Comparison

SpareRoom vs Chancel

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

Head to head
About

SpareRoom

Find your ideal room or flatmate with the UK's leading platform. Browse thousands of listings across the UK, connect with potential housemates, and secure your perfect living situation on the go.

Highlights
  • Room and roommate search
  • Thousands of UK listings
  • On-the-go access
  • User support
  • Connect with housemates
Features
Read full description

As the UK’s number 1 flatshare site, we’ve helped over 13,000,000 people to find their perfect room or roommate. With our apps, you can do it all while on-the-go. Repeatedly featured by Apple as App Of The Day and in the categories of Your New Home, Apps for the Weekend, What’s Hot, and Popular Apps and Games. Rated by The Sunday Times as one of the top apps on the App Store. SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE Whether you’re starting university, relocating to the UK, tired of living alone, weighing up what to do with an empty room, or, quite simply, searching for another flatmate or flatshare, we’re the service for you. UNRIVALLED CHOICE With thousands of flatsharing opportunities to choose from in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and right across the UK, you’ll be able to find your perfect flatmate or flatshare. OUR PHILOSOPHY Experience has taught us that flatsharing is as much about the people as it is about the property. To help you find the best of both, we provide unparalleled tools, choice, and support. As a result, on average, every 3 minutes someone finds a flatmate through SpareRoom. HELP & SUPPORT Our award-winning customer support team are here to help you with your search. If you require support, come across a problem, or want to provide feedback, you can get in touch by email (support@spareroom.co.uk) or phone (1 877 834 2909).

About

Chancel

This app serves as a direct communication channel for churches to share timely and relevant information with their members. It consolidates news, events, alerts, photos, videos, and key information in an easily accessible format. Users can respond to forms and surveys directly within the app.

Highlights
  • Curated news and blogs
  • Interactive events calendar
  • Personalized push notifications
  • Photo and video galleries
  • Accessible key information
  • In-app forms and surveys
Read full description

Welcome to Chancel - the church app. Chancel is the most direct way for your church to provide you with rich, timely and relevant information. You can read it there and then, browse it later, respond if necessary, or simply use it as a reference source when out and about. News Blogs, sermons, website news, newsletters, and social media are all curated in one place in a format that is bite sized and looks great. Share the best bits and spread the word! Events Calendar Consistently a favourite feature, our event calendar is a lot more accessible than the one pinned to the fridge at home and it is more accurate too as it’s automatically updated and you can add priority events to your personal calendar. Alerts Push notifications or Alerts reach you quicker than a text and contain richer information which can take you right to the content in the app. Opt-in to whichever groups you most want to hear from to personalise these notifications. You are in control and won't be bombarded with everything or feel left out of the loop. Photos and Video Away over the holidays? Can’t always get out of the house? Catch up with events you missed on the app either through picture galleries or video. Key Information Contacts details, key dates, who’s who, legal policies - all easily accessible and all in one place. These are not necessarily the reading material of choice but if you do need to refer to some or all from time to time it's best have them handy, easily accessible and all in one place. No more need for paper or emailed forms which are such a bore to fill out and return. Now you can reply directly on the app in a few seconds if you’re in a hurry or at more length if not. Snap surveys are shorter and more to the point than online ones and equally easy to fill out and send back. This app is designed so that you will not share any personal data or manufacturer or network unique device identifiers with us when you download it. There is no advertising on the app. We do not use cookies to track you before or after you have left the app. We will never sell or share any data about users of this app with any commercial third parties. For full details, see the listing details below for links to our Privacy and Data policies.

Screenshots

SpareRoom4 screens
Chancel4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Chancel at 100% against SpareRoom's 49%. Chancel also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 10) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). SpareRoom's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 months) and device support. On price 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. SpareRoom sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Chancel asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SpareRoom ships an update fortnightly, Chancel every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
SpareRoom versus Chancel: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpareRoomChancel
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (4.2K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews49.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.2K — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNo—
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad — better—
Requires iOS16.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size60 MB60 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperFlatshare LtdSchappit Ltd

Customer experience

SpareRoom

All ratings4,153 ratings
Positive92.2%
Neutral3.4%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews400 reviews
Positive49.0%
Neutral13.3%
Negative37.8%

Chancel

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

SpareRoom

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes and sign-outs
  • Inconsistent behavior between app and website
  • Issues with updating and editing listings

Requested features

4 requests
  • Better messaging/communication tools
  • More advanced search and filtering options
  • Improved verification of listings and users
  • Feedback/review system for landlords/tenants

Chancel

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

SpareRoom

One-time7
  • Boost$9.99
  • 7-Day Upgrade$12.99
  • 1-Week Upgrade2 variants$15.00
Show 4 more
  • Verification$15.00
  • 14-Day Upgrade$23.99
  • 30-Day Upgrade2 variants$25.99
  • 4-Week Upgrade2 variants$30.00
None

Chancel

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SpareRoom free?
SpareRoom is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chancel free?
Chancel is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which is updated more often, SpareRoom or Chancel?
SpareRoom ships an update fortnightly, and Chancel every 5 months. Most recently, SpareRoom was updated on November 10, 2026 and Chancel on November 11, 2026.

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