Duffl vs HotSpot
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Duffl
This app provides rapid delivery of snacks, drinks, and household essentials to college campuses. Order items and receive them within 10 minutes, delivered by fellow students. It aims to be the most convenient store for students.
- 10-minute delivery
- Snack and drink delivery
- Household goods delivery
- Student-powered delivery
- Community support
- Referral discounts
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Welcome to a new era of convenience. Duffl delivers snacks, drinks, and household goods in college communities in 10 minutes. Dying for a bag of chips? Maybe an impromptu Yerba Mate? How about that NyQuil when you just don’t want to leave? Duffl is the world’s most convenient store, and we’ve got your back. Order through the app, dance for 10 minutes, and a fellow student will drop your bag at your door. You can shop at Duffl and support your community at: UCLA USC UC Berkeley University of Alabama Florida State University University of Central Florida Boise State University More coming soon! What does Duffl sell? Anything a successful college student might need: snacks, chips, ice cream, fruit, toilet paper, notebooks, toothpaste, and much more. We carry some awesome new brands like Dream Pops, Milk Bar, Guyaki, Simulate Nuggs, Oatly, Snaklins, and others you might not have heard of yet. We promise we also carry all your favorite brands too! We’ve got Takis, Cheetos, Ben & Jerry’s, M&Ms, Celcius, Amy’s, Tide, DayQuil, and so many more for you to choose from. How much does Duffl cost? No hidden fees, no surge pricing, no price-gouging. Our small delivery fee helps us offer a competitive wage to our student workforce, and helps us invest more into empowering the community. Get free Duffl cash! After you place your first order, we’ll send you a custom discount code that you can share with your friends. When they use your discount code at checkout, they’ll get $5 off their first two orders and we’ll drop $10 Duffl Cash into your account, it’s our way of saying “you’re amazing!” Discounts & Promos?! If you’re a top customer, we’ll add you to our “Thank You Thursday” list where we say thank you by texting you cool promos and big discounts. There’s no limit to how many times you can be on the list, so try to be a top customer every week! Get involved with Duffl! We’re hiring students for roles in every community: Admirals to manage and grow the campus store; Captains to pick, pack, and batch our bags; Racers to deliver bags via electric scooters; Supply Sergeants to help keep our store organized; Content Cadets to run the community Instagram page; Squad Members to help us with marketing activations in each community; and Social Media Special Ops to help promote Duffl on Instagram and TikTok. Do any of these sound like a good fit for you? Please apply today! Learn more at jobs.duffl.com.
HotSpot
Discover bars and clubs with real-time community updates on cover charges, wait times, and crowd levels. Earn rewards for your contributions and connect with friends to plan your nights out.
- Interactive map with live updates
- Real-time crowd and wait time reports
- Filter by time and rating
- Earn points and compete for prizes
- Social feed to connect with friends
- Venue profiles for real-time events and deals
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HotSpot. Don't Miss out! HotSpot is how your town goes out. Find the right bar, see what people are saying right now, and get in the door faster. FIND YOUR SPOT Scroll the bars around you and see what's good tonight. Spot who's selling passes and who's getting rated right now, then tap in for the full picture: the vibe, photos, hours, and what's happening. More of a visual person? There's a map for that too. THE FEED Posts, polls, and GIFs from your friends and your city. See where everyone is headed and rally the group chat without the group chat. REVIEWS FROM PEOPLE ACTUALLY THERE No week-old takes. Ratings come from people standing in the bar right now. And when you walk in, HotSpot notices and asks for one quick tap to share the vibe. That's your good deed for the night. SKIP THE LINE Buy passes straight from your favorite bars. Cover passes get you in, line skip passes get you in faster. Keep them in your wallet, swipe to redeem at the door, done. CLIMB THE BOARD Every rating, post, and check-in earns points. Race your friends up the monthly leaderboard, build your lifetime tier, and rep your status all semester. FOR THE BARS Claim your venue and run your storefront. Sell passes, post events, share photos, and watch it all from one dashboard. Download HotSpot and own your night.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: HotSpot at free against Duffl's free with in-app purchases. Duffl's advantage is ratings volume (193 vs 36) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.5). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
HotSpot holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Duffl has 193 ratings behind it against 36, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 74% of Duffl's written reviews are positive against 76% of HotSpot's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. Both last shipped on October 5, 2026.
| Parameter | Duffl | HotSpot |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (193 ratings) | 4.6 (36 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 73.5% of reviews | 76.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 193 — better | 36 |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 18.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 52 MB | 104 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Powered Ventures, Inc. | HotSpot Technologies |
Customer experience
Duffl
HotSpot
Bugs and requests
Duffl
Reported bugs
7 issues- Hi-chew shenanigans
- Free delivery for a year not redeemable
- Customer service not responding
- Inability to cancel orders
- Delivery to the wrong location/not arriving
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- Alcohol section not loading
- Age verification failing
Requested features
6 requests- Ability to redeem free delivery for a year
- Improved customer service responsiveness
- Option to cancel orders
- Ensuring delivery drivers come to the door
- Fixing the alcohol section
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Working age verification
HotSpot
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Duffl
No in-app purchases
HotSpot
No in-app purchases







