Comparison

SpareRoom US vs OnHand

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

Head to head
About

SpareRoom US

Find your ideal room or roommate across the US. Filter by lifestyle preferences like profession, student status, dietary choices, and pet ownership. Connect with thousands of listings nationwide to discover your perfect living situation.

Highlights
  • Roommate filtering by profession and student status
  • Filter by dietary preferences and pet ownership
  • Thousands of room-sharing opportunities nationwide
  • On-the-go searching and management
  • Award-winning customer support
Features
Read full description

After helping over 13,000,000 people in the UK find their perfect room or roommate, we've come to help in the US. With our apps, you can do it all while on-the-go. Repeatedly featured by Apple in the categories of Your New Home, Apps for the Weekend, What's Hot, and Popular Apps and Games. Covered by The New York Times, Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE Whether you're starting college, relocating within or to the US, tired of living alone, weighing up what to do with an empty room, or, quite simply, searching for another roommate or roomshare, we’re the service for you. YOUR PERFECT ROOMIE We understand that finding your perfect roommate, housemate or roomshare can be a daunting task, but it really doesn’t have to be. Using the SpareRoom app you can filter potential roommates via a range of attributes ensuring you find a perfect new housemate or roomshare! Pick from whether you want your roommate to be a professional, student or other to make sure you're both on the same page when it comes to living together. We'll even allow you to go even more granular by filtering roommates on things like 'are they vegetarian' and 'do they allow pets'. UNRIVALLED CHOICE With thousands of room-sharing opportunities to choose from right across the US, you'll be able to find your perfect roommate or roomshare. We're all across the US so you can find a roommate or roomshare from NYC all the way to San Francisco. OUR PHILOSOPHY Experience has taught us that finding a great roomshare 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 roommate 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.com) or phone (1 877 834 2909).

About

OnHand

This app connects users with local causes and environmental initiatives to make a positive impact. It offers curated missions, climate-positive pledges, and tracks your contributions, allowing you to earn points and grow a virtual forest.

Highlights
  • Find local causes and missions
  • Take climate-positive pledges
  • Track volunteer hours and CO2e reduction
  • Earn Hero Points and climb leaderboards
  • Grow a virtual forest with completed missions
  • Connect with your team for impact
Features
Read full description

OnHand makes it easy for people to do more good in the world. We’re the social and environmental impact app for employees everywhere. We’re helping you learn and take action on the issues that really matter by connecting those in need with those who want to give. FIND LOCAL CAUSES CURATED FOR YOU Take part in local and remote missions around the topics of youth mentoring, food poverty, homelessness, elderly help, and loads more. Choose how you make a difference today! TAKE CLIMATE-POSITIVE PLEDGES Wash your clothes at 30°C, eat vegan for a week, go plastic-free… we’re giving you the tools to fight the climate emergency using our ever-growing list of sustainable lifestyle pledges. SHOUT ABOUT YOUR IMPACT Earn Hero Points for every good deed you do, climb a leaderboard, and show off to your friends! The OnHand app has automated volunteer and CO2e reduction tracking, with impact pages to shout about the good you’re doing. GROW YOUR OWN FOREST Every good deed you do helps to grow a forest. Not only do you get to make a real difference in your local community, we’ll plant a tree for every 10 missions you complete. It’s simple to get started: Download the app Verify your details Join your team to start completing missions! Make the impact you want with mini missions that suit you. Make a global impact, fight the climate crisis, and meet your responsible business goals. It really is that easy. Do good and feel great today.

Screenshots

SpareRoom US4 screens
OnHand4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: OnHand at 93% against SpareRoom US's 34%. OnHand also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 12) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). SpareRoom US's advantage is ratings volume (5.9K vs 3). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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 US sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. OnHand asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

OnHand holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SpareRoom US has 5.9K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 34% of SpareRoom US's written reviews are positive against 93% of OnHand's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SpareRoom US ships an update every 3 weeks, OnHand fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
SpareRoom US versus OnHand: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpareRoom USOnHand
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (5.9K ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews33.6% of reviews93.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.9K — better3
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size60 MB95 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFlatshare LtdBEONHAND LIMITED

Customer experience

SpareRoom US

All ratings5,834 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral4.2%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews107 reviews
Positive33.6%
Neutral4.7%
Negative61.7%

OnHand

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews92 reviews
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.2%
Negative4.3%

User reviews

SpareRoom US

From 5.9K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 🤑 Helped find a roommate quickly
  • 💰 Affordable
  • 👍 Convenient features

Room to improve

  • 💰 Paid features required to fully utilize
  • 🤖 Fake/bot accounts
  • 🤷‍♀️ Lack of user engagement
  • 🔒 Lack of security/verification
  • 🤬 Poor customer service

OnHand

From 3 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use and intuitive navigation
  • 🌱 Motivating tree-planting rewards system
  • 💡 Flexible missions for all commitment levels
  • 🎯 Gamification with leaderboards drives engagement
  • 🤝 Fosters community and team bonding

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes during login
  • 🐛 App crashes when clicking 'impact' feature
  • 🔍 Poor search and filtering functionality
  • 📝 Vague mission descriptions lacking detail
  • 🧭 Navigation challenges finding specific actions

Bugs and requests

SpareRoom US

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Frequent app crashes
  • Login/account issues
  • Inability to upload photos
  • Glitchy location search

Requested features

4 requests
  • Background checks for users
  • Better filtering and search options
  • Improved verification process
  • Easier profile customization

OnHand

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Login crashes and app shutdown
  • Impact feature causes app crash
  • Registration completion failures
  • App crashes during startup
  • Functionality issues in version 9.5.0

Requested features

8 requests
  • Improved search bar for missions
  • Better filtering options for actions
  • Enhanced mission descriptions with more detail
  • Custom team league table functionality
  • More consistent point system
Show 3 more
  • Improved navigation for locating missions
  • More mission availability in regional areas
  • Optional photo uploads for sensitive missions

In-app purchases

8 purchases

SpareRoom US

One-time8
  • Boost$9.99
  • 7-Day Upgrade2 variants$12.99
  • 1-Week Upgrade2 variants$15.00
Show 5 more
  • Verification$15.00
  • 14-Day Upgrade2 variants$23.99
  • 30-Day Upgrade$25.99
  • 30 days Bold Advertising$25.99
  • 4-Week Upgrade2 variants$30.00
None

OnHand

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SpareRoom US free?
SpareRoom US is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is OnHand free?
OnHand is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SpareRoom US or OnHand?
OnHand is rated higher. SpareRoom US averages 4.6 out of 5 from 5.9K ratings, while OnHand averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do SpareRoom US or OnHand have ads?
Neither SpareRoom US nor OnHand shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SpareRoom US or OnHand?
SpareRoom US ships an update every 3 weeks, and OnHand fortnightly. Most recently, SpareRoom US was updated on October 26, 2026 and OnHand on October 17, 2026.

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