Ribbon vs Sugar
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ribbon
This app simplifies social planning by allowing users to see friends' events, search for activities and people, and merge personal calendars with social engagements. It helps manage invites, create new hangouts, and RSVP to events.
- Plan events with friends
- See friends' events
- Search events and people
- Merge calendars
- Manage event invites
- Create hangouts and trips
- RSVP to events
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Plan Together. Be Together. Ribbon makes it easier to plan with friends. Events: See your friends' plans and events you care about. Search: Search events, venues, friends, and people. Calendar: Merge your phone calendar with your social calendar. Notifications: Manage invites to events, hangouts, and trips. Favorites: Prioritize your favorite music artists, festivals, teams, etc. Create: Create trips and hangouts; and RSVP to events.
Sugar
Express yourself beyond standard chat bubbles with a unique canvas for text, images, GIFs, and drawings. Personalize your conversations with custom text styles or traditional bubbles. Turn your messages into art with this innovative social experience.
- Unlimited canvas for messages
- Add text, images, GIFs, and videos
- Freehand drawing tools
- Customizable text styles
- Traditional chat bubble option
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Why are our messages with friends constrained to generic green and blue chat bubbles? It’s time to add some color (and chaos) to your conversations with Sugar. On Sugar, chat outside the box by dropping text, images, GIFs, videos, and drawings anywhere on the unlimited canvas. Pick a text style as unique as your own voice (or keep it old school with a green or blue bubble). On Sugar, conversation is art.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Ribbon at 94% against Sugar's 32%. Ribbon also leads on rating (4.8 vs 2.4) and ratings volume (65 vs 10). Sugar's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 6 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
Ribbon holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ribbon has 65 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 94% of Ribbon's written reviews are positive against 32% of Sugar's.
Ribbon ships an update every 6 weeks, Sugar every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ribbon | Sugar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (65 ratings) — better | 2.4 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 93.7% of reviews — better | 31.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 65 — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 281 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Ribbon Labs, Inc. | amo |
Customer experience
Ribbon
Sugar
User reviews
Ribbon
From 65 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use and intuitive
- 🤝 Connects friends and family
- 🗓️ Great for event planning
- 🗺️ Helps coordinate meetups
- ✈️ Useful for travel plans
Room to improve
- ⚠️ Requires Facebook login
- 🔄 Limited city options
- 🤷♀️ Early stages of adoption
- ❓ Needs more users to reach potential
Sugar
From 10 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Innovative concept
- 👍 Fun and refreshing social experience
- 💡 Unique way to interact with friends
Room to improve
- 🔒 Forced access to contacts
- 🔒 Privacy concerns
- 🐛 Buggy and unstable
- 🤔 Unclear value proposition
- 😕 Frustrating onboarding process
Bugs and requests
Ribbon
Reported bugs
2 issues- Facebook login required
- Limited city selection
Requested features
4 requests- Option to sign up with email/username
- Wider selection of cities
- More friends to adopt the app
- New features and updates
Sugar
Reported bugs
4 issues- Login issues
- Crashes and freezes
- Disappearing content
- Unresponsive controls
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to delete content
- Improve navigation and UI
- Expand customization options
- Allow sign-up without inviting friends
In-app purchases
Ribbon
No in-app purchases
Sugar
No in-app purchases
