Comparison

NOVA vs Beaconaut

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

Head to head
About

NOVA

This platform connects creative professionals with clients seeking talent. It allows artists to build their network, showcase their work, and find job opportunities. Clients can discover and hire top freelance creative talent.

Highlights
  • Build creative network
  • Display artwork
  • Access job opportunities
  • Hire freelance talent
  • Application-based platform
  • Community guidelines
Features
Read full description

NOVA is the curated freelancer platform for the next generation of creatives. Our mission is to provide Network, Opportunity, and Visibility to Artists. For creatives, NOVA is a first-of-its-kind multi application platform for artists to build their network, display their work, and easily access job opportunities. For clients, NOVA is the next evolution of creative hiring, providing a direct link to top freelance creative talent. _ At NOVA, our priority is community, which is why we are an application-based platform. Prospective members should download the mobile app here and submit an application. As a creative, we'll ask you to include information like skills and past project work. As a client, we'll ask you to include your company name and job title. Once you've submitted an application, it will be placed into the queue to be reviewed by our board of creatives and internal team. You could receive your acceptance at any time, so keep your push notifications on! Once admitted, creatives and clients will have full-access to the platform. Users must continuously abide by our community guidelines of integrity, professionalism, and privacy. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Beaconaut

This app facilitates spontaneous social connections by allowing users to share their current location with trusted friends. It focuses on low-pressure invitations and a sense of shared presence, rather than direct navigation or performance metrics.

Highlights
  • Send temporary location beacons
  • See friends' general presence on a globe
  • Invite-only circles
  • No public profiles or performance metrics
  • Temporary beacons expire automatically
  • Shared gallery within circles
Features
Read full description

Beaconaut is for the friends you'd see far more often if seeing them took no planning. Somewhere between a text you never send and an evening nobody gets around to organising, there is a much smaller thing: letting your people know you're around. THE INVITATION Send up a beacon and your circle sees where you are — I'm here, come find me. There is no note to write and nothing to arrange; the place and the moment are the whole message. Answering costs one tap. So does saying you can't. Saying nothing costs nothing at all, and nobody is ever told you stayed quiet. That lightness is the point. An invitation this cheap to send gets sent on an ordinary Tuesday, which is exactly when you needed it. YOUR PEOPLE, OUT THERE Atlas is the globe on your home screen: everyone you share a circle with gathered around it, the threads between you lit where you have been talking lately. It will not help you find anybody, and it is not trying to. It is there so that on an evening when nobody is free, you can still see that your people exist, somewhere, getting on with their lives. Company rather than navigation. CLOSER, ONLY IF IT'S OFFERED The app gets more precise only as people choose it. Atlas is a feeling. The compass is an approximation — roughly which way someone is, roughly how far, never a route, and enough to feel them nearby without being enough to arrive at them. A beacon is the one exact thing, and it exists only because somebody decided they wanted to be found. Nothing sharpens on its own. THE CIRCLE Circles stay small, and they are invite-only. That limit isn't a tier you can pay to raise; keeping a circle small is what makes it a circle. One shared thread, a shared gallery, and the people already in your life. No feed. No followers. No public profile, no like counts, nothing to perform for. IT ENDS ON ITS OWN A beacon is temporary by design. It closes itself, with nothing to cancel and nobody notified that it lapsed. What stays is the warm part — who came, who sent love — and that is what makes the next one easy to send.

Screenshots

NOVA4 screens
Beaconaut4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Beaconaut at 5.0 against NOVA's 4.3. Beaconaut also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 5 days vs monthly). NOVA's advantage is ratings volume (1.2K vs 1) and chart position (#194 vs unranked). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. NOVA sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month. Beaconaut asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Beaconaut holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NOVA has 1.2K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

NOVA ships an update monthly, Beaconaut every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
NOVA versus Beaconaut: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNOVABeaconaut
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (1.2K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews36.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.2K — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
Best chart rank#194 — better—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS16.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size170 MB15 MB
Age rating+1212+
DeveloperNova Network Inc.FutureNow, Inc

Customer experience

NOVA

All ratings1,182 ratings
Positive83.1%
Neutral1.9%
Negative15.0%
Written reviews201 reviews
Positive36.8%
Neutral3.5%
Negative59.7%

Beaconaut

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

NOVA

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes
  • Freezing
  • Buggy application process

Requested features

4 requests
  • Web Access
  • Saved filter settings
  • Notifications
  • Profile customization

Beaconaut

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

NOVA

Subscriptions2
  • Nova Pro (Monthly)7 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Nova Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time1
  • Nova Pro (Day Pass)$3.99
None

Beaconaut

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is NOVA free?
NOVA is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Beaconaut free?
Beaconaut is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, NOVA or Beaconaut?
Beaconaut is rated higher. NOVA averages 4.3 out of 5 from 1.2K ratings, while Beaconaut averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do NOVA or Beaconaut have ads?
Neither NOVA nor Beaconaut shows ads.
Which is updated more often, NOVA or Beaconaut?
NOVA ships an update monthly, and Beaconaut every 5 days. Most recently, NOVA was updated on November 7, 2026 and Beaconaut on October 31, 2026.

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