Comparison

Firstup vs ESS 45 Zebra

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

Head to head
About

Firstup

This app connects employees with essential company information, fostering engagement and improving communication. It provides a centralized hub for news, updates, and resources, ensuring everyone stays informed and connected.

Highlights
  • Official source for workforce communications
  • Push notifications for news and tasks
  • Upload and share videos, photos, documents
  • Personalized user experience
  • Save and find important information
  • Comment and share content
  • Connect company employees
Features
Read full description

Firstup is a workforce communications app that helps companies reach employees with relevant, personalized information they need to do their best work. Firstup solves the problem of poor employee engagement by keeping all workers informed and connected. Employees have one place to find out what’s happening at work—no more searching through emails and intranets to get information. Companies have an easier, faster way to publish content and news and can measure how many employees engaged with their content. Why you’ll love Firstup: * An official source for all workforce communications—reach every worker with the information they need to know to do their best work. * Push notifications and reminders for breaking news or time-sensitive tasks * Ability to upload and share videos, photos, documents, or articles * Personalized user experience with profiles and the ability to choose channels to follow * A simple way to save and find important information with bookmarking and powerful search * The ability for users to comment and share * A powerful way to connect everyone at your company and create a better digital employee experience for all

About

ESS 45 Zebra

Manage your work schedule, time off requests, and shift trades with this intuitive application. Easily view your timecard, update availability, and clock in and out using geofence technology. It's designed for seamless team coordination and efficient workforce management.

Highlights
  • View schedule
  • Request day-off/time-off
  • Perform shift trade
  • Bid on open shifts
  • View timecard
  • Clock work hours (geofence)
  • Update availability
Features
Read full description

With New ESS app, team members can: · Intuitive design & UI Refresh of entire app · New Dashboard · View schedule · Request day-off, time-off · Perform Shift Trade with teammates · Bid on open shifts or request additional shifts · View timecard · Update availability and get shifts accordingly · Request for alternate work locations · Clock your work hours using Geofence enabled mobile clock · View absence calendar App is compatible with 4.1.12.* and 4.3.* web apps.

Screenshots

Firstup4 screens
ESS 45 Zebra4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Firstup at 3.7 against ESS 45 Zebra's 1.6. Firstup also leads on review sentiment (27% vs 7%). ESS 45 Zebra's advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium) and ratings volume (419 vs 133). 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

Firstup holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 1.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 133 and 419 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 27% of Firstup's written reviews are positive against 7% of ESS 45 Zebra's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Firstup ships an update monthly, ESS 45 Zebra every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Firstup versus ESS 45 Zebra: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFirstupESS 45 Zebra
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.7 (133 ratings) — better1.6 (419 ratings)
Positive reviews26.9% of reviews — better6.9% of reviews
Number of ratings133419 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.615.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size146 MB68 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFirstup, Inc.Reflexis Systems Inc

Customer experience

Firstup

All ratings133 ratings
Positive64.7%
Neutral6.0%
Negative29.3%
Written reviews26 reviews
Positive26.9%
Neutral11.5%
Negative61.5%

ESS 45 Zebra

All ratings419 ratings
Positive12.9%
Neutral4.1%
Negative83.1%
Written reviews175 reviews
Positive6.9%
Neutral6.3%
Negative86.9%

Bugs and requests

Firstup

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

ESS 45 Zebra

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Constant login issues
  • Time card not working
  • Schedule not displaying correctly
  • Inability to request time off

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add Face ID/Biometric login
  • Improve calendar sync
  • Allow viewing of coworker schedules
  • Streamline time off request process

In-app purchases

None

Firstup

No in-app purchases

None

ESS 45 Zebra

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Firstup free?
Firstup is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ESS 45 Zebra free?
ESS 45 Zebra is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Firstup or ESS 45 Zebra?
Firstup is rated higher. Firstup averages 3.7 out of 5 from 133 ratings, while ESS 45 Zebra averages 1.6 from 419 ratings.
Do Firstup or ESS 45 Zebra have ads?
Neither Firstup nor ESS 45 Zebra shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Firstup or ESS 45 Zebra?
Firstup ships an update monthly, and ESS 45 Zebra every 3 weeks. Most recently, Firstup was updated on October 14, 2026 and ESS 45 Zebra on October 19, 2026.

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