Comparison

String vs GBPN

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

Head to head
About

String

Enhance customer engagement with a business SMS and voice platform. Organize your inbox, automate responses, and manage contacts efficiently. Send personalized messages to individuals or groups, and access your workflow from any device.

Highlights
  • Use existing or new phone numbers
  • Organize inbox with sales funnel view
  • Automated responses and auto-replies
  • Contact management and CRM integrations
  • 1-1, group, and mass messaging
  • Templates and voicemail transcription
  • Browser and mobile app access
Features
Read full description

Boost your brand engagement with String’s intuitive business SMS marketing, text and voice. ANY PHONE NUMBER, EVEN LANDLINES Use your existing mobile or landline number with String. Select a new local number or upgrade to a vanity or toll free number of your choice. ORGANIZE YOUR INBOX Transform your inbox into a sales funnel or kanban board with various viewing, filtering and tagging options — Stay on top of your conversations and never miss a message again. POWERFUL MESSAGE MANAGEMENT Mark Unread and Archive — You love it for your emails, you’ll love it for your texts. STAY RESPONSIVE, 24/7 Amplify your interaction with automations and Auto-Replies — Respond to texts and missed calls on time, every time. TAP INTO ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES Contact Management & Integrations — Save important contact notes directly from the message thread. Capture contacts, import from your phone or computer,, automate workflows, integrate with tools you love (like your CRM, etc). REACH THE MASSES, OR JUST ONE Conversational, Groups or Mass Messaging — Respond directly with 1-1 messaging, message with a group,r or send personalized Mass Messages to multiple people at once, individually. BUILD A LOYAL CUSTOMER BASE Send promos, reminders and confirmations and never miss a lead, client or customer with Elite features like triggered Keyword Responses, and Auto-Replies. SAVE TIME Templates — No more copy-pasting the same message over and over. No time to listen to voicemail? View voicemail transcriptions in your inbox with visual voicemail. USE IT ANYWHERE Browser & Mobile Apps — Increase your workflow efficiency with access to String from your computer and mobile device. CALL FORWARDING & VOICE Separate your personal and professional calls with call forwarding and flexible voice settings. GOT QUESTIONS? Email our stellar support at support@joinstring.com. Find helpful articles, join our customer community and create tickets in our Help Center: https://help.joinstring.com/hc/en-us Terms of Service: https://www.joinstring.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.joinstring.com/privacy

About

GBPN

Get a dedicated business phone number that rings on your personal device, keeping your personal number private. Manage calls, texts, and voicemails from a unified inbox, with team collaboration features and personalized setup assistance.

Highlights
  • Dedicated business number
  • Calls ring on personal cell
  • Unified inbox for calls & texts
  • Voicemail transcripts
  • Team shared inbox
  • Personalized setup assistance
Features
Read full description

A real business number on the phone you already carry. Calls ring your cell, texts land in one inbox, and a real person sets it all up with you. CALLS RING YOUR CELL Your business number rings the phone you already have. Call out over your cell carrier or over Wi-Fi. Customers see your business number, never your personal one. TEXT FROM YOUR BUSINESS NUMBER Customers text the same number they call. Reply from the app with photos and files, and see every call and text with that customer in one thread. NOTHING SLIPS THROUGH New texts, missed calls, and voicemails land in Needs. Once you reply, the conversation moves to Waiting until the customer answers. Your app badge shows exactly what is left. REMEMBER EVERY CALL Read voicemail transcripts and a short summary of what was said on each call, right next to your texts. BRING YOUR TEAM Add teammates at no extra cost. Everyone works from one shared inbox, sees who is replying, and can leave private notes only your team sees. WE SET IT UP FOR YOU A real person helps you pick a local, toll-free, or vanity number, records your greeting, and sets up your calls the way you want. Need help later? Call or text us at (844) 822-2255. KEEP YOUR NUMBER Already have a business number? We can move it to GBPN for you. ONE SIMPLE PRICE $30 a month for each number. No contracts, no setup fees, no per-minute charges. 30-day money-back guarantee. NEW TO GBPN? Get your number at gbpn.com in a few minutes, then sign in here. Rated 4.8 stars by 200+ business owners on Google.

Screenshots

String4 screens
GBPN4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: GBPN at 5.0 against String's 3.5. GBPN also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 69%). String's advantage is monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription) and ratings volume (62 vs 3). 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

GBPN holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: String has 62 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of String's written reviews are positive against 100% of GBPN's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

String ships an update every 2 months, GBPN monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
String versus GBPN: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStringGBPN
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.5 (62 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings62 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size68 MB72 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNumberBarn, LLCGBPN

Customer experience

String

All ratings62 ratings
Positive64.5%
Neutral1.6%
Negative33.9%
Written reviews35 reviews
Positive68.6%
Neutral2.9%
Negative28.6%

GBPN

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

String

Reported bugs

22 issues
  • Calls drop within seconds
  • Line cuts out completely
  • Website loads to a white screen
  • App loads message threads out of order
  • Tapping into a thread does not load any part of the conversation
Show 17 more
  • Sending a message in the thread works, but the thread doesn’t load
  • Tapping a thread loads an entirely different number/contact at the top
  • Push notification badges don’t clear
  • Text threads are slow to update and sometimes show off screen
  • No where to sign up on the app
  • Lost account after uninstall/reinstall
  • No one to talk to for support
  • iTunes account debited without loading sign-in page
  • Stuck on unpaid account, cannot log out
  • Missed calls do not show up on the main log panel
  • Voicemails will not play in app
  • No iPad App
  • Web app directs back to mobile app
  • No attention to detail in integrations
  • Phone number picker is super limited
  • No filtering by numbers
  • Requires payment to see the app

Requested features

18 requests
  • Improve mobile app stability
  • Fix website loading issues
  • Ensure message threads load correctly
  • Improve contact loading accuracy
  • Fix push notification badge issues
Show 13 more
  • Improve text thread update speed
  • Enhance call stability
  • Improve customer support responsiveness
  • Provide in-app sign-up
  • Allow account recovery
  • Offer refunds
  • Implement missed call notifications
  • Ensure missed calls appear in logs
  • Enable voicemail playback in app
  • Develop an iPad app
  • Improve sign-up process
  • Add more phone number filtering options
  • Integrate with CRM software like HubSpot

GBPN

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

String

No in-app purchases

None

GBPN

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is String free?
String is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is GBPN free?
GBPN is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, String or GBPN?
GBPN is rated higher. String averages 3.5 out of 5 from 62 ratings, while GBPN averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do String or GBPN have ads?
Neither String nor GBPN shows ads.
Which is updated more often, String or GBPN?
String ships an update every 2 months, and GBPN monthly. Most recently, String was updated on November 2, 2026 and GBPN on November 12, 2026.

Other comparisons