Awful vs Not the Bee
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Awful
This app provides a streamlined browsing experience for the Something Awful forums on iOS devices. It offers access to all forums, bookmarked threads, private messages, and includes features like image uploads and a smilie keyboard.
- Browse all forums and subforums
- Access bookmarked threads
- Built-in SALR functionality
- Smilie stickers and keyboard
- Upload images and pictures
- Manage private messages
- Favorite forums
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Browse the Something Awful forums nicely on your iPhone and iPad! • Every forum and subforum! • Quickly check your bookmarked threads! • Built-in SALR! • Smilie stickers and keyboard! • Upload images and pictures! • Private messages! • Favorite forums! • Rap sheets! • Excessive exclamation marks!
Not the Bee
This app delivers humorous takes on current events, entertainment, and opinions. It allows users to browse articles, share favorites, and customize preferences. Log in for exclusive member features and a social network experience.
- Humorous news takes
- Share articles
- Bookmark favorites
- Customize preferences
- Cross-device sync
- Members-only social network
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Not the Bee is a humor-based news, entertainment, and opinion site. It also happens to be the greatest website on the planet. And now, it's the greatest app on the planet. Stick the Not the Bee app on your home screen and flip those notifications on and your life will improve immediately and dramatically. What a time to be alive. - Browse our hilarious takes on the craziest news stories. - Share and bookmark your favorite articles. - Customize and sync your preferences across devices. - Log in for access to members-only features like our fully functional social network. - Amazing new features coming soon. We're always cooking them up.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Awful at free against Not the Bee's freemium. Awful also leads on review sentiment (87% vs 67%) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). Not the Bee's advantage is ratings volume (7.6K vs 239). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Awful against 4.9 for Not the Bee. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Not the Bee has 7.6K ratings behind it against 239, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Awful's written reviews are positive against 67% of Not the Bee's.
Awful ships an update every 8 days, Not the Bee every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Awful | Not the Bee |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (239 ratings) | 4.9 (7.6K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 86.6% of reviews — better | 66.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 239 | 7.6K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 102 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Dale Stonall-Mellor | The Babylon Bee, LLC |
Customer experience
Awful
Not the Bee
User reviews
Awful
From 239 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fast and efficient
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- 🔒 Secure browsing experience
- 💡 Customizable layout and settings
- 🎨 Visually appealing design
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 📉 Declining performance over time
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 🚫 Compatibility issues with newer devices
Not the Bee
From 7.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Honest and entertaining news
- 🤗 Caring and friendly community
- 🗞️ Variety of news coverage
- 🙏 Uplifting Christian perspective
- 🤩 Replaced all social media
Room to improve
- 🤖 Excessive ads and pop-ups
- 🐛 Buggy app performance
- 📱 Difficult to read articles due to ads
- 🤔 Anti-Catholic bias in some articles
Bugs and requests
Awful
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when opening certain forums
- Inability to load images and media
- Freezing and lagging on older devices
- Sync issues between app and website
Requested features
4 requests- Add search functionality
- Implement dark mode option
- Improve thread navigation and bookmarking
- Integrate with other social platforms
Not the Bee
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashes frequently
- Ads cause text to shift and jump
- Videos and content get stuck or won't load
Requested features
3 requests- Improve app stability and navigation
- Reduce ads or offer ad-free subscription
- Allow non-subscribers to view comments
In-app purchases
Awful
No in-app purchases
Not the Bee
No in-app purchases
