Comparison

Luma vs Studio 96

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

Head to head
About

Luma

Discover and host local events, from tech meetups to social gatherings. Easily create event pages, sell tickets, invite guests via SMS or email, and manage check-ins. Connect with other attendees and build your social circle.

Highlights
  • Event discovery
  • Event hosting
  • Ticket selling
  • SMS and email invites
  • Guest check-in
  • In-app chat with attendees
  • Beautiful event pages
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

DISCOVER EVENTS NEAR YOU Find popular upcoming tech, crypto, wellness, and social events around you. After registering for an event, you can easily share it with your friends or on your socials. At the event, pull up your event ticket or Apple Wallet pass for seamless entry. CHAT WITH (NEW) FRIENDS Don’t be that "Ugh, want to add me on IG / LinkedIn?" person. If you attend an event with someone, you can easily look them up and chat with them right from within Luma. HOST AN EVENT Host delightful events with ease. Create a beautiful event page, send email and SMS invites, collect registrations, and chat with your guests. With Luma taking care of reminders, ticketing, checking in and more, you can focus your full attention on the event itself. BEAUTIFUL EVENT PAGES You can create a beautiful event page in just a few seconds. Just choose a cover image, name, location and time for your event. We’ll take care of the rest. For cover images, you can choose from our fun gallery of party posters, bbq invites, happy hour photos and many more. SELL TICKETS You can create a new event, start selling tickets, and market your event all within Luma. It takes just a few minutes to connect your bank account and then you’ll receive next day payment as guests buy tickets. SMS AND EMAIL INVITES Now you’ve created your event — who is going to come? You can sync your contacts and easily send a mass SMS invite message. In addition, Luma makes it incredibly easy to invite past guests again and to send email invites. CHECK IN GUESTS If you want to track attendance, you can check in guests with our built in QR code scanner and check in system. Guests will be able to show their QR code to scan in — or you can look them up by their name or email. You can add cohosts to your event who can also check in guests and manage the event together. SUBSCRIBE TO LOCAL CALENDARS From running clubs to AI calendars, discover fun events and clubs around you. Keep up with their events and make new friends.

About

Studio 96

This app enhances coffee table books by making them interactive. Scan images or pages to access web content, AR experiences, or exclusive digital materials, bringing print to life.

Highlights
  • Scan book pages for interactive content
  • Access web pages and AR experiences
  • Augmented Reality animations
  • Digitized platform for books
  • Exclusive content access
Read full description

The S96 app transforms every Studio 96 Publishing coffee table book from a static object into an interactive, hyperlinked, and digitized platform with endless creative, marketing and community-building applications. By scanning an image or page in a Studio 96 book using the S96 app, users can be led to a webpage or AR experience. Examples include online product pages, social media profiles, or other hosts of exclusive content. Images can also trigger Augmented Reality animations, such as videos or imagery, that augments onto the book object itself. With AR, the effect is that images in the books “come to life.” This unprecedented technology in the world of print publishing can upgrade print from a static object to a platform that can obtain user insight and habits.

Screenshots

Luma4 screens
Studio 964 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Luma at 81% against Studio 96's 0%. Luma also leads on rating (4.9 vs 3.5) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 5 months). Studio 96's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 18.0). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Luma holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Luma has 20K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Luma's written reviews are positive against 0% of Studio 96's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Luma ships an update every 5 days, Studio 96 every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Luma versus Studio 96: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLumaStudio 96
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (20K ratings) — better3.5 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews80.6% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings20K — better8
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank#119 — better—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size126 MB1.1 GB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLuma Labs, Inc.Studio 96 NYC, Inc.

Customer experience

Luma

All ratings19,665 ratings
Positive98.9%
Neutral0.6%
Negative0.5%
Written reviews413 reviews
Positive80.6%
Neutral3.9%
Negative15.5%

Studio 96

All ratings7 ratings
Positive71.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative28.6%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

Luma

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatibility with older devices
  • Inability to remove or leave group chats

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to save/bookmark events
  • Improved search and discovery options
  • Better guest management tools
  • Seamless calendar integration
  • Customizable event notifications

Studio 96

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Luma

No in-app purchases

None

Studio 96

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Luma free?
Luma is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Studio 96 free?
Studio 96 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Luma or Studio 96?
Luma is rated higher. Luma averages 4.9 out of 5 from 20K ratings, while Studio 96 averages 3.5 from 8 ratings.
Do Luma or Studio 96 have ads?
Neither Luma nor Studio 96 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Luma or Studio 96?
Luma ships an update every 5 days, and Studio 96 every 5 months. Most recently, Luma was updated on November 8, 2026 and Studio 96 on November 3, 2026.

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