Comparison

CaringBridge vs Refer & Share

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

Head to head
About

CaringBridge

This platform offers a private, ad-free space for family caregivers to share updates and coordinate care for loved ones on a health journey. It fosters a supportive community, helping to alleviate feelings of isolation and overwhelm by connecting people through shared experiences.

Highlights
  • Private, ad-free health journey platform
  • Share updates with everyone at once
  • Document health journey progress
  • Coordinate care with family and friends
  • Connect with a supportive community
Features
Read full description

CaringBridge is a no-cost, 501(c)(3) nonprofit health platform that surrounds family caregivers with support while they care for a loved one on a health journey. A donor-supported nonprofit founded in 1997, the organization offers tools to share and document a health journey, simplify care coordination, and connect caregivers with a supportive community. CaringBridge addresses feelings of overwhelm, isolation, and loneliness by improving emotional health and social connectedness, helping people come together in support of healing. With over 300,000 people on the platform every day sending or receiving support, there are over 1,600 messages of love, hope, and compassion posted every hour. And every 12 minutes a new CaringBridge page is started. The CaringBridge community includes all 50 states and more than 242 countries around the world. To learn more visit www.caringbridge.org. Private, protected, and ad-free · A trusted, private, and ad-free space that only a nonprofit like CaringBridge can provide to support family caregivers and their loved ones on a health journey. Communicate to everyone all at once · Communicate to everyone all at once in a safe and private space, relieving the burden of individually updating people. Capture and process every step of the health journey · The very act of capturing a loved one’s health journey improves emotional health and social support. Coordinate care with family and friends · Making it easy to ask for help, because we know it’s often the most difficult thing to ask for.

About

Refer & Share

Easily share contact information of friends and family interested in Marriott Vacation Club. Earn rewards like Marriott Bonvoy™ Points or maintenance fee credits when your referrals join. The process is simple: select contacts, send invitations, and receive rewards upon successful referrals.

Highlights
  • Share friend and family contact information
  • Learn about FriendShare rewards
  • Send exclusive invitations
  • Earn Marriott Bonvoy™ Points
  • Receive Maintenance Fee credits
  • Simple Select, Give, Receive process
Features
Read full description

Referring Friends Is Easier than Ever We’ve unveiled a new FriendShareTM Application called Refer & Share that makes it easier to share your friends’ and family members’ contact information with us, learn more about the rewards of FriendShare and more. When your referrals join Marriott Vacation Club, you can earn Marriott Bonvoy™ Points or credits toward Maintenance Fees. It’s as simple as Select, Give and Receive: Select – Send a message to those friends and family from your contacts who you feel would enjoy Marriott Vacation Club. Give – Each referral you select will receive an exclusive invitation to attend a preview presentation about Marriott Vacation Club. Receive – If your referrals choose to join, you can receive up to 150,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points or US$1,500 Maintenance Fee credit. Ready to refer a friend? Download the new Refer & Share App today!

Screenshots

CaringBridge4 screens
Refer & Share4 screens

Verdict

The call

CaringBridge and Refer & Share both sit at 4.9 stars, but that hides the real split: 63% of CaringBridge's written reviews are positive against 0% of Refer & Share's. CaringBridge also leads on ratings volume (19K vs 1). Refer & Share's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for CaringBridge against 5.0 for Refer & Share. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CaringBridge has 19K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 63% of CaringBridge's written reviews are positive against 0% of Refer & Share's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CaringBridge ships an update monthly, Refer & Share every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
CaringBridge versus Refer & Share: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCaringBridgeRefer & Share
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (19K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews63.0% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings19K — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS18.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB166 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCaringBridge.orgLerna Private Limited

Customer experience

CaringBridge

All ratings19,469 ratings
Positive97.9%
Neutral0.6%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews319 reviews
Positive63.0%
Neutral10.7%
Negative26.3%

Refer & Share

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

CaringBridge

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App freezing/crashing issues
  • Inability to view recent updates
  • Sharing/linking functionality problems
  • Inconsistent behavior across platforms

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improve app stability and performance
  • Clarify donation process and usage
  • Enhance user experience and navigation
  • Provide better notification system

Refer & Share

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

CaringBridge

No in-app purchases

None

Refer & Share

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is CaringBridge free?
CaringBridge is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Refer & Share free?
Refer & Share is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, CaringBridge or Refer & Share?
Refer & Share is rated higher. CaringBridge averages 4.9 out of 5 from 19K ratings, while Refer & Share averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do CaringBridge or Refer & Share have ads?
Neither CaringBridge nor Refer & Share shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CaringBridge or Refer & Share?
CaringBridge ships an update monthly, and Refer & Share every 3 weeks. Most recently, CaringBridge was updated on October 30, 2026 and Refer & Share on October 21, 2026.

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