Google Home vs HiveIT
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Google Home
Manage your smart home devices and stay updated on home activity. Easily control devices with voice commands and view live camera feeds. Organize your home into custom dashboards for quick access.
- Home status overview
- Device grouping into dashboards
- Live camera view and history
- Voice control with Gemini for Home
- Streamlined settings navigation
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The Google Home app helps you get the most out of Gemini for Home. See your home at a glance The Google Home app is designed to show you the status of your home and keep you up to date with what you may have missed. Keep up with what’s important Updated design and streamlined organization help you group your devices into dashboards and easily navigate your settings. Plus you can check in on your home anytime. Scan camera events quickly The camera live view and history interface makes it easier than ever to see what happened. Search or ask your home Control your home in a brand new way. Just say what you want your devices to do with Gemini for Home. * Some products and features may not be available in all regions. Compatible devices required.
HiveIT
Organize your life and stay connected with groups of people. Create separate spaces for family, friends, or work with shared calendars, tasks, and messaging. Securely store and share sensitive information.
- Create separate circles for different groups
- Shared calendar for event planning
- Messaging with polls and @mentions
- Task assignment and tracking
- Encrypted private vault for secure storage
- Daily morning brief notification
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Hive brings your people together family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, or any group that matters to you. One app. Every circle. All organized. CIRCLES Create separate circles for every part of your life — family, close friends, a work team, your neighborhood, or any group you want to stay connected with. Each circle gets its own shared space, calendar, tasks, and messages. SHARED CALENDAR Plan events together and never miss a moment. Create one-time or recurring events, set reminders, and overlay public holidays. Everything your circle has planned, in one place. MESSAGING Chat with your circles without switching apps. Send text, photos, voice notes, and run polls. @mention members, reply to specific messages, and pin important messages so nothing gets lost. TASKS & TO-DOS Assign tasks, set due dates, track progress, and stay on top of what needs to get done — together or on your own. PRIVATE VAULT Store passwords, documents, Wi-Fi credentials, and sensitive notes in an encrypted vault. Share selected items securely with trusted circle members only. MORNING BRIEF Start your day informed. Get a daily digest of your upcoming events, overdue tasks, and circle activity — delivered as a notification at a time you choose. PLANS • Free up to 3 circles, core features included • Hive Pro ($2.99/mo): unlimited circles and vault items • Hive Premium ($5.99/mo): everything in Pro, plus plan sharing with up to 4 members Download Hive and stay close with the people who matter most. Terms of Use: https://hive.popletech.com/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Google Home at none against HiveIT's 2. Google Home also leads on ratings volume (1.4M vs 4) and chart position (#13 vs unranked). HiveIT's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). On price 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
Both are free to download. HiveIT sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Google Home asks for nothing beyond the download.
HiveIT holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Google Home has 1.4M ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Google Home ships an update weekly, HiveIT fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Google Home | HiveIT |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (1.4M ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 15.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1.4M — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | #13 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.4 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 630 MB | 87 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PopleTech Ltd | |
Customer experience
Google Home
HiveIT
Bugs and requests
Google Home
Reported bugs
3 issues- Inability to remove 'ghost' devices
- Inconsistent connectivity between app and devices
- Unreliable motion detection
Requested features
3 requests- Ability to customize notification settings
- Integration with more smart home devices
- Improved video history browsing
HiveIT
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Google Home
No in-app purchases
HiveIT
- Hive Pro$2.991 Month
- Hive Family$5.991 Month
