Luma vs Intelligence Squared+
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Luma
Discover local events, connect with attendees, and host your own gatherings. Easily create event pages, send invites, sell tickets, and manage check-ins. Seamlessly integrate with your contacts and calendars.
- Discover local events
- Host and manage events
- Sell event tickets
- Send SMS and email invites
- Check in guests with QR scanner
- Chat with event attendees
- Create beautiful event pages
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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.
Intelligence Squared+
Access a vast library of debates and discussions from leading figures in politics, science, and the arts. Engage with speakers live, connect with other subscribers, and enjoy exclusive discounts on events and merchandise.
- Extensive video library of debates
- Live event streaming
- Interactive Q&A with speakers
- Subscriber community
- Discounts on tickets and merchandise
- Premium newsletter
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Spend time with the world’s most brilliant minds today with an Intelligence Squared+ subscription. Brimming with more than 20 years of debates and discussions, our online video-streaming service offers you the chance to hear from some of the biggest and brightest names in politics, journalism, science, technology, and the arts, including: Stephen Fry, Malala Yousafzai, Yuval Noah Harari, Idris Elba, Helena Bonham Carter, Jarvis Cocker, Stacey Abrams, Simon Schama, Tom Hiddleston, Mary Beard, Mehdi Hasan and many more. There’s an endless trove of conversations to explore. You can tune into live events, ask questions to our speakers and talk to other subscribers – all within the app. As an Intelligence Squared+ subscriber you’ll also gain: – ad-free access to all our upcoming and past events online – 15% discounts on tickets to our in-person events and merchandise – discounts on new books – our premium newsletter direct to your inbox Subscribe today to start watching. To access all features and content you can subscribe to Intelligence Squared+ on a yearly basis with an auto-renewing subscription right inside the app.* Pricing can vary by region and will be confirmed before purchase in the app. In app subscriptions will automatically renew at the end of their cycle. All payments will be paid through your iTunes Account and may be managed under Account Settings after the initial payment. Subscription payments will automatically renew unless deactivated at least 24-hours before the end of the current cycle. Your account will be charged for renewal at least 24-hours prior to the end of the current cycle. Any unused portion of your free trial will be forfeited upon payment. Cancellations are incurred by disabling auto-renewal. Terms of Service: https://www.intelligencesquaredplus.com/tos Privacy Policy: https://www.intelligencesquaredplus.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Luma at none against Intelligence Squared+'s 2. Luma also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (19K vs 1). Intelligence Squared+'s advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 81%) and iOS requirement (16.6 vs 18.0). On price, rating, ads and device support 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
Both are free to download. Intelligence Squared+ sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. Luma asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Luma against 5.0 for Intelligence Squared+. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Luma has 19K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 81% of Luma's written reviews are positive against 100% of Intelligence Squared+'s.
Luma ships an update every 5 days, Intelligence Squared+ every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Luma | Intelligence Squared+ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (19K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 80.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 19K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Subscription |
| Best chart rank | #66 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 124 MB | 68 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Luma Labs, Inc. | Intelligence Squared (UK) Ltd |
Customer experience
Luma
Intelligence Squared+
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
Intelligence Squared+
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Luma
No in-app purchases
Intelligence Squared+
- Intelligence Squared+ Monthly7 Days trial$14.991 Month
- Intelligence Squared+ Yearly7 Days trial$134.991 Year
Questions
Is Luma free?
Is Intelligence Squared+ free?
Which has better reviews, Luma or Intelligence Squared+?
Do Luma or Intelligence Squared+ have ads?
Which is updated more often, Luma or Intelligence Squared+?
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