Comparison

Apiary Assistant vs HiveLedger

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

Head to head
About

Apiary Assistant

Features
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Apiary Assistant is the all-in-one app for beekeepers who want healthy, productive hives. TRACK EVERYTHING - Organize apiaries and hives, with photos, status, and full history - Quick Check or guided Full Inspection โ€” with hands-free voice mode - Log mite washes and treatments; the app schedules your next check automatically - Record harvests, feedings, weights, queen events, and equipment STAY AHEAD OF VARROA - Mite-per-100-bees tracking with clear treat thresholds - Smart reminders tell you which hives need a check and why SEE YOUR SEASON AT A GLANCE - Dashboard charts for apiary health, mite load (with treat-threshold line), and harvest by product - Home-screen widget for hives, apiaries, and mite checks due ON YOUR WRIST (Apple Watch) - Your beekeeping to-dos and mite checks due, right on your watch - Add a complication to keep today's tasks on your watch face - Check tasks off from the watch โ€” changes sync straight back to your iPhone WEATHER THAT WORKS FOR BEES - Per-apiary conditions and inspection readiness - Alerts for cold, heat, wind, rain, and frost โ€” with a season archive WORK AS A TEAM - Share an apiary, assign tasks, and see who did what in the Activity Log - Everything syncs across iPhone, Apple Watch, Android, and the web dashboard MEET ABBY, YOUR AI BEEKEEPING ASSISTANT (Advanced) - Ask anything about hive management, varroa, queens, diseases, and seasonal tasks - Attach a photo โ€” "is this the queen?", "what disease is this?", "is this normal?" โ€” and Abby describes what she sees, her confidence, and how to verify it - Abby always reminds you that AI photo ID isn't always correct and points you to trusted resources like your state apiary inspector and local extension office Apiary Assistant offers optional Standard and Advanced subscriptions. Abby's AI chat and photo analysis are part of the Advanced plan. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the period; manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Privacy Policy: https://turtlebeehoney.com/apiary-assistant-privacy-policy/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ **AN APP THAT FITS YOUR EXPERIENCE Choose Beginner, Intermediate, or Seasoned. Beginners get step-by-step guidance and a month-by-month to-do list. Seasoned keepers get a fast, clean workspace with nothing in the way. Change it anytime. ** DIAGNOSE PROBLEMS FAST See something wrong in the brood? Tap the symptoms you observe and get the most likely diseases and pests โ€” ranked by likelihood, with reference photos and a full illustrated guide covering AFB, EFB, chalkbrood, varroa, small hive beetle, wax moth and more. ** WORKS EVERYWHERE, TOGETHER Use it on iPhone, Android, and the web โ€” all in sync. Share apiaries with a partner, a club, or a mentor and keep records together in real time. ** EVERYTHING YOU NEED IN THE YARD - Inspections, mite counts, treatments and harvests - Visual hive equipment stacks โ€” see every box, super and feeder - Queen rearing plans and family-tree lineage tracking - Weather-aware reminders and seasonal task lists - Expenses, shopping lists and yield tracking ** BUILT FOR REAL CONDITIONS - Sunlight-readable high-contrast mode - Colorblind-friendly palette - Voice capture โ€” log notes with gloves on - Ask Abby, your built-in beekeeping helper, anything KNOW YOUR FORAGE See which nectar and pollen plants are in season near your yard, month by month โ€” so you know when the flow is coming and when to feed. Start free. Keep better bees.

About

HiveLedger

Features
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HiveLedger keeps every colony in one place: a glove-friendly inspection checklist, queen status and age, treatments and feeding, swarm and split notes, and honey harvests that add up to a season you can actually read. Open a hive and the card tells you what you need at the box: the queen's marking colour and age from her birth year, her laying status, frames of bees and brood, temperament, and the last time you checked. Tap Inspect and a big-button checklist saves the whole visit in one tap: queen seen, eggs seen, queen cells, brood pattern, stores, space, and a mite wash counted as mites per 100 bees. HiveLedger does the math beekeepers care about. Mite washes become a per-hive trend with an action band, so you know when a colony crosses into treat territory. Splits link back to the mother hive so lineage reads parent to daughter. Harvests roll up into season totals and a per-hive ranking, and the whole yard lands on one chronological season timeline. The yard health board reads every active colony at once and surfaces what needs hands today: mites over the threshold, queen trouble, overdue inspections, and open treatment withdrawal windows, sorted by urgency. WHAT YOU GET - Hive cards with the queen's marking colour, age, laying status, strength, and temperament - A glove-friendly inspection checklist that saves in one tap, with treatment and feed quick-fill presets - Mite washes as mites per 100 bees, with a per-hive trend and an action band - Treatment and feeding records with withdrawal periods and reminders - Swarm, split, and requeen events that link parent and daughter hives - Honey harvest log by hive, with season totals and a per-hive ranking - A season timeline per apiary that mixes every inspection, treatment, and harvest, with a filter by record type - A yard health board that flags mites, queen trouble, overdue checks, and withdrawal windows across the yard - Retire a hive to keep its records without cluttering the active roster - Inspection-due and withdrawal-end reminders FREE AND PRO Free keeps two hives with the full checklist, queen tracking, treatments, harvests, the timeline filter, and the recent season history. Pro unlocks unlimited hives, the full season history and timeline, the yard health board, the season report PDF, and a full-record CSV export you can share or print. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything stays on your iPhone. No account, no cloud, no tracking. SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS HiveLedger Pro is available as a monthly or yearly auto-renewable subscription, or as a one time lifetime purchase. The price is shown in the app at checkout in your local currency. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled; manage or cancel anytime in Settings > Apple Account > Subscriptions, and cancellation takes effect at the end of the current period. Privacy Policy: https://innovalabworks.com/privacy Terms of Use (Apple Standard EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Apiary Assistant4 screens
HiveLedger4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Apiary Assistant at none against HiveLedger's 3. HiveLedger's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs monthly). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. HiveLedger sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Apiary Assistant asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Apiary Assistant ships an update monthly, HiveLedger weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Apiary Assistant versus HiveLedger: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterApiary AssistantHiveLedger
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better18.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size49 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTimothy MillerInnovaLabWorks

In-app purchases

None

Apiary Assistant

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

HiveLedger

Subscriptions2
  • HiveLedger Pro$5.991 Month
  • HiveLedger Pro$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • HiveLedger Lifetime$2.99

Questions

Is Apiary Assistant free?
Apiary Assistant is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is HiveLedger free?
HiveLedger is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Apiary Assistant or HiveLedger have ads?
Neither Apiary Assistant nor HiveLedger shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Apiary Assistant or HiveLedger?
Apiary Assistant ships an update monthly, and HiveLedger weekly. Most recently, Apiary Assistant was updated on October 3, 2026 and HiveLedger on September 27, 2026.

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