Comparison

The Bench vs GOA Network

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

Head to head
About

The Bench

Easily update your closest friends and family on your dating life and relationship drama. Create profiles for people you're dating or interested in, invite your trusted inner circle, and share updates through an activity feed. It's designed for deeper personal connections, not mindless engagement.

Highlights
  • Create player profiles with photos and details
  • Organize contacts into an active roster or 'bench'
  • Invite a trusted inner circle for private sharing
  • Update dating status and drama via activity feed
  • Focuses on deep personal interactions
  • Drama Updating Technology (DUP Tech)
Read full description

The Bench is the ultimate app for all of your dating and drama needs. Never again will you have to update all of your friends on a new development or the status of your relationship – or lack thereof – on multiple platforms. With The Bench, you can easily and quickly update everyone in your inner circle on all of your dating and drama news without having to repeat yourself. The Bench - because there's always something going on. Staying up to date with your friends and the dating drama in their lives has never been easier. The Bench is focused on lifting the pain of the drama of dating and improving the quality of engagement with your closest friends and family. While other apps are creating algorithms to generate content to attract users, The Bench nails the concept of time well spent. The content goes beyond mindless engagement and is focused on the actual personal interactions one has with their close friends. The interaction is more deeply involved and deeply engaged. The Bench is Human Interest Sticky, not Algorithmically Sticky. The Bench is the pioneer of drama updating technology (DUP Tech) by providing an app that allows users to foster more than just surface level engagement. The industry-leading app empowers users to update their closest friends and family on the drama in their dating lives in three simple steps: Creating your Roster: You will create your roster by creating your individual players' profiles. So what is a player? A player is anyone you are dating, talking to, have a crush on or are in a situation-ship with. For each person that you’re talking to or have talked to YOU create their profile. This is not pulled from some other social media accounts. You add their name, photos, important information like their birthday, zodiac sign and dog’s name or anything else you want to remember and you give them a nickname that will be used throughout the app. The players will not be able to see this profile unless you invite them and they will not even necessarily know that they are on your roster unless you or someone you know tells them. You can add as many players as you like to your roster. And if there are players who you have talked to in the past but may not be talking to now you can swipe right and move them from your active roster to the bench. Invite your Inner Circle: You will invite your closest friends and confidantes to your inner circle. This is a one time invite link that cannot be shared. This is for your people. The people with whom you spill the tea. This is not for casual friends and acquaintances or friends who you don’t trust with your drama. Your shared with me page is the list of people who have shared their inner circles with you. Note: just because you are in someone’s inner circle does not necessarily mean they have to be in yours. Now Spill the Tea: By clicking on a player’s profile and updating the status you can easily update your inner circle on new drama via the activity feed. You can type comments or add screenshots/screen-recordings, photos or videos. When you update a players' status, your friends will be notified that you have updated a status. You can drag and drop players up and down the roster to change their rank or as I mentioned earlier, swipe right to bench them. And if they’re really awful, it’s easy to "trade" them and delete them altogether simply by swiping left. You can also see an individual player’s activity from their individual page. People in your inner circle are the only ones who can see your roster and the activity "drama" within it. They can comment, like, dislike and love any update on your activity feed. Or they can DM you if needed.

About

GOA Network

Features
Read full description

The Girls Opportunity Alliance Network is a diverse growing community of grassroots leaders from all over the world. These leaders are dedicated to creating social norms change, advocating for systemic change, and empowering girls through comprehensive programming to create a world where girls are able to reach their fullest potential. This network is a space for leaders to engage in collaborative conversations to generate ideas and find ways to partner in their shared mission to support adolescent girls. It's a community for leaders to discuss current updates in the field of girls empowerment and support one another’s work while accessing resources provided by the Girls Opportunity Alliance to scale and strengthen their work.

Screenshots

The Bench4 screens
GOA Network3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: The Bench at every 5 weeks against GOA Network's every 3 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Bench ships an update every 5 weeks, GOA Network every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
The Bench versus GOA Network: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe BenchGOA Network
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (8 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings8 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size61 MB74 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperAample Social IncThe Barack Obama Foundation

In-app purchases

None

The Bench

No in-app purchases

None

GOA Network

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is The Bench free?
The Bench is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is GOA Network free?
GOA Network is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do The Bench or GOA Network have ads?
Neither The Bench nor GOA Network shows ads.
Which is updated more often, The Bench or GOA Network?
The Bench ships an update every 5 weeks, and GOA Network every 3 months. Most recently, The Bench was updated on October 18, 2026 and GOA Network on October 30, 2026.

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