Messenger vs Threads
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Messenger
Connect with friends and family through text, audio, and video calls. Share photos, videos, and large files, and express yourself with custom themes and animated content. Features an AI assistant for help and support.
- Text, audio, and video calls
- High-definition photo sharing
- Shared photo albums
- QR code connections
- Large file sharing (up to 100MB)
- Edit and unsend messages
- Disappearing messages
- AI assistant
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Messenger is a free messaging app that helps you connect with anyone, anywhere. Stay in touch with your friends and family, explore your interests with people like you, build your community, and share your vibe beyond words, all in one app. CHAT AND CALL ANYONE, ANYWHERE Find and connect with your friends and family on Facebook and Messenger, no phone number needed. GET INSTANT ANSWERS FROM YOUR AI ASSISTANT* Meta AI is your assistant that can answer any questions, give you advice, help with homework, and more. SEND YOUR PHOTOS IN HIGH DEFINITION Send and receive clearer, crisper picture of your favorite moments with Messenger. CREATE SHARED ALBUMS From a recent summer vacation to your grandma’s 80th birthday, create albums of photos and videos to share, organize and reminisce over important moments in your group chats. EASILY ADD NEW CONNECTIONS WITH QR CODES Connect with people you meet in real life by scanning their Messenger QR code or sharing yours via a link. SHARE LARGE FILES DIRECTLY IN CHAT Whether it’s a Word, PDF, or Excel doc, you can send large files up to 100MB right inside of Messenger. EDIT AND UNSEND MESSAGES Hit send too soon? You can edit the message up to 15 minutes after sending DISAPPEARING MESSAGES Some things aren’t meant to last forever. Choose how long your end-to-end encrypted chats stick around after they’ve been read. COME TOGETHER WITH YOUR COMMUNITIES Meaningfully connect with people like you from your school, neighborhood, and interest groups. GET IN YOUR FAVORITE CREATORS’ INNER CIRCLE Stay in the know with creators by joining their broadcast channels for authentic and casual content. UNLEASH YOUR IMAGINATION W/ META AI* Tap into your go-to creative partner to create, edit, animate images and more. CAPTURE EVERYDAY MOMENTS ON STORIES Highlight moments of your day using photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours in Stories. DROP A NOTE WITH YOUR THOUGHTS Stay connected with your friends by sharing quick updates that disappear after 24 hours. BRING YOUR VIBE TO YOUR CHATS Sometimes words just don’t cut it. Tap into more ways to express yourself with animated stickers, GIFs, reactions and more. SET THE MOOD OF YOUR CHAT WITH THEMES Customize your chat with a large and constantly evolving list of themes featuring popular artists, holidays, and more. *Meta AI is available in select languages and countries only, with more coming soon.
Threads
Connect and share your thoughts on a platform designed for conversation. Discover trending topics, join communities based on your interests, and engage in discussions through text, images, and polls. You can also control your experience with privacy settings and direct messaging.
- Start conversations with text, images, polls, and more
- Join discussions through replies
- Stay updated on trending topics
- Control content visibility and replies
- Discover communities and creators
- Private 1:1 and group direct messaging
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Discover new perspectives and connect through conversation on Threads. See what people are talking about right now—from niche interests to big moments. With communities, you can find people who also care about your interests on Threads. Reply, listen, share or just follow along. Here’s what you can do on Threads: ■ Start a thread, share your take Have something on your mind? Take it to Threads. Share a thought, ask a question or open up a conversation. There’s more than one way to kick things off with text, images, polls, ghost posts and more. ■ Jump into replies Jump into the discussion, react to new ideas or just see where the conversation goes. Every thread is an invitation to join in. ■ Keep up with what’s trending From live scores to breaking moments, Threads helps you stay close to what’s happening —and join the conversation when you’ve got something to say. ■ Control the content you see Control who can reply to you, mention you or see your posts. Use Hidden Words to filter out posts and replies that include words or phrases you don’t want to see—so your experience stays on your terms. ■ Go deep on your interests Follow friends, creators and communities for every interest. Threads is built to help you discover new voices and join conversations—starting with the communities you care about most. ■ Connect over chat Keep the conversation going privately with 1:1 and group DMs. When a public thread gets more personal, move it to your inbox to go deeper or share it with a smaller group. Meta Terms: https://www.facebook.com/terms.php Meta Privacy Policy: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy Threads Supplemental Privacy Policy: https://help.instagram.com/515230437301944 Threads Supplemental Terms: https://help.instagram.com/769983657850450 Instagram Community Guidelines: https://help.instagram.com/477434105621119 Consumer Health Privacy Policy: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policies/health Learn how we're working to help keep our communities safe across Meta technologies at the Meta Safety Center: https://about.meta.com/actions/safety
Screenshots
Verdict
Messenger and Threads both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 66% of Messenger's written reviews are positive against 52% of Threads's. Messenger also leads on ratings volume (14M vs 2.2M) and device support (3 vs 1). Threads's advantage is chart position (#1 vs #8). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Messenger sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Threads sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Messenger against 4.6 for Threads. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Messenger has 14M ratings behind it against 2.2M, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 66% of Messenger's written reviews are positive against 52% of Threads's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. Both last shipped on September 27, 2026.
| Parameter | Messenger | Threads |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (14M ratings) — better | 4.6 (2.2M ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.2% of reviews — better | 51.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 14M — better | 2.2M |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #8 | #1 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 16.3 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 255 MB | 221 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Meta Platforms, Inc. | Instagram, Inc. |
Customer experience
Messenger
Threads
User reviews
Messenger
From 14M App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📱 Useful for staying connected with friends and family
- 🗣️ Enables easy communication through text, voice, and video
- 💬 Convenient group chat features
- 🌐 Works across multiple devices and platforms
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔒 Privacy and security concerns
- 🔄 Unnecessary updates that remove useful features
- 📤 Issues with message delivery and notifications
- 🗂️ Cluttered interface and poor organization of chats
Threads
From 2.2M App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Clean and simple interface
- 🚀 Smooth performance
- 💡 Integrated with Instagram
- 🤝 Sense of community
- 😊 Positive and friendly environment
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🤖 Too many suggested/random posts
- 🔍 Lacking search and discovery features
- 🔀 Difficulty switching between accounts
- 📱 No iPad app
Bugs and requests
Messenger
Reported bugs
4 issues- Unable to log in or access account
- Messages failing to send or receive
- Unexpected app crashes and freezes
- Syncing issues between devices
Requested features
4 requests- Add option to delete or unsend messages
- Improve search functionality for chat history
- Introduce customizable notification settings
- Bring back old features like emoji reactions and location sharing
Threads
Reported bugs
3 issues- Inability to post or comment
- Disappearing posts and replies
- Inconsistent account linking with Instagram
Requested features
5 requests- Chronological feed option
- Hashtag and keyword search
- Trending topics section
- Bookmarking/saving posts
- Direct messaging functionality
In-app purchases
Messenger
- Avatar Item$0.99
- Avatar Item$1.99
- Avatar Item$2.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Avatar Item$3.99
- Avatar Item$4.99
- Avatar Item$6.99
- Avatar Item$7.99
- Avatar Item$8.99
- Avatar Item$9.99
- Avatar Item$10.99
Threads
- No Ads Multi Tier3 variants$0.991 Month
- No Ads Multi Tier2 variants$1.991 Month
- No Ads Multi Tier3 variants$2.991 Month
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- No Ads Multi Tier4 variants$3.991 Month
- No ads (1 account)2 variants$7.991 Month
- No ads (2 accounts)5 variants$12.991 Month
- No ads (3 accounts)2 variants$17.991 Month
- No ads (4 accounts)5 variants$21.991 Month
- No ads (4 accounts)$22.991 Month
- No ads (5 accounts)2 variants$26.991 Month
- No ads (7 accounts)$37.991 Month
- No ads (8 accounts)$42.991 Month









