Comparison

Beehive vs HiveHelper

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

Head to head
About

Beehive

Manage your apiary efficiently with this digital journal. Track hive health, productivity, and history with detailed logs, an interactive map, and task reminders. Integrates weather data and offers quick access via QR codes.

Highlights
  • Smart hive organization
  • Detailed inspection logs
  • Interactive apiary map
  • QR code quick access
  • Bee activity timer
  • Task and reminder system
  • Weather integration
Features
Read full description

Beehive: The Modern Beekeeping Journal   Streamline your apiary management with Beehive, the intuitive app designed for both hobbyist and professional beekeepers. Say goodbye to paper logs and hello to a smarter way to track your colony’s health, productivity, and history. Key Features: • Smart Hive Management: Organize all your hives in one place. Track hive types, status, and established dates with ease. • Detailed Inspection Logs: Record every detail of your inspections, from queen sightings and brood patterns to population levels and temper. • Interactive Map: View your hives’ precise locations on an integrated map—perfect for managing multiple apiaries. • Quick Actions with QR Codes: Generate and scan unique QR codes for your hives to instantly access logs and details in the field. • Activity Counter: Use our built-in timer to monitor bee activity and flight traffic for a data-driven look at colony strength. • Task & Reminder System: Never miss an inspection or treatment. Set tasks and receive notifications to keep your bees thriving. • Weather Integration: Automatically log weather conditions during your inspections for better context on colony behavior. • Secure & Private: Sign in quickly with Apple Login. Your data is your own, securely stored and always accessible. Whether you're managing a single backyard hive or a large-scale commercial operation, Beehive provides the tools you need to ensure your colonies stay healthy and productive. Download Beehive today and take your beekeeping to the next level!

About

HiveHelper

This app provides a structured way to log beekeeping inspections, track hive health, and receive expert advice based on your data. It helps manage multiple hives, visualize trends, and offers offline capabilities for detailed record-keeping.

Highlights
  • Structured inspection logging
  • Hive health dashboard
  • Mite trend charting
  • Season summary and analysis
  • Manage multiple hives
  • Expert action items
  • Offline first functionality
Read full description

HEALTHIER HIVES, BUILT ONE INSPECTION AT A TIME Strong colonies come from catching small signals early — the brood pattern that's slipped from solid to spotty, the mite count nosing past 2%, the stores running thin before fall, the queen you didn't see this visit. HiveHelper captures these signals and converts them into coaching drawn from your hive's data. AI COACHING FROM YOUR HIVE'S DATA After every inspection, HiveHelper Insights reviews your data and the trend across recent visits, then returns 3 to 5 prioritized action items: what's urgent, what to monitor, what trend is worth noting. Guidance is calibrated to Honey Bee Health Coalition Varroa thresholds and Randy Oliver's Scientific Beekeeping protocols, then tuned by your hive's history: mite trajectory, brood pattern changes, treatment effectiveness, queen age, and stores trend. Spotty brood after a solid pattern? HiveHelper names the likely causes and what to confirm next visit. Mites drifting up despite a recent treatment? It flags possible resistance and suggests switching active ingredient class. Stores running thin as fall approaches? It calls out winter starvation risk before the cluster forms. WHAT EVERY INSPECTION CAPTURES The inspection form takes under 60 seconds and covers what experienced beekeepers track: - Queen status: queen seen, eggs seen, brood pattern, queen cell type (swarm, supersedure, emergency) - Mite checks: alcohol wash, sugar roll, or sticky board, with auto-calculated mite % - Colony strength: population, stores, frames of brood and honey, temperament - Actions: treatments (Apivar, Apiguard, Formic Pro, Oxalic Acid, more), feeding, box changes - Context: weather, date, ZIP-aware seasonal cues - Notes and photos for everything else LOG AT THE HIVE — EVEN WITHOUT YOUR PHONE Field Notes lets you work on paper at the hive and sync later. Print a QR-encoded field sheet, fill it in during your inspection, then scan it back into the app. HiveHelper reads your data and pre-fills the inspection form — no re-keying, no lost notes. WHAT YOU GET - HiveHelper Insights: AI coaching after every inspection - Hive health dashboard: queen, brood, mites, and stores at a glance - Mite trend chart: Varroa history with 2% and 3% threshold lines - Season summary: per-hive stats and an AI narrative of your year - Unlimited hives - Full inspection history and CSV export - Field Notes: paper log → QR scan → pre-filled inspection form - Seasonal task calendar: what your bees need this month - Offline-first: works in the apiary with no signal - Frame analysis (coming soon): varroa and queen detection from photos BUILT BY A BEEKEEPER HiveHelper was built by a beekeeper who got tired of losing track between inspections. Guidance comes from the Honey Bee Health Coalition's Varroa management guidelines and Randy Oliver's research at Scientific Beekeeping. If you run 1 hive or 10 and inspect weekly or biweekly, HiveHelper is built for you. TRY FREE FOR 7 DAYS Start a 7-day free trial. No charge until the trial ends; cancel anytime in your Apple ID subscription settings. The free tier includes 1 hive and 3 full HiveHelper Insights reviews. Pro includes unlimited hives and unlimited full guidance after every inspection. Terms of Use: https://matrixnj.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://matrixnj.com/privacy

Screenshots

Beehive4 screens
HiveHelper4 screens

Verdict

The call

Beehive and HiveHelper both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of HiveHelper's written reviews are positive against 50% of Beehive's. HiveHelper also leads on ratings volume (15 vs 1). Beehive's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. HiveHelper sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Beehive 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 Beehive against 5.0 for HiveHelper. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HiveHelper has 15 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of Beehive's written reviews are positive against 100% of HiveHelper's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Beehive ships an update every 5 weeks, HiveHelper every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Beehive versus HiveHelper: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBeehiveHiveHelper
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (15 ratings)
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings115 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS16.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size53 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMoonbeam Catcher LLCMatrix Digital Media LLC

Customer experience

Beehive

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%

HiveHelper

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Beehive

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

HiveHelper

Subscriptions4
  • HiveHelper Pro — Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • HiveHelper Pro — Monthly7 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • HiveHelper Pro — Semiannual7 Days trial$29.996 Months
Show 1 more
  • HiveHelper Pro — Annual1 Month trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Beehive free?
Beehive is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is HiveHelper free?
HiveHelper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Beehive or HiveHelper?
Beehive and HiveHelper are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 15 ratings respectively.
Do Beehive or HiveHelper have ads?
Neither Beehive nor HiveHelper shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Beehive or HiveHelper?
Beehive ships an update every 5 weeks, and HiveHelper every 3 weeks. Most recently, Beehive was updated on October 24, 2026 and HiveHelper on October 24, 2026.

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