Comparison

CaringBridge vs Cluster

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

Cluster

Create private groups to share photos and videos with specific people. Ideal for families, friends, or colleagues to share moments securely without broadcasting to a wider audience. Access your shared memories across mobile devices and the web.

Highlights
  • Create private sharing groups
  • Share photos and videos
  • Invite specific members
  • Web and mobile access
  • Relevant notifications
  • Secure and private sharing
Features
Read full description

* Featured as “New and Noteworthy” by Apple * Cluster makes it possible to create private groups where you share moments through photos and videos with the people you care about. Create a group with family, a group of friends, coworkers, people from your home town, or anyone else! Great for: • New Moms! Share photos of a new baby with close friends and family without spamming everyone on other social networks • College Students! Share memories with friends not appropriate for Facebook • Families! Keep in touch even if you’re not in the same place. Tons of people already trust Cluster. Here’s why: • Private & secure: Only invited members of the group can see what you post. • An app for everyone: Access Cluster through gorgeous mobile apps and the web. • Relevant notifications: Know when people you invited post new things to the group. How it works: 1. Create a group. 2. Add the people you care about. 3. Share photos, videos and notes together. People LOVE Cluster: • “The app is fantastic! Me and my sister were so happy to find it. We made a group of the whole family and its great. My big brother is living in Europe, my sister traveling for the next 4 months and the rest of the family lives in Chile. They upload pictures and we can see how and what they are doing. Its very simple to use (even our grandmother is in the group!).” • “I downloaded 10 different photo sharing apps, not including your Cluster app. I needed an app that allowed the creation of multiple albums, other users could join from anywhere, was password protected and SIMPLE. I deleted every app except your Cluster app. All the other apps were either too difficult to explain...to someone 8 hours away, too complicated to set up and/or upload, they limited the number of albums a user can create, required Bluetooth or wifi to share, or required a social media account to set up. Your app served all the purposes that I need. It is great, fabulous, fun & simple! Keep up the good work!” • “I really like the privacy of the app and the fact that only people invited or with the code can access our pictures.” • “I want to thank you all for such a wonderful product - it really has brought us all even closer together. The constant banter, the photo streams, the comedy...all of it...it's been awesome. So, as far as my feedback goes, I'd say this is an awesome program and we'll continue using it for as long as it's available!” The press LOVES Cluster: • Featured by the Apple App Store (“New and Noteworthy”), NYTimes, TechCrunch and many more! Cluster Club is a monthly or annual subscription to give admins more control over their groups. Check it out by visiting the Settings → Subscription Settings section of the app. By purchasing a subscription you agree to Cluster's Terms of Use: https://cluster.co/terms/ and Privacy Policy: https://cluster.co/privacy/

Screenshots

CaringBridge4 screens
Cluster4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: CaringBridge at none against Cluster's 6. Cluster's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Cluster sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. CaringBridge asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for CaringBridge against 4.8 for Cluster. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 19K and 22K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 63% of CaringBridge's written reviews are positive against 57% of Cluster's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CaringBridge ships an update monthly, Cluster every 2 months. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
CaringBridge versus Cluster: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCaringBridgeCluster
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (19K ratings) — better4.8 (22K ratings)
Positive reviews63.0% of reviews — better56.6% of reviews
Number of ratings19K22K — better
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB35 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCaringBridge.orgCluster Labs, Inc.

Customer experience

CaringBridge

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

Cluster

All ratings21,986 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral1.6%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews235 reviews
Positive56.6%
Neutral9.4%
Negative34.0%

User reviews

CaringBridge

From 19K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🙏 Helpful for keeping loved ones updated
  • 📢 Effective communication tool
  • 🕰️ Saves time from repeated updates
  • 🤝 Brings community support
  • 🗓️ Useful journal/record of journey

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy, glitchy app
  • 🤔 Confusing/misleading donation wording
  • 👨‍💻 Not user-friendly, needs UI improvements
  • 🔍 Difficult to navigate/find information

Cluster

From 22K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Great for sharing photos and videos
  • 🔒 Allows private sharing with selected groups
  • 💡 Helpful for keeping family connected
  • 👍 Simple and effective interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 🐛 Issues with photo/video uploads
  • 🐛 Unreliable notifications
  • 🐛 Glitchy performance after updates
  • 🔍 Lack of search and organization features

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

Cluster

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App crashes on launch for some users
  • Photos and videos fail to upload consistently
  • Notification issues - not receiving updates
  • Compatibility problems with newer Android devices
  • Unexpected errors when trying to access accounts

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to edit/delete posts
  • Improve photo/video upload reliability
  • Implement better notification system
  • Add option to create galleries/albums within groups
  • Enhance search and filtering capabilities

In-app purchases

None

CaringBridge

No in-app purchases

6 purchases

Cluster

Subscriptions6
  • Cluster Friend$4.991 Month
  • Cluster Family$9.991 Month
  • Cluster Pro$19.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Cluster Friend$49.991 Year
  • Cluster Family$99.991 Year
  • Cluster Pro$199.991 Year

Questions

Is CaringBridge free?
CaringBridge is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cluster free?
Cluster is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, CaringBridge or Cluster?
CaringBridge is rated higher. CaringBridge averages 4.9 out of 5 from 19K ratings, while Cluster averages 4.8 from 22K ratings.
Do CaringBridge or Cluster have ads?
Neither CaringBridge nor Cluster shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CaringBridge or Cluster?
CaringBridge ships an update monthly, and Cluster every 2 months. Most recently, CaringBridge was updated on September 24, 2026 and Cluster on September 24, 2026.

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