Meshtastic vs ntfy
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Meshtastic
This app enables off-grid, decentralized communication via a low-power mesh network. Send text messages in areas lacking cellular or WiFi service.
- Off-grid communication
- Decentralized mesh network
- Low-power LoRa radio support
- Text messaging
- No cellular/WiFi required
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Meshtastic® is an open source, off-grid, decentralized, mesh network built to run on low-power Lora radios letting you send text messages in areas without reliable cellular or WiFi service.
ntfy
This app allows you to send push notifications to your phone from scripts or other applications using simple HTTP requests. It acts as a client for a free, open-source pub-sub service, enabling you to receive alerts and updates directly on your device.
- Send notifications via REST API
- Subscribe to topics
- Publish messages via HTTP
- Integrates with Bash/PowerShell
- Free and open source client
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Send push notifications to your phone from any Bash or PowerShell script, or from your own app using PUT/POST requests, e.g. via curl on Linux or Invoke-WebRequest. ntfy is a client for https://ntfy.sh, a free and open source HTTP-based pub-sub service. You can subscribe to topics in this app, and then publish messages via a simple HTTP API. Uses: * Notify yourself when a long-running process is done * Ping your phone when a backup has failed * Alerts when someone logs into your server Example: $ curl -d "Your backup is done" ntfy.sh/mytopic Find more examples and usage instructions here: https://ntfy.sh/docs
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ntfy at 4.8 against Meshtastic's 4.2. ntfy also leads on review sentiment (79% vs 44%) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.5). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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.
ntfy holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 803 and 442 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 44% of Meshtastic's written reviews are positive against 79% of ntfy's.
Meshtastic ships an update every 10 days, ntfy fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 27, 2026.
| Parameter | Meshtastic | ntfy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (803 ratings) | 4.8 (442 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 44.2% of reviews | 78.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 803 — better | 442 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.5 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 76 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Meshtastic LLC | Philipp Heckel |
Customer experience
Meshtastic
ntfy
User reviews
Meshtastic
From 803 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Well-made app
- 🚀 Polished and intuitive interface
- 🚀 Powerful features for off-grid communication
- 👍 Great community and responsive developers
- 👍 Continuously improving with updates
Room to improve
- 🐛 Bluetooth connectivity issues
- 🐛 Unreliable messaging and node connections
- 🐛 Crashes and stability problems
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 👎 Lacking feature parity with Android version
ntfy
From 442 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Simple and easy to use
- 🔒 Great for self-hosting
- 👍 Reliable and works as expected
- 🚀 Quick and easy to set up
- 🚀 Lightweight and functional
Room to improve
- 🐛 Notification issues on iOS
- 🔍 Limited features compared to other platforms
- 🔍 Lacks customization options
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or delivery issues
Bugs and requests
Meshtastic
Reported bugs
4 issues- Canned messages configuration issues
- Location sharing and traceroute functions not working
- Settings screen bugs and crashes
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between devices
Requested features
5 requests- Offline maps support
- Ability to customize notifications
- More sorting and filtering options for nodes
- Apple Watch and Shortcuts integration
- Improved documentation and user guidance
ntfy
Reported bugs
3 issues- Notifications not working on iOS
- Broken click URLs in notifications
- Compatibility issues with iOS notification summarizing
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to change notification sounds
- Support for Apple Watch
- Customizable topic names/aliases
- Improved iOS notification handling
- All topics view and read/unread indicators
In-app purchases
Meshtastic
No in-app purchases
ntfy
No in-app purchases
