Pushover Notifications vs ntfy
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pushover Notifications
This service sends custom push notifications from various web apps, scripts, and devices directly to your iPhone, iPad, or desktop. It offers a free trial with a one-time purchase for unlimited usage, and includes an Apple Watch app for on-the-go alerts.
- Custom push notifications
- Web app integration
- Script and IoT device support
- Apple Watch app and complications
- API for custom app development
- Free 30-day trial
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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.
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.
- Send notifications via REST API
- Subscribe to topics
- Publish messages via HTTP
- Integrates with Bash/PowerShell
- Free and open source client
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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
Verdict
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 (3.6K vs 425). 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. Pushover Notifications sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. ntfy asks for nothing beyond the download.
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 3.6K ratings behind it against 425, 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.
Pushover Notifications ships an update every 4 weeks, ntfy fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Pushover Notifications | ntfy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (3.6K ratings) | 4.8 (425 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 91.6% of reviews — better | 78.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3.6K — better | 425 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Pushover, LLC | Philipp Heckel |
Customer experience
Pushover Notifications
ntfy
User reviews
Pushover Notifications
From 3.6K App Store ratingsWhat 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 425 App Store ratingsWhat 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
Pushover Notifications
- Pushover License$4.99
- Tip$4.99
- Tip$9.99
ntfy
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Pushover Notifications free?
Is ntfy free?
Which has better reviews, Pushover Notifications or ntfy?
Do Pushover Notifications or ntfy have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pushover Notifications or ntfy?
Other comparisons
