Comparison

Bird Journal vs BirdGuides

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

Head to head
About

Bird Journal

Record, explore, and share your bird and wildlife observations. This app allows for detailed data entry, including photos and habitat information, with a vast global species library. Access your records across devices and contribute to conservation efforts.

Highlights
  • Record observations with custom data entry
  • Explore records with reports, graphs, and maps
  • Share records and contribute to conservation
  • Access data on any device
  • Secure cloud storage for data
  • Import existing records from other apps
Features
Read full description

Bird Journal is the best way to record, explore and share your bird & wildlife observations and experiences. It has thousands of users across the world, and now brings its full power to iPhone and iPad in one beautifully native app. Start keeping a record of your bird & wildlife observations now with a free account. RECORD ANYTHING Enter bird & wildlife observations, photos, habitat and more with customisable data entry. Bird Journal's growing library contains hundreds of checklists and taxonomies, with over 100,000 species and subspecies worldwide. EXPLORE YOUR RECORDS Enjoy looking back through your data with beautiful entry reports, species lists, graphs*, maps*, reports* & a redesigned photo gallery. Search instantly by date, species, location & more. POWERFUL TOOLS, NOW ON MOBILE Import and export your records, replace species across your data, and build your own custom checklists, taxonomies and synonym packs — all for the first time on your phone or tablet. SHARE YOUR RECORDS Export, print and share records, species lists and photos straight to friends and other apps. eBird and BirdTrack systems are fully supported, so you can conveniently contribute to conservation efforts. ACCESS ANYWHERE Access and enter your records on any supported device or computer. Data is stored on each device, meaning you always have access even when on the move, in the field or abroad. REMEMBER FOREVER Never lose your data. Everything added to Bird Journal is safely and securely stored in Bird Journal's cloud. If you lose your device or your computer malfunctions, simply sign back in to your account to carry on from where you left off. BRING YOUR DATA Get started quickly by importing existing records from any other system or app. eBird, BirdTrack & Wildlife Recorder records can be imported directly. * Requires an upgrade to a Bird Journal Premium account.

About

BirdGuides

Access comprehensive bird news and sightings with an interactive map and advanced search. Submit your own observations and receive personalized notifications for desired species. Discover local and rare birds with detailed information and navigation assistance.

Highlights
  • Interactive BirdMap with sightings
  • Filter sightings by rarity
  • Sophisticated search of sightings database
  • Submit bird sightings from the field
  • Personalized species notifications
  • Detailed sighting information and directions
Features
Read full description

Whether you're the keenest of twitchers, a local birdwatcher or someone with a passing interest in what birds are being seen near you, the newly updated BirdGuides app gives you all the information you need – and plenty more besides. Major new features include: • New and improved design – delivering sightings to you in sleek format, with reports now colour-coded by rarity and individual sighting details with added map view; • Enhanced BirdMap – view all sightings on an interactive full-screen map, either for the current day or any past date; • Quickly filter sightings by rarity level on both list and map view; • Sophisticated search function – you can now explore our entire sightings database, stretching back to November 2000, on a map as well as in list format; • A wider range of notification sound options are now available. Using the BirdGuides app, you can: • View all sightings from today or any previous date in order to help you see great birds; • Submit your sightings quickly and accurately from the field with our submissions form – all sightings are proudly shared with BirdTrack; • Update and create Filters within the app to get notified about the species you want to see. Each sighting can be expanded to give full location details and further information, such as time seen, number of birds, detailed directions and parking instructions. A single click will load the best route to the bird in your map provider. Birding has never been so easy!

Screenshots

Bird Journal4 screens
BirdGuides4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: BirdGuides at none against Bird Journal's 1. Bird Journal's advantage is review sentiment (76% vs 60%). 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. Bird Journal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. BirdGuides asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bird Journal ships an update weekly, BirdGuides every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Bird Journal versus BirdGuides: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBird JournalBirdGuides
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (16 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews76.5% of reviews — better59.6% of reviews
Number of ratings16 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.1
Further details — not scored
Size95 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBluebird Technology LimitedWarners Group Publications PLC

Customer experience

Bird Journal

All ratings16 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral6.3%
Negative43.8%
Written reviews51 reviews
Positive76.5%
Neutral3.9%
Negative19.6%

BirdGuides

Written reviews52 reviews
Positive59.6%
Neutral9.6%
Negative30.8%

User reviews

Bird Journal

From 16 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Efficient field recording
  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 👍 Intuitive interface
  • 💡 Supports multiple taxonomy lists
  • 💡 Cross-platform synchronization

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes with large countries
  • 🐛 Lacks many website features
  • 🐛 Slow taxonomic updates
  • 🐛 Not free (subscription cost)
  • 🐛 Cannot filter species by name/family

BirdGuides

From App Store reviews

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast and functional
  • 📊 Excellent information and directions
  • 💻 Great app overall
  • 🤝 Recommended for birders

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitchy and unreliable
  • 🔄 Frequent login issues
  • 📍 Lacking location details
  • 🗺️ Poor map functionality

Bugs and requests

Bird Journal

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • App crashes when going for Brazil or USA
  • App not matching birds for UK
  • Cannot add recent sightings of Boobys etc.
  • App no longer runs reliably on iOS
  • App is buggy and unclear
Show 4 more
  • Cannot sign in
  • Data lost on phone replacement
  • Sync issues between mobile and desktop
  • Orientation issues on iPad

Requested features

52 requests
  • Add Avilist taxonomy support
  • Update to current species naming conventions
  • Filter species by name or family
  • Species pages to list sightings
  • Way to jump to early dates in entries
Show 47 more
  • Manually enter coordinates for new locations
  • Auto-populate location and weather
  • Attach photos in the app
  • Share information with groups of friends
  • Add mammals to the update version
  • Add checklists for other wildlife (dragonflies, butterflies)
  • Add missing counties to lists
  • Add a pull-down box for sites when adding sightings
  • Geotag and move sightings after seeing them
  • World list and other wildlife lists
  • Life List section
  • Custom species entry
  • Location filtering for own locations
  • Improved species list customization
  • Improved list management on mobile
  • More intuitive export function
  • More detailed statistics on mobile
  • County species lists enhancements
  • Add dragonflies, butterflies checklists
  • Add mammals to the app
  • Add world list and other wildlife lists
  • Add Life List section
  • Add custom species entry
  • Add location filtering for own locations
  • Improve species list customization
  • Improve list management on mobile
  • Improve export function
  • Add more detailed statistics on mobile
  • Enhance county species lists
  • Add photo attachments to the app
  • Add ability to share trips with other users
  • Add ability to share entries with another user
  • Add ability to share a trip
  • Add mammals to the update version
  • Add checklists for other wildlife (dragonflies, butterflies)
  • Add missing counties to lists
  • Add a pull-down box for sites when adding sightings
  • Geotag and move sightings after seeing them
  • World list and other wildlife lists
  • Life List section
  • Custom species entry
  • Location filtering for own locations
  • Improved species list customization
  • Improved list management on mobile
  • Improved export function
  • Add more detailed statistics on mobile
  • Enhance county species lists

BirdGuides

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notifications not working
  • Sightings not updating properly
  • Crashes and freezes after updates
  • Subscription issues after updates

Requested features

4 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Improved map with precise locations
  • Ability to set alerts for specific counties
  • Better sorting and filtering options

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Bird Journal

One-time1
  • One Year Premium Subscription$34.99
None

BirdGuides

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Bird Journal free?
Bird Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BirdGuides free?
BirdGuides is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Bird Journal or BirdGuides have ads?
Neither Bird Journal nor BirdGuides shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bird Journal or BirdGuides?
Bird Journal ships an update weekly, and BirdGuides every 2 weeks. Most recently, Bird Journal was updated on October 16, 2026 and BirdGuides on October 13, 2026.

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