Boston.com vs Boston Herald
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Boston.com
Access curated news alerts, weather updates, and sports scores. Stay informed about local and national news, lifestyle, and entertainment from a team of journalists.
- Curated news alerts
- Weather updates
- Sports scores
- Local and national news
- Lifestyle and entertainment coverage
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Boston.com is the essential digital destination for quick, award-winning local coverage across news, sports, weather, lifestyle, and community. No one knows Boston like we do, and no one delivers what the city cares about right now in a format this fast. Stay up to date on what’s happening in Boston and beyond when you download the app today. And make sure to turn on push notifications so you're always first to know what the city's talking about.
Boston Herald
Access personalized news recommendations and save articles for later. Customize notifications and enjoy offline reading. Browse the digital replica of the daily newspaper directly within the app.
- Personalized news recommendations
- Save articles for later
- Customizable push notifications
- Digital newspaper replica (E-News)
- Offline reading
- Follow/Unfollow topics
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Welcome to a new app experience, we have optimized our app and giving it a facelift! This faster iOS native app now has the following new features: Your News: Provide personalized recommendations for content based on user preferences. Users will be allowed to customize the content they want to engage with by selecting the topics they are truly interested in. By going to the “Your News” tab the user can bypass the noise of all that is published and home in on the content they want Saved Articles: Save feature that allows users to save articles or other content they are interested in for later reading or reference.Push notifications will remind users to read their saved articles or suggest related content Custom Push Notifications: The user can select what topics they want to be notified about which makes for a much less intrusive experience. Top Navigation Bar: A top navigation bar lets the user switch between sections by swiping or tapping. Enews in-app: Desire the newspaper experience? No need to open a separate app! By simply going to Settings and selecting E-News the user can browse the Digital Replica of the day’s paper. Offline Reading: This feature allows users to enable offline reading from Settings. Offline “Reading Preferences” can also be customized for Settings. Swipe Left: Instead of going back to the main section to find more articles, users have the option to simply swipe, immediately opening other articles in the Section. Follow Topics: A user will be shown articles on topics they are following. To follow select “follow” at the article level and related articles will gain relevancy and be shown more frequently. Just as easily “Unfollow” Terms of Use: https://www.medianewsgroup.com/terms-of-use/ https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Boston.com at none against Boston Herald's 2. Boston.com also leads on review sentiment (34% vs 13%) and ratings volume (7.5K vs 970). Boston Herald's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months) and chart position (#186 vs unranked). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Boston Herald sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $11.99 per month. Boston.com asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Boston.com against 4.6 for Boston Herald. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Boston.com has 7.5K ratings behind it against 970, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 34% of Boston.com's written reviews are positive against 13% of Boston Herald's.
Boston.com ships an update every 3 months, Boston Herald monthly. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.
| Parameter | Boston.com | Boston Herald |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (7.5K ratings) | 4.6 (970 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 33.8% of reviews — better | 13.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 7.5K — better | 970 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #186 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 98 MB | 188 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC | MediaNews Group |
Customer experience
Boston.com
Boston Herald
User reviews
Boston.com
From 7.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ⭐️ Great news and sports coverage
- ⭐️ Wonderful app
- ⭐️ Best progressive newspaper
- ⭐️ Best sports section in Boston
- ⭐️ Favorite news source
Room to improve
- 💰 Hiding behind a paywall
- 🚫 No images
- 🕰️ Doesn't update enough
- 🕰️ Zero updates
- 🚫 Recycling of old stories
Boston Herald
From 970 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Decent site
- 👍 Great sports coverage
- 👍 Informative and balanced news
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy and frustrating app
- 🔍 Poor navigation and user experience
- 💰 Paywall for content
- 🔍 Outdated and cluttered layout
- 🔍 Small font size
Bugs and requests
Boston.com
Reported bugs
2 issues- Login screen freezes
- Incompatible with older devices
Requested features
2 requests- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
Boston Herald
Reported bugs
3 issues- Login issues
- Frequent crashes and freezes
- Compatibility problems with older devices
Requested features
3 requests- Dark mode option
- Improved navigation and organization
- Ability to customize font size
In-app purchases
Boston.com
No in-app purchases
Boston Herald
- Boston Herald Monthly Sub1 Month trial$11.991 Month
- Boston Herald Annual Sub1 Year trial$139.991 Year
Questions
Is Boston.com free?
Is Boston Herald free?
Which has better reviews, Boston.com or Boston Herald?
Do Boston.com or Boston Herald have ads?
Which is updated more often, Boston.com or Boston Herald?
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