Dianping vs INITIAL
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Dianping
Discover local businesses, attractions, and activities. Find user reviews and photos for restaurants, hotels, and entertainment. Plan your next outing with curated guides and book tickets or accommodations.
- Local business discovery
- User reviews and photos
- Restaurant recommendations
- Travel guides and booking
- Family entertainment options
- Novel experience suggestions
- Life service listings
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Dianping is a platform focused on sharing local lifestyle consumption methods, helping everyone explore and discover exciting places both inside and outside the city, enriching leisure time. Not only does it provide information on a wide array of popular new businesses and attractions, but it also offers photos and reviews from users who have visited these spots, aiding in your decision-making process for restaurants, accommodations, scenic spots, and more. [Food Recommendations] From newly opened hotspots to internet-famous restaurants, time-honored brands, and local favorite street vendors, Dianping features various types of restaurants along with real user reviews, enabling food enthusiasts to discover delightful surprises nearby. You can also make payments instantly and enjoy group-buying discounts. [Travel Guides] Wondering where to go for vacation? Check out Dianping for travel notes and guides for popular destinations nationwide, less crowded picturesque spots, city outskirts tours, and free urban flower viewing and greenery locations. Purchase tickets and book hotels all in one place. [Family Entertainment] Find comprehensive malls suitable for family outings, children’s amusement parks, arts/tech exhibitions, and green parks to enjoy high-quality family time during the weekend. Share experiences as parents on family-friendly trips. [Novel Experiences] Embrace youth by experiencing the extraordinary. Engage in a thrilling afternoon of escape room games, spontaneous hiking and camping trips, leisurely handcraft sessions, city surfing, diving, rock climbing, or sipping drinks at a bar in the evening. Quickly group up with like-minded friends and experience a unique weekend. Additionally, you can find various life services on Dianping, such as beauty and hair care, wedding photography, fitness activities, home renovation, and cleaning services.
INITIAL
Discover a unique shopping journey with this application. It offers an unusual and engaging way to explore products and find what you're looking for.
- Unique shopping experience
- Product exploration
- Engaging interface
- Fashion discovery
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Latest initial Mobile App: Explore unusual shopping experience
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: INITIAL at 79% against Dianping's 39%. INITIAL also leads on ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Dianping's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (7K vs 2). On price and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
INITIAL holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Dianping has 7K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of Dianping's written reviews are positive against 79% of INITIAL's.
Dianping ships an update every 6 days, INITIAL every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dianping | INITIAL |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (7K ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 38.7% of reviews | 79.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 242 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hanhai Information Technology (Shanghai) Co.Ltd | INITIAL FASHION CO., LIMITED |
Customer experience
Dianping
INITIAL
Bugs and requests
Dianping
Reported bugs
4 issues- Login and registration issues
- Incompatibility with newer devices and OS versions
- Content not loading properly
- Forced app updates with no clear improvements
Requested features
4 requests- Add English language support
- Improve translation quality
- Optimize app size and performance
- Provide better tools for international users
INITIAL
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Dianping
No in-app purchases
INITIAL
No in-app purchases
