Guidebook vs CNS News
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Guidebook
This application serves as a comprehensive guide for events, conferences, and campuses. Users can build personalized schedules, access detailed information about speakers and sponsors, and navigate venues with interactive maps. It also facilitates attendee engagement through messaging and a social feed.
- Personalized schedule and to-do lists
- Speaker and sponsor information
- Venue and local area maps
- In-app search functionality
- Attendee messaging and engagement
- Interactive social feed
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Guidebook is your guide to events, conferences, campuses, and more. Download the app to: [+] Build your personal schedule and to-do lists. [+] Easily access speaker, sponsor, exhibitor information, and more. [+] View maps of the venue and local area. [+] Simply search for information within the app. [+] Connect and engage with other attendees through private messages. [+] Share photos, likes, and comments on the interactive social feed.
CNS News
This app provides award-winning news coverage of issues important to Maryland residents, produced by students from the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. It has been delivering impactful reporting since 1990.
- Award-winning news coverage
- Student-powered journalism
- Focus on Maryland issues
- Established news organization since 1990
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Capital News Service (CNS) is a student-powered news organization run by the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Since 1990, CNS has produced award-winning coverage of issues of import to Marylanders.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Guidebook at every 2 weeks against CNS News's every 14 months. Guidebook also leads on ratings volume (3.7K vs 2) and chart position (#205 vs unranked). CNS News's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
CNS News holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Guidebook has 3.7K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Guidebook ships an update every 2 weeks, CNS News every 14 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Guidebook | CNS News |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (3.7K ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 52.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3.7K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 14 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #205 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 57 MB | 454 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Guidebook Inc | Media Minds, Inc. |
Customer experience
Guidebook
CNS News
Bugs and requests
Guidebook
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when trying to view event details
- Inability to add custom events to schedule
- Incorrect location pinpointing on maps
- Notification issues and unwanted alerts
Requested features
5 requests- Dark mode option
- Ability to sync schedule across devices
- More customization options for user profile
- Better event filtering and search capabilities
- Integration with calendar apps
CNS News
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Guidebook
No in-app purchases
CNS News
No in-app purchases
