Comparison

Powertime vs ESP

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

Head to head
About

Powertime

Easily purchase prepaid electricity and airtime, and pay municipal bills with a single click. Access your purchase history, view usage graphs, and find energy-saving tips. This app is exclusively for South African meters and networks.

Highlights
  • Prepaid electricity purchase
  • Airtime purchase
  • Municipal bill payment
  • Purchase history
  • Usage graphs
  • Energy saving tips
Features
Read full description

Buy Prepaid Electricity, airtime and Pay your bills in 1 click, 24/7, from anywhere. Features: Buy Prepaid Electricity and Airtime Pay municipal bills Purchase History Usage graphs Energy saving tips Only supports South African meters. Supported areas/networks are listed on https://powertime.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201877307-What-are-the-supported-areas-for-prepaid-electricity-vending- Please send your comments and suggestions to support@powertime.co.za.

About

ESP

Track South Africa's loadshedding schedules with accurate, real-time notifications for your specific area. Connect with neighbors in local community chats to discuss power outages, local faults, and other neighborhood happenings.

Highlights
  • Accurate loadshedding schedules by suburb
  • Real-time push notifications
  • Local community chat groups
  • Report local issues (power, water, etc.)
  • Follow multiple areas
  • Neighbor-to-neighbor communication
Features
Read full description

Whole street dark? Water off again? Wifi down? ESP (previously EskomSePush) shows live power, water and internet outages in your suburb, reported by the neighbours living through them. Then you can talk to them about it. Free, made in South Africa, and used by millions. IS IT JUST ME? Open ESP and know in seconds. Every area you follow shows the live status of power, water and internet, built from your neighbours' reports. - Check in with one tap: "Mine's off" or "I have power" - Watch it happen on a 24-hour chart of off and on reports - Read a short summary of what's going on while it lasts - See the moment it starts coming back on TALK TO YOUR AREA Every area has its own chats for power, water, internet and Ask my street. Post a photo of the burst pipe, ask who else heard the bang, find a plumber, return a lost dog. - Message people near you. They get a request first and decide whether to chat - Add a profile photo so the neighbours know who's who - Sign in with WhatsApp, Apple, Google or email STILL THE LOADSHEDDING APP Nobody wants it back. If it comes, ESP is ready. - Schedules for your actual suburb, not a block number - The famous 55-minute heads-up, so the kettle's on in time - Home, work, school and the folks, all in one list WEATHER FOR YOUR STREET Current conditions, the next 24 hours, a 14-day outlook and weather warnings for every area you follow. ALERTS ON YOUR TERMS Choose which chats notify you and for how long: 8 hours, 24 hours or always. Mute the noisy ones, keep the ones that matter. ESP SUPPORTER ESP is free. Become a Supporter to remove ads, add the home screen widget with your area's status and schedule, and get a supporter badge in chat. All of South Africa, suburb by suburb. Building something? The ESP Business API puts the same outage and schedule data in your product. More at esp.info Terms of use: https://esp.info/terms Privacy policy: https://esp.info/privacy ESP is independent and not affiliated with Eskom or any municipality.

Screenshots

Powertime4 screens
ESP4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ESP at 85% against Powertime's 42%. ESP also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (4.5K vs 6). Powertime's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ads (none vs shown). On price 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

Both are free to download. ESP sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Powertime asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Powertime holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ESP has 4.5K ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 42% of Powertime's written reviews are positive against 85% of ESP's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Powertime ships an update every 3 months, ESP every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Powertime versus ESP: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPowertimeESP
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better4.7 (4.5K ratings)
Positive reviews41.8% of reviews84.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings64.5K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB106 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperPowertimeWELLWELLWELL

Customer experience

Powertime

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews67 reviews
Positive41.8%
Neutral7.5%
Negative50.7%

ESP

All ratings4,453 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral2.5%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews297 reviews
Positive84.5%
Neutral6.7%
Negative8.8%

Bugs and requests

Powertime

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

ESP

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Schedules not updating in real-time
  • Notifications not working as expected
  • Certain areas/suburbs disappearing from the app

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add calendar integration for schedule planning
  • Improve user interface and layout
  • Provide more detailed historical data
  • Enable location services for automatic area detection

In-app purchases

None

Powertime

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

ESP

Subscriptions4
  • Pay Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Remove Ads for a year$13.991 Year
  • Pay Monthly$17.491 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pay Yearly$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Powertime free?
Powertime is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ESP free?
ESP is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Powertime or ESP?
Powertime is rated higher. Powertime averages 5.0 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while ESP averages 4.7 from 4.5K ratings.
Do Powertime or ESP have ads?
ESP shows ads; Powertime does not.
Which is updated more often, Powertime or ESP?
Powertime ships an update every 3 months, and ESP every 2 days. Most recently, Powertime was updated on October 7, 2026 and ESP on October 16, 2026.

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