Comparison

Alamo Drafthouse vs Improv

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

Head to head
About

Alamo Drafthouse

This app streamlines moviegoing by allowing you to purchase tickets and merchandise, select seats, and manage your loyalty account. Skip lines, save payment information, and get refunds directly through the app for a smoother cinema experience.

Highlights
  • Skip lines with mobile tickets
  • Securely save payment information
  • Select preferred seats
  • In-app refunds up to one hour before showtime
  • Add merchandise to purchase
  • View trailers and trending movies
  • Access Victory loyalty account
Features
Read full description

Faster. Smarter. And soooo good lookin’. The official Alamo Drafthouse app has been rebuilt from the ground up to get you into your seat quicker and easier than ever before. With elegant, intuitive design and a host of new features (plus many more on the way), this is your new favorite way to enjoy your experience at Alamo Drafthouse. * Skip the lines. No need to visit a kiosk, a box office or your office printer. Head straight into the theater and have a seat. * Keep your wallet in your pocket. Securely save your credit card details to the Card Vault. * Find your favorite seat. Easily flip through showtimes to see which seats are available before you buy your tickets. * Not feeling it tonight? Get a refund directly on the app up to one hour before the showtime. * Snag some stuff. Add limited edition Alamo Drafthouse merchandise to your purchase with just a touch. * Dig deeper. Watch movie trailers, see what's playing, and scope out what's trending. * 24/7 access to your Victory account. Check your rank, earn rewards, and use them directly in the app. Never visited an Alamo Drafthouse location? We’ve got locations across the country, delivering the best film, food, and drink all in one seat. Learn more about us at drafthouse.com, facebook.com/alamodrafthouse, twitter.com/alamodrafthouse, or instagram.com/drafthouse. Ashburn, VA | Austin, TX | Boston, MA | Charlottesville, VA | Chicago, IL | Corpus Christi, TX | DC Metro Area | Dallas, TX | Denver, CO | El Paso, TX | Houston, TX | Laredo, TX | Los Angeles, CA | Lubbock, TX | Naples, FL | New York, NY | Omaha, NE | Raleigh, NC | San Antonio, TX | San Francisco, CA | Springfield, MO | St. Louis, MO | Twin Cities, MN | Winchester, VA | Yonkers, NY

About

Improv

Discover upcoming improv, sketch, and stand-up shows and classes from major theaters in one place. Organize your plans, get reminders, and filter by comedy type, venue, or date. Includes offline support and native performance.

Highlights
  • Aggregated show and class listings
  • Organized by date and venue
  • Personalized 'I'm Going' list
  • Show reminders and calendar integration
  • Filter by comedy type, venue, and date
  • Offline access to last feed
  • Class registration
Features
Read full description

One app for the improv scene. Improv gathers upcoming shows and classes from the theaters you love — UCB New York, Brooklyn Comedy Collective, Magnet Theater, and WGIS in New York; UCB and WGIS in Los Angeles; The Annoyance and iO in Chicago — and puts them in a single, fast, native feed. SHOWS, ORGANIZED BY NIGHT Browse a clean, date-sectioned feed for one theater or your whole city. Every show has a page with the poster, lineup, description, and a Get Tickets button that opens the theater's own box office. I'M GOING Tap the heart on any show and it lands in your I'm Going list — grouped by date, badged with a count, and saved even if the listing later leaves the feed. Allow notifications and you'll get a reminder a few hours before showtime. One tap adds the show to your calendar. FIND EXACTLY YOUR KIND OF FUNNY Filter by comedy type (improv, sketch, standup, character), venue, free shows, livestreams, or a date window like this weekend. Search works across titles and descriptions. Filters persist and never strand you — anything that stops being available clears itself. CLASSES TOO Every theater's classes and workshops, grouped by level, with instructor, schedule, price, and open-seat filtering. Register in a couple of taps. BUILT LIKE APPLE BUILT IT Native SwiftUI, full Dynamic Type, light and dark mode, offline support (your last feed is always available), iPad layout with a persistent sidebar. No accounts, no ads, no tracking — see our one-paragraph privacy policy. Improv is an independent guide. Shows and classes are listed with links to each theater's own ticketing; all sales happen on the theater's site.

Screenshots

Alamo Drafthouse4 screens
Improv4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Improv at 5.0 against Alamo Drafthouse's 2.4. Alamo Drafthouse's advantage is ratings volume (829 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Improv holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Alamo Drafthouse has 829 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Alamo Drafthouse ships an update every 2 weeks, Improv weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Alamo Drafthouse versus Improv: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAlamo DrafthouseImprov
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.4 (829 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews10.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings829 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size155 MB6 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperAlamo Drafthouse Cinemas LLCSalim Hafid

Customer experience

Alamo Drafthouse

All ratings825 ratings
Positive29.2%
Neutral9.1%
Negative61.7%
Written reviews316 reviews
Positive10.4%
Neutral10.8%
Negative78.8%

Improv

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Alamo Drafthouse

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Tickets not showing up in app
  • Payment processing failures
  • Inability to use season pass

Requested features

3 requests
  • Apple Pay and Apple Wallet integration
  • Improved app stability and performance
  • Better customer support and communication

Improv

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Alamo Drafthouse

No in-app purchases

None

Improv

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Alamo Drafthouse free?
Alamo Drafthouse is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Improv free?
Improv is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Alamo Drafthouse or Improv?
Improv is rated higher. Alamo Drafthouse averages 2.4 out of 5 from 829 ratings, while Improv averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Alamo Drafthouse or Improv have ads?
Neither Alamo Drafthouse nor Improv shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Alamo Drafthouse or Improv?
Alamo Drafthouse ships an update every 2 weeks, and Improv weekly. Most recently, Alamo Drafthouse was updated on November 6, 2026 and Improv on October 31, 2026.

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