Comparison

Bins vs Hydro Ottawa

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

Head to head
About

Bins

This app helps Ottawa residents manage their garbage and recycling schedules. It provides easy access to pickup dates for your neighborhood and official recycling rules directly from the city's website.

Highlights
  • Garbage and recycling pickup schedule
  • Neighborhood-specific collection dates
  • Official recycling rules
  • Search by address or current location
  • Clean and elegant interface
Features
Read full description

The simplest way to keep up with Ottawa's garbage and recycling schedule. With Bins, Ottawa residents can see what will be picked up on the next garbage day in their neighbourhood and can have quick access to the official rules. FEATURES • A clean and elegant interface for seeing the schedule for your neighbourhood • A straightforward setup process—just search for your address or use your current location • Quick access to garbage and recycling rules—tap on a bin to see the official instructions from the City of Ottawa website Bins is only supported in Ottawa.

About

Hydro Ottawa

Manage your electricity account 24/7 with this utility app. Access services like outage reporting, account management, and important notifications. Designed for both residential and commercial customers, it offers tools to stay informed and in control of your power services.

Highlights
  • 24/7 account management
  • Report power outages
  • Account opening/closing
  • Alerts and notifications
  • Service updates
Features
Read full description

Hydro Ottawa’s app provides you with 24/7 access to manage your account online. Redesigned based on customer feedback, it includes new features and enhancements. Open to residential and commercial customers, as well as those without a Hydro Ottawa account, the app allows users to sign up to access a number of services and tools like alerts and notifications, report an outage, or open, close or update a new or existing account. New features and functionalities will be rolled out in phases over 2023. Hydro Ottawa Limited, a subsidiary of Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc., delivers electricity to homes and businesses in the City of Ottawa and the Village of Casselman. For more than a century, Hydro Ottawa has supplied its customers with clean, safe and reliable power to help build a vibrant and sustainable national capital region. As a leading partner in a smart energy future, Hydro Ottawa proudly contributes to the well-being of the community it serves through its integration of innovative and sustainable business practices, corporate citizenship initiatives, and offering best-in-class customer service.

Screenshots

Bins3 screens
Hydro Ottawa4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bins at 91% against Hydro Ottawa's 25%. Bins also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.1). Hydro Ottawa's advantage is update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 7 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bins ships an update every 7 months, Hydro Ottawa every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Bins versus Hydro Ottawa: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBinsHydro Ottawa
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.6 (5 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews91.2% of reviews — better25.0% of reviews
Number of ratings5 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB43 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMichael LutaayaHydro Ottawa

Customer experience

Bins

All ratings5 ratings
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%
Written reviews57 reviews
Positive91.2%
Neutral1.8%
Negative7.0%

Hydro Ottawa

Written reviews8 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative75.0%

Bugs and requests

Bins

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Says 'no schedule found' for every Town/City
  • Rules for black bin is not showing
  • Cannot send feedback from inside the app
  • Keeps losing my location

Requested features

10 requests
  • Store more than one address
  • Add reminders
  • Add multiple locations
  • Full month calendar in advance
  • Add an alarm
Show 5 more
  • Send an email reminder
  • Include hazardous waste collection days/locations
  • Info about hazardous waste days and sites
  • Less repetition in day countdowns
  • Manually add a schedule if not found

Hydro Ottawa

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Bins

No in-app purchases

None

Hydro Ottawa

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Bins free?
Bins is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hydro Ottawa free?
Hydro Ottawa is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Bins or Hydro Ottawa have ads?
Neither Bins nor Hydro Ottawa shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bins or Hydro Ottawa?
Bins ships an update every 7 months, and Hydro Ottawa every 5 weeks. Most recently, Bins was updated on October 6, 2026 and Hydro Ottawa on October 7, 2026.

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