Comparison

Prowl vs Pushcut

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

Head to head
About

Prowl

Receive push notifications from your computer and various apps directly on your iOS device. Integrate the API into your own applications for custom alerts. Supports email-to-push and offers features like quiet hours and notification history.

Highlights
  • Push notifications from Mac/Windows
  • Support for numerous apps/services
  • Email to push functionality
  • Customizable notification delivery
  • Quiet Hours and Do Not Disturb modes
  • Notification history and control
Features
Read full description

Prowl is an easy push notifications client iOS. Push to your device notifications from your Mac or Windows computer, or from a multitude of apps and services. Easily integrate the Prowl API into your applications. A list of supported apps/services: http://prowlapp.com/apps.php The only limit of what the service can do is your imagination. REQUIREMENTS To receive notifications from your computer, you need the latest: • Growl on your Mac @ growl.info, or • Growl for Windows @ growlforwindows.com, or • Snarl on Windows @ fullphat.net, or • Any program or web service using the public API. THE CRITICS "I was extremely impressed with Prowl and the elegance with which I was able to view Growl notifications on my iPhone.” —Aron Trimble, TUAW "[A] powerful tool to connect your Mac with your iPhone, seamlessly over the air. —Federico Viticci, MacStories "Great idea. This opens up iPhone push notifications for anything you can think of.” —John Gruber, Daring Fireball "Probably the best $3 I’ve ever spent in the App Store.” —Darrell Etherington, The Apple Blog FEATURES • Push Notifications—When a Growl notification pops up on your computer, it's sent to Prowl and displayed on your iOS device within seconds. • Sweet application support—Prowl has support from a bunch of cool applications and services. Check out the full list at http://prowlapp.com/apps.php • Redirections—Launch a different application when you open a push notification. For example, a notification from your desktop Twitter client can relaunch into your favorite mobile client. You can even pick custom URLs to launch, so you can go anywhere! • Email to push—Use your Prowl email address (from the Prowl homepage's "API keys" tab) to get email delivery right on your device. Generate as many email addresses as you need! • An amazing API—Use the Prowl API with a multitude of libraries in various programming languages. You can send notifications from anything that can talk to the internet, and do some fun things along with it. • Quiet Hours—During the hours you specify, only the badge numbers are updated. No matter the source. Instead of getting a noisy alert, messages are quietly delivered. You can allow emergency-priority items to break quiet hours. • Do Not Disturb—Keep the application quiet whenever you're busy, or when you need a break from a constant alert. Controllable from within the application. • Control—Open the edit view to get a quick glance at your notifications, and do away with pesky ones. Quickly copy, email or SMS a notification directly from Prowl (depending on device and iOS version). • Browse quickly—Use Prowl's internal browser to quickly open links from a notification without having to open Safari. • History—Up to 10 days of notifications are kept on the server. You can delete notifications that you don't want to see any more, or remove all of your history. • Customized notifications—Only events you want are sent to Prowl. You can specify all kinds of conditions from the Prowl plugin for Growl. • Send any message to your device—From the Prowl website, you can send any text to your device: links and phone numbers are automatically linked, so you can easily navigate around without having to worry about typos. From the website or API, you can also automatically redirect to the attached URL. SETUP Prowl is built into Growl 2.0. For earlier versions: http://prowlapp.com/installation.php — for Mac. http://growlforwindows.com — for Windows. SUPPORT @prowlapp on Twitter http://prowlapp.com/support.php

About

Pushcut

Automate your digital life with smart notifications and custom widgets. Trigger workflows based on time, location, or external services. Design dynamic home screen widgets to display personalized information.

Highlights
  • Smart notifications
  • Customizable widgets
  • Location-based triggers
  • Scheduled alerts
  • HomeKit scene activation
  • Webhook integration
  • API for dynamic content
Features
Read full description

Pushcut helps you kick off your automation when it matters. Create fine-tuned interactions for HomeKit, Shortcuts, and custom workflows through smart notifications and widgets combined with powerful automation actions. Use HomeKit scenes, shortcuts, online integrations, and web services as notification actions that pop up exactly when they matter to you. Trigger these smart notifications from Shortcuts, HomeKit, schedules, locations, iBeacons, online services (like IFTTT, Zapier, Flow, Integromat, ...), home servers, or anywhere that knows what HTTP is. Design beautiful custom widgets and display dynamic information that you can provide using Shortcuts actions, online services or our own API. "The premiere companion utility for Shortcuts and Home on iOS" - Federico Viticci (MacStories) "An essential tool for HomeKit power users" - Christopher Close (HomeKit Hero) "Very powerful" - Rosemary Orchard (Take Control of Shortcuts) Features + Set up alerts & reminders to trigger scheduled & location-based smart notifications + Combine time and location triggers (eg: "weekdays at 6 PM when I am at work") + Schedule notifications from Shortcuts + Schedule a shortcut from Shortcuts + Design custom home-screen widgets + Trigger notifications and widget updates through a secure webhook or Pushcut API + Trigger notifications and widget updates from third-party integrations and online services like Zapier, Integromat, IFTTT, etc. + Define notifications with custom titles and messages + Add action buttons to the notifications for quicker access + Run shortcuts directly from notification actions + Activate HomeKit scenes directly from notification actions + Add URLs to the push notifications and open them directly from the notifications + Run online actions (webhooks, HTTP requests) directly from notifications without opening any app or website + Execute online actions in the background based on location or iBeacon events + Customize notification sounds and images + Deliver push notifications to specific devices individually + Use a powerful JSON API to deliver dynamic texts, shortcut inputs, and URLs + Turn a dedicated iOS device into your personal Shortcuts and HomeKit server Apple Watch + Interactive notifications (requires watchOS 6) + Run HomeKit scenes, online actions, and HTTP requests (like IFTTT webhooks) directly from your wrist + Execute multiple actions from one notification (with "Keep Open" flag) (Note: Opening Shortcuts, Safari, or other apps is not supported on Apple Watch) Free version limits: + define up to 3 notifications + define up to 2 background actions + define up to 1 action per notification + use with local triggers or basic webhooks (no dynamic content or online actions) — Pro — + custom dynamic widgets + unlimited notification definitions + unlimited actions per notification + activate HomeKit scenes + unlimited background actions + dynamic notifications from service integrations + fully customizable actions using the powerful JSON API + execute online actions and web requests directly + input parameters for shortcuts and online actions + run and monitor an Automation Server (limits apply) — Automation Server Extended — + schedule server actions periodically + trigger delayed server actions + up to 5000 server requests per day Payments You can subscribe to a monthly or annual subscription plan. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the time of purchase. A subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your account settings on the App Store after making the purchase. Terms of Use: https://www.pushcut.io/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.pushcut.io/privacy

Screenshots

Prowl3 screens
Pushcut4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Pushcut at Free against Prowl's $2.99. Pushcut also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 7 months) and ratings volume (535 vs 106). Prowl's advantage is review sentiment (88% vs 52%) and in-app purchases (none vs 5). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Pushcut is free to download; Prowl costs $2.99 up front. Pushcut sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Prowl asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Prowl holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pushcut has 535 ratings behind it against 106, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Prowl's written reviews are positive against 52% of Pushcut's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Prowl ships an update every 7 months, Pushcut monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Prowl versus Pushcut: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterProwlPushcut
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (106 ratings) — better4.4 (535 ratings)
Positive reviews87.7% of reviews — better52.2% of reviews
Number of ratings106535 — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB185 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperProwl Solutions LLCSimon Peter Leeb

Customer experience

Prowl

All ratings106 ratings
Positive90.6%
Neutral1.9%
Negative7.5%
Written reviews243 reviews
Positive87.7%
Neutral3.3%
Negative9.1%

Pushcut

All ratings535 ratings
Positive85.0%
Neutral3.0%
Negative12.0%
Written reviews115 reviews
Positive52.2%
Neutral8.7%
Negative39.1%

User reviews

Prowl

From 106 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Works consistently and reliably
  • 🚀 Versatile and customizable
  • 👍 Easy to set up and use
  • 👍 Indispensable for monitoring and notifications
  • 🚀 Prompt and fast push notifications

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional visual bugs or glitches
  • 📚 Interface looks dated and needs update
  • 🔋 High battery consumption when used extensively

Pushcut

From 535 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great app
  • 🚀 Powerful automation
  • 🚀 Excellent for HomeKit
  • 🚀 Gives full control over notifications
  • 🚀 Reliable for background actions

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Unreliable, often needs to be restarted
  • 🔑 Paywall for essential features
  • 🔋 Battery drain issues
  • 🤔 Steep learning curve
  • 🤔 Confusing setup and documentation

Bugs and requests

Prowl

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Inconsistent notification delivery
  • Login issues on mobile app

Requested features

4 requests
  • Support for modern iPhone screen sizes
  • Custom notification sounds
  • Improved notification management (e.g. delete multiple)
  • Integration with Apple Watch

Pushcut

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Shortcuts not running properly on remote server
  • Widgets not updating in a timely manner
  • Notification delivery issues, especially with location-based triggers
  • Server setup process often fails

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add live activities support
  • Allow launching apps directly from notifications
  • Improve widget performance and reliability
  • Provide more notification sound options
  • Make server setup easier and more flexible

In-app purchases

None

Prowl

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Pushcut

Subscriptions4
  • Pro monthly$1.991 Month
  • Server Extended (Month)$2.491 Month
  • Pro yearly7 Days trial$17.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Server Extended (Year)$22.491 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Prowl free?
Prowl costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pushcut free?
Pushcut is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Prowl or Pushcut?
Prowl is rated higher. Prowl averages 4.6 out of 5 from 106 ratings, while Pushcut averages 4.4 from 535 ratings.
Do Prowl or Pushcut have ads?
Neither Prowl nor Pushcut shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Prowl or Pushcut?
Prowl ships an update every 7 months, and Pushcut monthly. Most recently, Prowl was updated on September 22, 2026 and Pushcut on September 26, 2026.

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