Comparison

Q vs ShieldNode

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

Head to head
About

Q

Features
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Q-Bridge is a quantum job workbench for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It is built for developers and researchers who write quantum circuits, submit them, and want to see what happens next without switching between vendor consoles. WHAT YOU CAN DO โ€ข Submit jobs โ€” Pick a backend and submit a job from the Dashboard, or write and paste OpenQASM in the built-in editor (Pro). โ€ข Follow every job in real time โ€” Each job moves from queued to running to completed on screen as it happens. Your job list updates the moment a status changes, with no manual refresh. โ€ข Emergency stop โ€” One tap cancels all of your active jobs, and the app shows which jobs, if any, could not be stopped. โ€ข Open real results โ€” Finished simulator jobs return measurement counts you can inspect right away, together with the job's history and details. โ€ข Cloud simulator โ€” Circuits run on our cloud simulator (not on your device). The qubit limit depends on your plan, and the simulator is noiseless. โ€ข Compare backends from seven providers (Pro) โ€” Browse backends from IBM Quantum, IonQ, Rigetti, Quantinuum, PASQAL, QuEra and Amazon Braket side by side in one catalog. โ€ข Bring your own provider credentials (Pro) โ€” Provider API keys you add are stored in the Keychain on your device. No provider key is bundled with the app, and you never need one to use the simulator. They are sent only with requests that need them โ€” the provider catalog or a job you submit to a provider. โ€ข Backend suggestions on your device (Pro) โ€” On supported devices, Bridge Advisor suggests a backend for your circuit using Apple's on-device model, so your circuit is not sent anywhere to get a suggestion. โ€ข Bloch sphere โ€” Visualize single-qubit states interactively, on every plan. โ€ข Easy start โ€” A short intro you can skip or replay from Settings, and a guest mode to look around before you create an account. BUILT FOR APPLE PLATFORMS Native SwiftUI on iPhone, iPad and Mac, with Liquid Glass design. Universal Purchase: one subscription covers iPhone, iPad and Mac. Available in English, Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, French and German. PRIVACY No ads and no third-party tracking. The camera is used only when you choose to scan a QR code to pair a gateway. Provider keys stay in the Keychain. Creating an account requires you to be 13 or older. PLANS โ€ข Free โ€” Cloud simulator jobs with live tracking, emergency stop and the Bloch sphere. โ€ข Pro โ€” $24.99/month or $159.99/year. Adds the OpenQASM editor, the seven-provider catalog with your own credentials, Bridge Advisor and more tools, plus a higher simulator limit. โ€ข Team โ€” $69.99/month or $549.99/year. Everything in Pro, plus the Team workspace and Team tools. โ€ข Enterprise โ€” Contact sales. Not sold in the app. You can subscribe without creating an account. Prices shown are in US dollars; your local App Store price may differ. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. Quantum hardware access through a provider is subject to that provider's own account, terms and pricing. TRADEMARK NOTICE IBM Quantum, IonQ, Rigetti, Quantinuum, PASQAL, QuEra, Amazon Braket and AWS are trademarks of their respective owners. Q-Bridge is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by these companies. The names are used only to identify the providers a backend belongs to. Made by SwiftQuantum Technologies, LLC. Terms of Use: https://swiftquantum.tech/terms/ ยท Privacy Policy: https://swiftquantum.tech/privacy/

About

ShieldNode

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ShieldNode is the secure vault and live control panel for every API key your AI agents touch. THE PROBLEM AI agents are powerful, and you give them your API keys to get real work done. But a misfired prompt, a bad tool call, or a runaway loop can drain your Stripe credits, hit your OpenAI rate limits, or post the wrong thing to your Slack. Once an agent has the key, you are trusting it with everything that key can do. THE FIX Your real upstream keys live in our encrypted vault, never in a prompt, never in a config file, never in your agent's context. Your agents only ever see virtual keys that route through our proxy. The proxy decrypts the real credential in memory at the exact moment the request needs to go out, and the value never gets returned to any caller. Every sensitive call can ask you first. DROP-IN AGENT SKILL The piece that makes the whole thing work for anyone using an AI assistant: a free, open-source ShieldNode skill that plugs straight into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Codex, and any agent that can load instructions. One install and the agent learns to use virtual keys correctly, request the right approval duration, identify itself by name in your notifications, and back off cleanly when you decline. You do not have to teach your agent anything. The skill does it. PUSH APPROVAL The killer feature. When your AI agent tries to use a protected key, you get a time-sensitive push notification. Approve from the lockscreen, set a duration (5 minutes, 30 minutes, 2 hours, or custom), and the agent gets through for exactly that window. Decline, and the request dies on the spot. No app switch. No dashboard hunting. UNIVERSAL VAULT One app, every API. Stripe, GitHub, OpenAI, Anthropic, SendGrid, Slack, Notion, anything that takes a key. Add a new service in seconds with the in-app AI Configurator: point it at the docs, it auto-fills the auth scheme and base URL for you. FULL CONTROL Pause a key. Disable a service. Delete a virtual credential. Watch every call land in your live audit log with the method, path, status, latency, plus the agent name and decision when a request was gated by approval. EMERGENCY STOP One tap. Every key locks. Every agent freezes. No confirmation, no delay. The big red button you always wished you had. WHO IT IS FOR - Developers shipping autonomous agents and tired of waking up to surprise bills - Builders letting AI access production credentials and needing a human in the loop - Anyone who hands an API key to an AI agent securely SUBSCRIPTIONS Free plan: 2 services and 500 requests per month, no credit card required. Push approval, the universal vault, and the emergency stop are included from day one. Pro Monthly: $9.99 per month, auto-renewable. Unlocks unlimited services, 100,000 requests per month, longer log retention, and request tracking. Pro Annual: $69.99 per year (effective $5.83 per month), auto-renewable. Same Pro features billed yearly. 14-day Pro trial available, no card up front. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your Apple ID account settings after purchase. Privacy Policy: https://shieldnode.app/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Real keys stay encrypted in our vault. Virtual ones do the work. The skill teaches your agent. You stay in control.

Screenshots

Q4 screens
ShieldNode4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: ShieldNode at every 5 days against Q's every 3 weeks. ShieldNode also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Q sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $24.99 per month and ShieldNode sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Q versus ShieldNode: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQShieldNode
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 5 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.1 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size17 MB41 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEUNMIN PARKDoruNaitsu

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Q

Subscriptions4
  • Q-Bridge Pro Monthly$24.991 Month
  • Q-Bridge Team Monthly$69.991 Month
  • Q-Bridge Pro Yearly$159.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Q-Bridge Team Yearly$549.991 Year
5 purchases

ShieldNode

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Pro Annual$69.991 Year
One-time3
  • 5,000 Requests$2.99
  • 25,000 Requests$9.99
  • 100,000 Requests$29.99

Questions

Is Q free?
Q is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ShieldNode free?
ShieldNode is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Q or ShieldNode have ads?
Neither Q nor ShieldNode shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Q or ShieldNode?
Q ships an update every 3 weeks, and ShieldNode every 5 days. Most recently, Q was updated on October 8, 2026 and ShieldNode on October 4, 2026.

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