# Google Home vs HiveIT

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 (#14 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.

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 21, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Google Home | HiveIT |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.6 (1.4M ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/google-home/id680819774/reviews) | **[5.0 (4 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hiveit/id6759207123/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **1.4M** | 4 |
| Positive reviews | 15.6% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | **Weekly** | Fortnightly |
| Monetization | **Ad-supported** | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | **#14** | — |
| Size | 630 MB | 87 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.4 | **15.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Google](https://appshunter.io/developer/281956209) | [PopleTech Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/1877413235) |

## What reviewers say

### Google Home

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/google-home/id680819774)

**Currently charting:** #14 Top Free · Lifestyle (US App Store)

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.

**Highlights:** Home status overview, Device grouping into dashboards, Live camera view and history, Voice control with Gemini for Home, Streamlined settings navigation

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Excellent camera quality
- 👍 Secure home monitoring
- 🚀 Reliable notifications

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent disconnections
- 🐛 Buggy app performance
- 👎 Lacking advanced features
- 👎 Unintuitive user interface

**Reported bugs**

- Inability to remove 'ghost' devices
- Inconsistent connectivity between app and devices
- Unreliable motion detection

**Requested features**

- Ability to customize notification settings
- Integration with more smart home devices
- Improved video history browsing


### HiveIT

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hiveit/id6759207123)

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.

**Highlights:** 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

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hive Pro | $2.99 | per month |
| Hive Family | $5.99 | per month |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Google Home free?

Google Home is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is HiveIT free?

HiveIT is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Google Home or HiveIT?

HiveIT is rated higher. Google Home averages 4.6 out of 5 from 1.4M ratings, while HiveIT averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.

### Do Google Home or HiveIT have ads?

Google Home shows ads; HiveIT does not.

### Which is updated more often, Google Home or HiveIT?

Google Home ships an update weekly, and HiveIT fortnightly. Most recently, Google Home was updated on October 21, 2026 and HiveIT on October 7, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*