Comparison

Live Preview vs Hive

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

Head to head
About

Live Preview

Wirelessly mirror your design artboards from Sketch to your iPad or iPhone. Experience pixel-perfect previews with automatic updates as you work, and quickly compare design iterations.

Highlights
  • Wireless mirroring
  • Pixel-perfect @3x previews
  • Automatic artboard updates
  • Quick compare between artboards
  • Works with local or cloud Sketch documents
Features
Read full description

Live Preview makes it easy to mirror your Sketch designs on your iPad and iPhone. Using the same wireless technology as AirDrop, Live Preview works anywhere—even when your devices aren't connected to the internet.  Live Preview features stunning pixel perfect @3x previews, as well as Automatic Update, which dynamically changes the preview, following you as you work. Quick Compare allows for instant switching between the last two artboards—very useful for proofing subtle design changes. Live Preview works with any Sketch document, stored locally or in the cloud.

About

Hive

This app helps designers, creators, and innovators organize and manage all their creative assets in one place. It offers smart photo organization, an integrated video player, and multiple ways to save inspirations, streamlining your creative process. Effortlessly sort, categorize, and find your ideas with advanced filtering and search capabilities.

Highlights
  • Organize creative assets
  • Smart photo organizer
  • Integrated video player
  • Multiple save methods
  • Web capture
  • Multi-level folder system
  • Advanced search and filter
Features
Read full description

Hive is a private visual reference library for designers, illustrators, photographers, and creative teams. Save references the moment you find them—Share Sheet, clipboard, Safari, and links—then keep images, video, and files in one library you actually control. No feed. No tracking theater. Just a calm place to store and reopen what you need. Organize for real work • Folders, tags, filters, and search built for reference retrieval • Smart Folders to surface the set you need for a project • Mixed media in one place: images, video, links, and files Built for mobile creative workflows • Fast capture on iPhone and iPad • Browse and reuse references on the go • Works with an Eagle-compatible library workflow on mobile Privacy by default • Your library stays yours Hive is for people who already collect inspiration in Pinterest, moodboards, or Eagle on the desktop—and need a private, organized library on iOS. Download Hive and turn scattered references into a library you can find again. Privacy Policy: https://hive.ink/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Live Preview2 screens
Hive4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Hive at Free against Live Preview's $1.99. Hive also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 13 months) and ratings volume (39 vs 3). Live Preview's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (100% vs 79%). On rating, ads 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

Hive is free to download; Live Preview costs $1.99 up front. Hive sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Live Preview asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Live Preview against 4.9 for Hive. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hive has 39 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Live Preview's written reviews are positive against 79% of Hive's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Live Preview ships an update every 13 months, Hive every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Live Preview versus Hive: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLive PreviewHive
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better4.9 (39 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better78.8% of reviews
Number of ratings339 — better
Update frequencyEvery 13 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS27.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB186 MB
Age rating4++17
DeveloperKyle Halevi易泓 刘

Customer experience

Live Preview

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Hive

All ratings39 ratings
Positive97.4%
Neutral2.6%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews104 reviews
Positive78.8%
Neutral9.6%
Negative11.5%

In-app purchases

None

Live Preview

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Hive

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Annually7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Live Preview free?
Live Preview costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hive free?
Hive is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Live Preview or Hive?
Live Preview is rated higher. Live Preview averages 5.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Hive averages 4.9 from 39 ratings.
Do Live Preview or Hive have ads?
Neither Live Preview nor Hive shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Live Preview or Hive?
Live Preview ships an update every 13 months, and Hive every 4 days. Most recently, Live Preview was updated on November 7, 2026 and Hive on November 8, 2026.

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