fahrenheit
  • Ability to clear RSA keys
  • Network and disk usage monitoring
  • Offline notification alerts

Pi

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Crashes when pressing certain options
  • Unable to reach Pi Hole after configuration
  • Statistics screen crashes the app
  • Widgets not working
  • Live Logs not working properly
Show 2 more
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices

Requested features

13 requests
  • Add and remove adlists from the internet
  • DHCP management, like assign static IPs, change host names of devices
  • Change other pihole settings, like upstream DNS servers
  • A command line interface
  • Group management, I.e. the ability to whitelist or blacklist certain domains only for certain groups of devices, and to be able to create new groups and edit which devices are in each group
Show 8 more
  • Option to style query bar graph as stacked bar graph colored by client
  • Notification to update pihole
  • Ability to update the OS and pihole from the app
  • Wildcard support for the whitelist
  • View DHCP Leases or add reservations
  • Query Log
  • Dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard

In-app purchases

1 purchases

PiHelper

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$0.99
7 purchases

Pi

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly PHR+$0.991 Month
  • PHR+ Yearly$4.991 Year
One-time5
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$3.99
  • Large Tip$6.99
Show 2 more
  • PHR+ Lifetime$11.99
  • Huge Tip$17.99

Questions

Is PiHelper free?
PiHelper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pi free?
Pi is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PiHelper or Pi?
Pi is rated higher. PiHelper averages 4.1 out of 5 from 255 ratings, while Pi averages 4.8 from 1.3K ratings.
Do PiHelper or Pi have ads?
Neither PiHelper nor Pi shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PiHelper or Pi?
PiHelper ships an update every 5 months, and Pi every 2 weeks. Most recently, PiHelper was updated on October 20, 2026 and Pi on October 25, 2026.

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