OnCampus vs Budburst
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
OnCampus
Navigate and engage with university life through real-time information on campus services, transportation, and emergency alerts. Access course catalogs, dining options, and campus maps to enhance your experience.
- Emergency alerts
- Course catalog browsing
- Live bus tracking
- Campus directory
- Interactive campus map
- Real-time parking data
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OnCampus is your live connection to NC State. Track Wolfline buses, see open dining spots, check how busy the gym is and find open parking. BUS TRACKING • Real-time arrival predictions for Wolfline, GoRaleigh and GoTriangle buses • Watch buses move along their routes • Plan your trips on campus DINING • See which dining locations are nearby and open right now • Find hours and service updates at a glance LIVE CROWD LEVELS • Real-time crowd levels at gyms and libraries • Pick the right time to work out or find a quiet spot to study PARKING AVAILABILITY • See live space counts in campus parking decks and lots • Find visitor and permit areas before you drive in INTERACTIVE CAMPUS MAP • Find buildings, dining, bus stops, parking, bike racks and accessible routes • Search with walking, driving and transit directions CAMPUS RESOURCES • Search NC State services, offices and tools • Tailored to students, faculty, staff, parents and visitors WOLFALERTS AND NOTIFICATIONS • Get WolfAlert emergency notifications • Opt in to updates on campus topics of interest EVENTS, NEWS AND CAMPUS MEDIA • Browse what's happening on campus • Find university news and media in one place
Budburst
Observe and record plant data to contribute to a national community science project. Identify plants, track their life cycles, and collaborate with others to understand and preserve nature.
- Observe plants with interactive map
- In-app plant identification tool
- Monitor plant life cycles
- Track plant-animal interactions
- Collaborate in community groups
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Capturing the beauty of nature and collecting plant data has never been easier. With the Budburst app, you can contribute to a national community science project by observing plants, uploading your data, and sharing your findings in an instant. When you use the Budburst app, you can observe plants in your area with the interactive map, learn about plants with the in-app identification tool, monitor plant life cycles and plant-animal interactions over time, and collaborate in groups with other community scientists. Preserve the nature around you by helping us better understand it.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: OnCampus at 4.8 against Budburst's 4.2. OnCampus also leads on ratings volume (74 vs 13). Budburst's advantage is review sentiment (50% vs 40%) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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.
OnCampus holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: OnCampus has 74 ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 40% of OnCampus's written reviews are positive against 50% of Budburst's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
OnCampus ships an update every 6 weeks, Budburst every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | OnCampus | Budburst |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (74 ratings) — better | 4.2 (13 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 40.0% of reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 74 — better | 13 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 30 MB | 48 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | North Carolina State University | Chicago Horticultural Society |
Customer experience
OnCampus
Budburst
In-app purchases
OnCampus
No in-app purchases
Budburst
No in-app purchases
