Comparison

O'Reilly vs CivicBeacon

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

Head to head
About

O'Reilly

Access a vast library of expert-led books, videos, and courses on business and technology trends. Learn online or offline, sync progress across devices, and personalize your reading experience. Discover and organize content with playlists for easy access.

Highlights
  • Offline access to books, videos, and courses
  • Cross-device progress syncing
  • Content discovery and playlist creation
  • Personalized text display and night mode
  • Search across all learning materials
  • External keyboard support
Features
Read full description

Build the skills you need for the job you have—or the one you want. With the O’Reilly app paired with a membership, you’ll get access to thousands of books, videos, and courses trusted by tech practitioners around the world. Whether you’re a developer, data professional, or technology leader, O’Reilly helps you stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry. Here are just a few ways you can use the O’Reilly app to learn today’s most critical skills: • Explore the latest in programming, AI, cloud, DevOps, and cybersecurity, with content from the people actually putting the technology to work—plus in-depth content on leadership, soft skills, and much more. • Discover best-selling titles and early releases from leading publishers, all in one digital library built for technology professionals. • Listen to thousands of audiobooks to keep the learning going while you multitask. • Watch live events and training sessions, or dive into 5,000+ courses on-demand. • Use playlists to save and organize content you’re exploring, and share them with your friends and coworkers. • Learn on the go, anywhere, with downloadable content and progress syncing across devices. • Quickly find the resources that will help you solve the problems you encounter in your day-to-day work with AI-powered search, plus AI overviews (with citations) to get up to speed on the basics. Powerful tools to support your learning: • Recommendations based on your interests and history • Playlists to organize the content you want to learn • Deep search to find answers fast across 75K+ titles, 3.7K+ audiobooks, 30K+ hours of video, and much more • Highlights and notes to capture key ideas • Adjustable reading settings including font size and night mode • Playback speed controls for faster learning Get started with one of our most popular skills: • AI and machine learning • Software development and programming • Data engineering and data science • Cloud, DevOps, and infrastructure • Cybersecurity • Product management and leadership The O’Reilly app works best with a membership. Learn more at oreilly.com.

About

CivicBeacon

Stay informed about government decisions affecting your life. Track legislation, connect with representatives, and understand complex policies with clear summaries. Empower your voice in local and national politics.

Highlights
  • Track local and national legislation
  • Smart search for bills
  • Explore recent Congress sessions
  • View representative profiles and bills
  • Clear, jargon-free bill summaries
  • Connect with elected officials
Features
Read full description

Understand Your Government. Empower Your Voice. CivicBeacon makes it easy to stay engaged with the decisions shaping your life from your neighborhood to the nation’s capital. Whether you’re a first-time voter or a seasoned policy watcher, CivicBeacon helps you track legislation, connect with representatives, and stay informed without the noise. Key Features: Local & National Bills: Discover and track U.S. House and Senate legislation, including filters for local relevance. Smart Search – Quickly find bills by title, number, or keyword. Congress Sessions 116–119: Explore recent sessions of Congress, with clean summaries of legislation. My Representatives: View your House and Senate officials, complete with profiles and sponsored bills. Clear Summaries: Skip the legal jargon, we break down legislation so it’s easy to understand. Whether you're curious, concerned, or ready to take action, CivicBeacon puts civic awareness in your hands. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://app.termly.io/policy-viewer/policy.html?policyUUID=667dc4c0-54d7-4b9d-befa-08c32a8ac3c9

Screenshots

O'Reilly4 screens
CivicBeacon4 screens

Verdict

The call

O'Reilly and CivicBeacon both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 83% of CivicBeacon's written reviews are positive against 46% of O'Reilly's. CivicBeacon also leads on update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.5). O'Reilly's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ratings volume (34K vs 12). On price, rating, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. CivicBeacon sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. O'Reilly asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for O'Reilly against 4.7 for CivicBeacon. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: O'Reilly has 34K ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 46% of O'Reilly's written reviews are positive against 83% of CivicBeacon's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

O'Reilly ships an update fortnightly, CivicBeacon weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
O'Reilly versus CivicBeacon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterO'ReillyCivicBeacon
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (34K ratings)4.7 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews46.0% of reviews83.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings34K — better12
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.516.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB68 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperO'Reilly Media, Inc.Civic Beacon LLC

Customer experience

O'Reilly

All ratings33,893 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.5%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews354 reviews
Positive46.0%
Neutral13.8%
Negative40.1%

CivicBeacon

All ratings12 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%

Bugs and requests

O'Reilly

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Frequent crashes and freezes
  • Unreliable downloads and offline access
  • Login issues and loss of progress
  • Inconsistent behavior across updates

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved bookmarking and note-taking
  • Customizable text formatting and layout
  • Better search and content discovery
  • Seamless sync across devices

CivicBeacon

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

O'Reilly

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

CivicBeacon

Subscriptions5
  • Civic Beacon Supporter ($2.99/mo)$2.991 Month
  • Civic Beacon Supporter ($5.99/mo)$5.991 Month
  • Civic Beacon Supporter ($9.99/mo)$9.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • CivicBeacon Pro3 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • CivicBeacon Pro3 Days trial$69.991 Year

Questions

Is O'Reilly free?
O'Reilly is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CivicBeacon free?
CivicBeacon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, O'Reilly or CivicBeacon?
O'Reilly and CivicBeacon are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 34K and 12 ratings respectively.
Do O'Reilly or CivicBeacon have ads?
Neither O'Reilly nor CivicBeacon shows ads.
Which is updated more often, O'Reilly or CivicBeacon?
O'Reilly ships an update fortnightly, and CivicBeacon weekly. Most recently, O'Reilly was updated on October 18, 2026 and CivicBeacon on October 9, 2026.

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