Comparison

Prowl vs Helmarr

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

Helmarr

Manage all your self-hosted services from a single, native iOS interface. Seamlessly integrate and control applications like Sonarr, Radarr, and Unraid with advanced features and customization.

Highlights
  • Unified experience for multiple services
  • Smart multi-network connectivity
  • Deep customization options
  • Home screen widgets
  • Unraid control
  • Push notifications
  • SSH & SFTP access
  • Download management
Features
Read full description

Helmarr provides a unified, native iOS interface for your self-hosted services. Stop relying on responsive web UIs and manage your entire stack in an app where your services actually work hand-in-hand. Currently supported: Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, Bazarr, Unraid, SSH (+SFTP), Tautulli, Jellystat, Overseerr, Jellyseerr, Seerr, qBt, SABnzbd, NZBGet, Wizarr, Prowlarr, Transmission, Deluge. Key Features: - A Truly Unified Experience: Your stack shouldn't feel like separate silos. Helmarr brings Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, Seerr, and Tautulli together. Browse your library, approve requests, and view active streams in one seamless interface. - Smart Connectivity: Full multi-network support allows you to define primary and fallback hosts. Helmarr automatically switches between your LAN IP and WAN/DNS address depending on where you are. - Make It Your Own: Deep customization options let you tweak the app to your liking. Change accent colors, rearrange your tab bar, and set custom headers to match your personal aesthetic. - Home Screen Widgets: Keep an eye on your download queue, upcoming releases, or server stats at a glance without even opening the app. - Unraid Control: Real-time monitoring of Shares, Parity status, Disks, and Warnings. Start/Stop Docker containers and VMs instantly. - Push Notifications: Stay in the loop with configurable alerts for grabs, successful imports, and critical health checks. - Terminal & Vitals: Full SSH & SFTP access with live resource monitoring (CPU/RAM/Net). Manage processes and containers via command line. - Download Management: Remote control for SABnzbd and NZBGet. Pause, resume, reorder queues, and set speed limits on the fly. - Release Browser: Don't just rely on automation—search, filter, and manually grab specific releases with ease. - Onboarding: Generate and manage user invites via Wizarr. Website: https://helmarr.com/ Terms of Service: https://helmarr.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://helmarr.com/privacy

Screenshots

Prowl3 screens
Helmarr4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Helmarr at Free against Prowl's $2.99. Helmarr also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 7 months) and rating (4.9 vs 4.6). Prowl's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 19) and review sentiment (88% vs 76%). On ratings volume, 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

Helmarr is free to download; Prowl costs $2.99 up front. Helmarr sells 19 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Prowl asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Helmarr holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 106 and 172 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 88% of Prowl's written reviews are positive against 76% of Helmarr's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Prowl ships an update every 7 months, Helmarr weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Prowl versus Helmarr: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterProwlHelmarr
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (106 ratings)4.9 (172 ratings) — better
Positive reviews87.7% of reviews — better75.9% of reviews
Number of ratings106172 — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS8.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB170 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperProwl Solutions LLCFlorian Ernst

Customer experience

Prowl

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

Helmarr

All ratings172 ratings
Positive95.9%
Neutral1.2%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews145 reviews
Positive75.9%
Neutral7.6%
Negative16.6%

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

Helmarr

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Prowl

No in-app purchases

19 purchases

Helmarr

Subscriptions3
  • Helmarr Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Ultra Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Helmarr Pro Yearly Subscription$17.991 Year
One-time16
  • Bazarr$3.99
  • Deluge$4.99
  • Plex$4.99
Show 13 more
  • Transmission$4.99
  • NZBGet$4.99
  • Lidarr$4.99
  • Unraid$4.99
  • SABnzbd$4.99
  • Tautulli$4.99
  • Sonarr$4.99
  • Radarr$4.99
  • Seerr$4.99
  • qBt$4.99
  • Prowlarr$4.99
  • Helmarr Pro - Lifetime$29.99
  • Lifetime Pro$34.99

Questions

Is Prowl free?
Prowl costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Helmarr free?
Helmarr is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Prowl or Helmarr?
Helmarr is rated higher. Prowl averages 4.6 out of 5 from 106 ratings, while Helmarr averages 4.9 from 172 ratings.
Do Prowl or Helmarr have ads?
Neither Prowl nor Helmarr shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Prowl or Helmarr?
Prowl ships an update every 7 months, and Helmarr weekly. Most recently, Prowl was updated on October 14, 2026 and Helmarr on October 12, 2026.

Other comparisons