Comparison

Pushover Notifications vs ntfy

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

Head to head
About

Pushover Notifications

This service allows you to send custom alerts from various web apps and devices directly to your mobile devices and desktop. It offers seamless integration with tools like IFTTT and network monitoring systems, with an Apple Watch app for on-the-go notifications.

Highlights
  • Send alerts from web apps
  • Integrates with IFTTT and scripts
  • Supports IoT devices and webhooks
  • Apple Watch app and complications
  • Free 30-day trial
  • One-time in-app purchase for unlimited use
Features
Read full description

Pushover is a simple push notification service that integrates easily into web apps like IFTTT, network monitoring systems, security cameras, shell scripts, IoT devices, webhooks, and anything else that needs to send alerts to your iPhone, iPad, Desktop, and other robot-like mobile devices. App has a free 30-day trial and unlimited usage beyond the trial requires a one-time in-app purchase. Pushover includes an Apple Watch app and complications so you can push custom data straight to your watch face with our Glances API. Visit https://pushover.net to find apps, plugins, and services that already natively support Pushover, or get a free API key for your own apps.

About

ntfy

This app allows you to send push notifications to your phone from scripts or other applications using simple HTTP requests. It acts as a client for a free, open-source pub-sub service, enabling you to receive alerts and updates directly on your device.

Highlights
  • Send notifications via REST API
  • Subscribe to topics
  • Publish messages via HTTP
  • Integrates with Bash/PowerShell
  • Free and open source client
Features
Read full description

Send push notifications to your phone from any Bash or PowerShell script, or from your own app using PUT/POST requests, e.g. via curl on Linux or Invoke-WebRequest. ntfy is a client for https://ntfy.sh, a free and open source HTTP-based pub-sub service. You can subscribe to topics in this app, and then publish messages via a simple HTTP API. Uses: * Notify yourself when a long-running process is done * Ping your phone when a backup has failed * Alerts when someone logs into your server Example: $ curl -d "Your backup is done" ntfy.sh/mytopic Find more examples and usage instructions here: https://ntfy.sh/docs

Screenshots

Pushover Notifications4 screens
ntfy2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ntfy at none against Pushover Notifications's 3. Pushover Notifications's advantage is review sentiment (92% vs 79%) and ratings volume (4K vs 488). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pushover Notifications sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. ntfy asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Pushover Notifications against 4.8 for ntfy. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pushover Notifications has 4K ratings behind it against 488, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 92% of Pushover Notifications's written reviews are positive against 79% of ntfy's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pushover Notifications ships an update monthly, ntfy fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Pushover Notifications versus ntfy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPushover Notificationsntfy
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (4K ratings) — better4.8 (488 ratings)
Positive reviews91.9% of reviews — better78.9% of reviews
Number of ratings4K — better488
Update frequencyMonthlyFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPushover, LLCPhilipp Heckel

Customer experience

Pushover Notifications

All ratings3,911 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.2%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews471 reviews
Positive91.9%
Neutral1.3%
Negative6.8%

ntfy

All ratings469 ratings
Positive93.6%
Neutral1.7%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews175 reviews
Positive78.9%
Neutral5.7%
Negative15.4%

User reviews

Pushover Notifications

From 4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fantastic service
  • 👍 Couldn't be easier
  • 👍 Best App on my phone for awareness of energy efficient house
  • 👍 Really good app
  • 👍 Truly excellent

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Stopped working after I paid for it
  • 🐛 Hasn't worked yet
  • 🐛 Charged twice for liscense
  • 🐛 Needs volume for other things besides critical
  • 🐛 Encrypted message

ntfy

From 488 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Simple and easy to use
  • 🔒 Great for self-hosting
  • 👍 Reliable and works as expected
  • 🚀 Quick and easy to set up
  • 🚀 Lightweight and functional

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Notification issues on iOS
  • 🔍 Limited features compared to other platforms
  • 🔍 Lacks customization options
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or delivery issues

Bugs and requests

Pushover Notifications

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Notifications not working after update
  • Syncing issues causing crashes
  • Notifications re-appearing after being deleted

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add a delete all notifications option
  • Add support for custom notification sounds
  • Add 24-hour time format option
  • Improve Apple Watch notifications
  • Add custom actions to notifications

ntfy

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Notifications not working on iOS
  • Broken click URLs in notifications
  • Compatibility issues with iOS notification summarizing

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to change notification sounds
  • Support for Apple Watch
  • Customizable topic names/aliases
  • Improved iOS notification handling
  • All topics view and read/unread indicators

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Pushover Notifications

One-time3
  • Pushover License$4.99
  • Tip$4.99
  • Tip$9.99
None

ntfy

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pushover Notifications free?
Pushover Notifications is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ntfy free?
ntfy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pushover Notifications or ntfy?
Pushover Notifications is rated higher. Pushover Notifications averages 4.8 out of 5 from 4K ratings, while ntfy averages 4.8 from 488 ratings.
Do Pushover Notifications or ntfy have ads?
Neither Pushover Notifications nor ntfy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pushover Notifications or ntfy?
Pushover Notifications ships an update monthly, and ntfy fortnightly. Most recently, Pushover Notifications was updated on November 6, 2026 and ntfy on November 3, 2026.

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