# Wikipedia vs Wayback Machine

The clearest difference is rating: Wikipedia at 4.3 against Wayback Machine's 2.2. Wikipedia also leads on review sentiment (55% vs 16%) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). Wayback Machine's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Wikipedia holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 2.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Wikipedia has 6.3K ratings behind it against 279, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 55% of Wikipedia's written reviews are positive against 16% of Wayback Machine's.

Wikipedia ships an update every 2 weeks, Wayback Machine every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Wikipedia | Wayback Machine |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.3 (6.3K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wikipedia/id324715238/reviews)** | [2.2 (279 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wayback-machine/id1201888313/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **6.3K** | 279 |
| Positive reviews | **54.6% of reviews** | 15.8% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 2 weeks** | Every 2 months |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | **#42** | — |
| Size | 251 MB | 15 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | **12.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 9+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [Wikimedia Foundation](https://appshunter.io/developer/324715241) | [Internet Archive](https://appshunter.io/developer/1197048903) |

## What reviewers say

### Wikipedia

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wikipedia/id324715238)

**Currently charting:** #42 Top Free · Reference (US App Store)

Access the world's largest free knowledge base with over 60 million articles in nearly 300 languages. Explore trending topics, save articles for offline reading, and customize your reading experience with various themes and text sizes. Contribute to the community by editing articles and participating in discussions.

**Highlights:** Ad-free and free knowledge access, 60+ million articles in 300+ languages, Personalized trending news feed, Offline article saving, Customizable reading themes and text size, Map-based location discovery, Article discussion and contribution tools

**Features:** iMessage stickers, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Vast information repository
- 👍 Customizable reading experience
- 🚀 Convenient offline access
- 👍 Reliable and trustworthy content
- 👍 Excellent app design and UI

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional crashes and freezes
- 🔋 High data usage and battery drain
- 🔒 Concerns about political bias and censorship
- 🔒 Unreliable editing process and information accuracy

**Reported bugs**

- Unresponsive save button
- Duplicate saved articles issue
- Broken search functionality
- Landscape mode rendering problems
- Syncing issues with offline content

**Requested features**

- Add tabs for multi-article browsing
- Implement a forward navigation button
- Improve saved articles management
- Integrate text-to-speech functionality
- Provide more granular content filtering options


### Wayback Machine

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wayback-machine/id1201888313)

Preserve web pages and tweets for the future. Share content directly to the app to archive it, ensuring links remain accessible for decades. Easily share archived URLs across various platforms.

**Highlights:** Archive web pages, Archive tweets, Share content to archive, Generate shareable URLs, Long-term preservation

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Fast and reliable archiving
- 📚 Vast collection of archived content
- 🔒 Secure and trustworthy platform

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Unintuitive and difficult to navigate
- 🔑 Login and account issues
- 💻 Poor mobile optimization

**Reported bugs**

- Login and account creation problems
- Archiving failures and errors
- Crashes and freezes when loading content
- Unresponsive UI elements

**Requested features**

- Add search functionality
- Improve back/close navigation
- Implement offline content access
- Integrate with other apps and browsers


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Wikipedia free?

Wikipedia is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Wayback Machine free?

Wayback Machine is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Wikipedia or Wayback Machine?

Wikipedia is rated higher. Wikipedia averages 4.3 out of 5 from 6.3K ratings, while Wayback Machine averages 2.2 from 279 ratings.

### Do Wikipedia or Wayback Machine have ads?

Neither Wikipedia nor Wayback Machine shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Wikipedia or Wayback Machine?

Wikipedia ships an update every 2 weeks, and Wayback Machine every 2 months. Most recently, Wikipedia was updated on September 24, 2026 and Wayback Machine on September 23, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*