Comparison

Builder Brigade vs Deepen

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

Head to head
About

Builder Brigade

Organize your new home build from start to finish. This app helps homeowners track selections, explore features, and communicate with their builder. It provides essential tips and product information to ensure a smooth construction process.

Highlights
  • Organize home selections
  • Explore home features
  • Communicate with builders
  • Access product information
  • Get building tips
  • Export selections
Features
Read full description

The #1 App for Homeowners Building a New House Plan your dream home without missing a thing. Trusted by 30,000+ homeowners and over 1M followers, Builder Brigade helps you organize every selection, explore must-have features, and stay aligned with your builder from start to finish. - Preloaded with the Top 100 Home Products & 50 Game-Changing Tips - Checklist items include video/image examples + helpful links - Export your selections into a clean, shareable printout - Learn what to ask, what to avoid, and how to get the most out of your build It's like having a selections coordinator, project manager, and Pinterest board—all in one app. You'll walk into every meeting confident, informed, and never caught off guard. Website: builderbrigadetech.com Privacy Policy: builderbrigadetech.com/privacy-policy Terms of Use: builderbrigadetech.com/terms-of-use

About

Deepen

Transform passive reading into active learning by speaking your thoughts aloud. This app creates a personal knowledge map from your spoken insights, connecting ideas across all the books you read. It helps you remember what you've learned and query your own reading history.

Highlights
  • Log pages read and track progress
  • Answer spoken questions about content
  • Generate concept maps from spoken answers
  • Connect ideas across multiple books
  • Query your personal reading library
  • Save lookup words and memorable passages
  • Import Goodreads shelves
Features
Read full description

You finish a chapter, feel like you understood it, and a month later almost nothing is left. That is the normal outcome of reading, not a personal failing. Reading is passive: the text goes in, feels clear, and leaves no trace you can retrieve. Deepen makes it active, and it takes about a minute. HOW IT WORKS 1. Log the pages you read. Your progress bar moves. 2. Deepen asks you one open question. "What was the author actually arguing there?" or "What did you disagree with?" 3. You answer out loud, in your own words, for about a minute. 4. Your answer comes back as concepts, connections, and the questions you still have. 5. Those concepts join a map of everything you have ever read. Speaking an idea back in your own words is retrieval practice, which is the best-evidenced way to turn reading into memory. Almost nobody does it, because writing notes is work. Talking for a minute is not. THE MAP IS THE POINT Every concept you articulate becomes a node. When the same idea shows up in a second book, Deepen links them without being asked. Over a few months you stop having a pile of separate books and start having one connected body of reading. Read something about legitimacy in a history book, meet it again in a book about organizations, and the map shows you the two are talking to each other. ASK YOUR OWN LIBRARY Ask a question in plain language and get an answer built only from what you have said about the books you have actually read. Not the internet. Your own words, with the notes they came from listed underneath. NOTHING IS EVER SCORED Deepen does not test you chapter by chapter. Nobody wants to be graded on their evening. The questions after each session are open and never scored, because the point is to make you think, not to make you correct. When you finish a book, it asks once more: what will you still be thinking about in a year? Your answer joins the map like any other. It is a lap of honour, not an exam. ALSO IN THE APP - Keep the words you had to look up, with the book you met them in - Keep the passages worth remembering, and share one as a sticker - Scan a barcode to add a book, or import your Goodreads shelves - A home screen widget showing the book you are on WORKS WITH PAPER Deepen never asks what you are reading on. Paper, library copy, hardback, secondhand, an ebook, a PDF. You talk, so it does not matter. Nothing to sync, no highlights to export, no cable. BUILT TO BE PRIVATE Your notes and your map live on your iPhone. The map is computed on the device, so it works with no signal at all. There is no account and no sign-up. FOR PEOPLE WHO READ ON PURPOSE Deepen is for nonfiction readers who want the reading to stick: students, researchers, people working through a field, anyone who has ever finished a good book and been unable to say what it argued. DEEPEN PRO Deepen is free to try. Pro unlocks unlimited recaps, the map across every book, and Ask. - Monthly: $5.99 - Annual: $49.99 with a 7-day free trial Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Privacy Policy: https://chamallox.github.io/deepen-legal/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Support : https://chamallox.github.io/deepen-legal/support/

Screenshots

Builder Brigade4 screens
Deepen4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Deepen at every 4 days against Builder Brigade's every 3 weeks. Deepen also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and review sentiment (100% vs 89%). Builder Brigade's advantage is ratings volume (33 vs 1). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Builder Brigade sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month and Deepen sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Deepen holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Builder Brigade has 33 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 89% of Builder Brigade's written reviews are positive against 100% of Deepen's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Builder Brigade ships an update every 3 weeks, Deepen every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Builder Brigade versus Deepen: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBuilder BrigadeDeepen
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (33 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews88.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings33 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size517 MB16 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperBuilder Brigade Tech, Inc.Francois Sempe

Customer experience

Builder Brigade

All ratings33 ratings
Positive97.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%

Deepen

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Builder Brigade

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription$14.991 Month
  • Annual Subscription$146.991 Year
3 purchases

Deepen

Subscriptions3
  • Pro Weekly$6.997 Days
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$79.991 Year

Questions

Is Builder Brigade free?
Builder Brigade is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Deepen free?
Deepen is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Builder Brigade or Deepen?
Deepen is rated higher. Builder Brigade averages 4.8 out of 5 from 33 ratings, while Deepen averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Builder Brigade or Deepen have ads?
Neither Builder Brigade nor Deepen shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Builder Brigade or Deepen?
Builder Brigade ships an update every 3 weeks, and Deepen every 4 days. Most recently, Builder Brigade was updated on October 8, 2026 and Deepen on October 5, 2026.

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