Comparison

StudentSafe vs NCP

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

Head to head
About

StudentSafe

Monitor vehicle locations and passenger boarding/alighting times in real-time. Receive notifications with stop names, times, and system messages.

Highlights
  • Real-time vehicle positioning
  • Scheduled and actual boarding times
  • Passenger alighting time tracking
  • Stop name notifications
  • System message alerts
  • Passenger assignment
Features
Read full description

The app is a tracking and monitoring application that allows the user to view the current position of a vehicle and the scheduled and actual boarding and alighting times of a passenger on that vehicle. Each user is assigned a number of passengers and can view real time information and notifications with information such as boarding and alighting times, the stop name and any messages sent from the system.

About

NCP

Manage all your parking needs in one place. Purchase digital season tickets, pay-as-you-go for parking, and extend your sessions remotely. Features include favorite sites, AutoPay, and in-app customer support.

Highlights
  • Digital season tickets
  • Ticketless pay-as-you-go parking
  • Extend parking sessions remotely
  • Favorite car park sites
  • AutoPay with VRN
  • In-app chat support
Features
Read full description

The NCP app brings all your parking needs together in one convenient and easy-to-use place, offering the ability to: • Purchase and access a digital Season Ticket, giving you the ability to manage your account with ease • Ticketless pay-as-you-go parking at 370+ car parks across the UK Make sure you download the NCP app before entering one of our car parks to guarantee the best experience. Downloading the NCP app means you can purchase digital monthly, quarterly, and annual season tickets, depending on your needs. Your season ticket will then be stored in the app, meaning you’ll never forget or lose a physical season ticket again! Features of the NCP app include: • The ability to pay as you go and access your season ticket, if you have one, in one place • Extend your parking session in-app to save you having to go back to your car, you’ll be notified by push notifications from the app, so please ensure you have enabled notifications in your device settings to stay up to date • One QR code for all your products • Ability to favourite sites that you regularly visit in your favourites list • AutoPay provides fully automatic recognition and payment at selected sites via your vehicle registration number (VRN) • Map and list view of car parks with additional features • Buy and pay for a season ticket within the app, allowing unlimited parking within your chosen site for the length of your ticket • In-app chat function, giving you a direct line to customer service • Pay with Apple Pay

Screenshots

StudentSafe4 screens
NCP4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: StudentSafe at free against NCP's free with in-app purchases. NCP's advantage is review sentiment (12% vs 0%). 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
StudentSafe versus NCP: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStudentSafeNCP
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.3 (95 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews11.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—95 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size123 MB84 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperPPCNSEO COMPANY LIMITEDNational Car Parks Limited

Customer experience

StudentSafe

Written reviews5 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

NCP

All ratings95 ratings
Positive82.1%
Neutral2.1%
Negative15.8%
Written reviews451 reviews
Positive11.8%
Neutral5.5%
Negative82.7%

Bugs and requests

StudentSafe

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

NCP

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App not recognizing account
  • Inability to pay in app after getting ticket
  • Duplicate parking sessions
  • Inconsistent pricing between app and machines

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add biometric login options
  • Allow saving multiple vehicles
  • Improve session management and reminders
  • Integrate with car park barriers

In-app purchases

None

StudentSafe

No in-app purchases

None

NCP

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is StudentSafe free?
StudentSafe is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is NCP free?
NCP is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do StudentSafe or NCP have ads?
Neither StudentSafe nor NCP shows ads.
Which is updated more often, StudentSafe or NCP?
StudentSafe ships an update every 2 months, and NCP every 2 months. Most recently, StudentSafe was updated on October 9, 2026 and NCP on October 16, 2026.

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