# cleveland.com vs Star Beacon

cleveland.com and Star Beacon both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Star Beacon's written reviews are positive against 30% of cleveland.com's. Star Beacon also leads on monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription) and iOS requirement (12.4 vs 17.0). cleveland.com's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (12K vs 44). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. cleveland.com sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and Star Beacon sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for cleveland.com against 4.6 for Star Beacon. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: cleveland.com has 12K ratings behind it against 44, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 30% of cleveland.com's written reviews are positive against 100% of Star Beacon's.

cleveland.com ships an update every 3 weeks, Star Beacon every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | cleveland.com | Star Beacon |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.5 (12K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/clevelandcom/id394810586/reviews) | **[4.6 (44 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/star-beacon-ashtabula-oh/id912925057/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **12K** | 44 |
| Positive reviews | 29.8% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| Update frequency | **Every 3 weeks** | Every 4 months |
| Monetization | Subscription | **Free with in-app purchases** |
| Best chart rank | **#93** | — |
| Size | 34 MB | 44 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | **12.4** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | [cleveland.com](https://appshunter.io/developer/443416244) | [CNHI LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1422875061) |

## What reviewers say

### cleveland.com

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/clevelandcom/id394810586)

**Currently charting:** #93 Top Grossing · News (US App Store)

Stay informed with local news, sports, and weather updates impacting your community. Get timely and reliable reporting from trusted local journalists covering news, politics, business, and culture.

**Highlights:** Local news reporting, Sports coverage, Weather updates, Politics and business news, Cultural event coverage, Premium content access

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (14)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| cleveland.com Football Insider | $7.99 | per month |
| Digital Access | $9.99 | per month |
| Digital Access | $9.99 | per month |
| Digital Access | $9.99 | per month |
| Subscriber Exclusive Content | $9.99 | per month |
| All Access to cleveland.com | $10.00 | per month |
| All Access to cleveland.com | $11.99 | per month |
| All Access to Cleveland | $15.00 | per month |
| All access to cleveland.com | $75.00 | per year |
| Insider Digital | $79.99 | per year |
| All access to cleveland.com | $99.99 | per year |
| Subscriber Exclusive Content | $99.99 | per year |
| All Access to cleveland.com | $100.00 | per year |
| All access to cleveland.com | $119.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- ⭐ Informative local news and sports coverage
- 🌐 Convenient way to stay connected to Cleveland from afar

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐌 Slow app performance and frequent crashes
- 🔒 Inconsistent access to subscriber-only content
- 📰 Biased or low-quality journalism
- 💰 Excessive paywalling of content

**Reported bugs**

- Saved articles frequently deleted
- Inability to access specific sports sections

**Requested features**

- Improved search and navigation
- Restore high school sports coverage
- Bring back user comments and community features


### Star Beacon

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/star-beacon-ashtabula-oh/id912925057)

Access community news, commentary, photos, and videos on the go. Download content for offline reading and stay updated with breaking news, local weather, events, and classifieds. Share articles and local happenings with friends.

**Highlights:** Offline content downloads, Breaking news updates, Photo and video galleries, Print edition view, Local weather and events, Social sharing

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Today's ePaper | $1.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is cleveland.com free?

cleveland.com is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Star Beacon free?

Star Beacon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, cleveland.com or Star Beacon?

Star Beacon is rated higher. cleveland.com averages 4.5 out of 5 from 12K ratings, while Star Beacon averages 4.6 from 44 ratings.

### Do cleveland.com or Star Beacon have ads?

Both cleveland.com and Star Beacon show ads.

### Which is updated more often, cleveland.com or Star Beacon?

cleveland.com ships an update every 3 weeks, and Star Beacon every 4 months. Most recently, cleveland.com was updated on October 26, 2026 and Star Beacon on October 24, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*