# NJ.com vs Breaking News Network

The clearest difference is rating: NJ.com at 4.5 against Breaking News Network's 3.3. NJ.com also leads on ratings volume (25K vs 41) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). Breaking News Network's advantage is review sentiment (58% vs 19%) and in-app purchases (none vs 18). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. NJ.com sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Breaking News Network asks for nothing beyond the download.

NJ.com holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NJ.com has 25K ratings behind it against 41, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 19% of NJ.com's written reviews are positive against 58% of Breaking News Network's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

NJ.com ships an update every 3 weeks, Breaking News Network every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | NJ.com | Breaking News Network |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.5 (25K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/njcom/id419202474/reviews)** | [3.3 (41 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/breaking-news-network/id506968697/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **25K** | 41 |
| Positive reviews | 18.7% of reviews | **57.7% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 3 weeks** | Every 3 months |
| Monetization | Subscription | **Free** |
| Best chart rank | **#59** | — |
| Size | 32 MB | 55 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | **15.6** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [NJ.com](https://appshunter.io/developer/419202477) | [Breaking News Network](https://appshunter.io/developer/506968700) |

## What reviewers say

### NJ.com

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/njcom/id419202474)

**Currently charting:** #59 Top Grossing · News, #149 Top Free · News (US App Store)

Stay informed with local news, sports, and weather impacting your community. Access timely and reliable reporting from journalists who live and work in your area. Covers a wide range of topics including news, politics, business, and culture.

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

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

**In-app purchases (16)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Rutgers Sports Insider | $5.99 | per month |
| Digital Access | $9.99 | per month |
| Digital Access | $9.99 | per month |
| Subscriber Exclusive Content | $9.99 | per month |
| Subscriber Exclusive Content | $9.99 | per month |
| Monthly Access | $10.00 | per month |
| All Access to NJ.com | $10.00 | per month |
| All Access to NJ.com | $11.99 | per month |
| All Access to NJ.com | $15.00 | per month |
| All Access to New Jersey | $15.00 | per month |
| Rutgers Sports Insider | $59.99 | per year |
| All Access to NJ.com | $75.00 | per year |
| All Access to NJ.com | $99.99 | per year |
| Subscriber Exclusive Content | $99.99 | per year |
| Annual Access | $100.00 | per year |
| All Access to NJ.com | $119.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🗞️ Informative local news coverage
- 📰 Reliable source for NJ news
- 🔍 Helpful search functionality

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🔒 Excessive paywall restrictions
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes
- 💤 Slow loading times and performance issues
- 📢 Overwhelming ads and notifications
- 🗣️ Lack of user commenting features

**Reported bugs**

- Login issues and inability to access subscriber content
- Frequent app crashes and freezes
- Navigation and search functionality problems
- Incompatibility with certain devices and OS versions

**Requested features**

- Bring back ability to save articles
- Improve app stability and performance
- Offer more free content access
- Restore team-specific sports browsing
- Add user commenting functionality


### Breaking News Network

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/breaking-news-network/id506968697)

Receive real-time local news and fire alerts with proximity notifications. View and submit local news as it happens, complete with images and videos. This free app is for members of the Breaking News Network.

**Highlights:** Real-time news alerts, Fire notifications, Proximity alerting, Navigation and mapping, Image and video viewing, Submit local news

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- ⚡️ Responsive customer service
- 🔔 Quick and to-the-point notifications
- ✨ Customizable alerts
- 🗺️ Map format searches requested
- 📈 Data export requested

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💸 Extremely overpriced
- ⏳ App not updated in years
- 👎 Subscription service is mediocre
- 😠 Unprofessional customer service
- ⚖️ Unfair sharing of events

**Reported bugs**

- App crashes regularly
- App consistently crashes, forcing a restart
- Ringtone settings reset almost weekly
- App has completely shut down, no notifications
- Notification badge shows dozens of unread messages

**Requested features**

- Searches shown in map format
- Searches go back further
- Data export functionality
- Include precinct number on reports
- Option to unfollow or mute notifications from an incident


## Frequently asked questions

### Is NJ.com free?

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

### Is Breaking News Network free?

Breaking News Network is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, NJ.com or Breaking News Network?

NJ.com is rated higher. NJ.com averages 4.5 out of 5 from 25K ratings, while Breaking News Network averages 3.3 from 41 ratings.

### Do NJ.com or Breaking News Network have ads?

Neither NJ.com nor Breaking News Network shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, NJ.com or Breaking News Network?

NJ.com ships an update every 3 weeks, and Breaking News Network every 3 months. Most recently, NJ.com was updated on October 23, 2026 and Breaking News Network on October 20, 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.*