Comparison

Divine Office vs Patristic Library

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

Head to head
About

Divine Office

Engage in the Liturgy of the Hours, a traditional Christian prayer practice. This app offers psalms, hymns, and scripture for daily prayer, allowing you to connect with a global community of users praying simultaneously.

Highlights
  • Liturgy of the Hours recitation
  • Collection of psalms, hymns, and scripture
  • View global prayer locations
  • Official Catholic Church prayer book
  • Automatic daily prayer downloads
  • Suitable for all Christian traditions
Features
Read full description

The Divine Office App is an opportunity for you to participate in the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, an ancient and meditative collection of psalms, hymns and scripture that represent the public prayer of the Christian community. If you are unable to pray in community, but love the contentment of praying with others, a praised feature of the Divine Office App lets you view locations where other Christians around the world are simultaneously praying with you. This version is the official prayer book of the Catholic Church, however, it is suitable for all Christian faith traditions. It contains the official text and audio of daily prayers from the Liturgy of the Hours of the Roman Catholic Church (Breviary) and has been approved for use in the United States by USCCB. The Divine Office App is designed to make praying more convenient, enjoyable, and simple enough for anyone to use. It automatically downloads the appropriate prayers for each office, every day of the year, including Solemnities, Feasts, and Memorials. When St. Paul advises us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “pray without ceasing,” he intends more than simply bowing our heads and speaking to God on a regular basis. He means for us to adopt an ongoing attitude of prayer that is a way of life and a constant intercession for the salvation of all mankind. As the mystical body of Christ prays in unison, it fulfills what Paul advises as Christian conduct, that believers at once pray for the good of themselves, their neighbors, and the world. In this way, prayers become liturgy, a way to fulfill our divine calling and a practical approach for addressing the suffering of the world.

About

Patristic Library

Access a collection of early Christian texts in a focused, offline reader. Browse authors, navigate works, and search the corpus with a clean, parchment-styled interface designed for in-depth study.

Highlights
  • Offline access to texts
  • Author browsing
  • Work-level navigation
  • Full corpus search
  • Parchment-styled reader
  • Serif typography
Features
Read full description

Read the early Christian Fathers in a calm, parchment-styled library built for focused study. Patristic Library brings public-domain ancient Christian texts into a native reader with author browsing, work-level navigation, readable serif typography, search across the corpus, and a quiet Byzantine-inspired design. Browse major figures from the apostolic and patristic eras, open individual works, search terms across the library, and read without web clutter or account setup. The corpus is bundled for offline use, so study can continue anywhere. Built for students, clergy, teachers, and curious readers who want primary sources close at hand.

Screenshots

Divine Office3 screens
Patristic Library4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Divine Office at Free against Patristic Library's $14.99. Divine Office also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (8.4K vs 4). Patristic Library's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 2 weeks). On review sentiment, ads, in-app purchases 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

Divine Office is free to download; Patristic Library costs $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Divine Office holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Divine Office has 8.4K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 98% of Divine Office's written reviews are positive against 100% of Patristic Library's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Divine Office ships an update every 2 weeks, Patristic Library every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Divine Office versus Patristic Library: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDivine OfficePatristic Library
PriceFree — better$14.99
Rating4.9 (8.4K ratings) — better4.0 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews98.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings8.4K — better4
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS16.616.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size27 MB318 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperSurgeworks, Inc.Joseph See

Customer experience

Divine Office

All ratings8,413 ratings
Positive98.8%
Neutral0.6%
Negative0.6%
Written reviews834 reviews
Positive98.1%
Neutral1.2%
Negative0.7%

Patristic Library

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Divine Office

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • Previous hour audio restarting when app opens

Requested features

3 requests
  • Page-turn mode instead of swiping
  • Improved audio quality and consistency
  • Option to choose American or British readers

Patristic Library

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Divine Office

No in-app purchases

None

Patristic Library

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Divine Office free?
Divine Office is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Patristic Library free?
Patristic Library costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Divine Office or Patristic Library?
Divine Office is rated higher. Divine Office averages 4.9 out of 5 from 8.4K ratings, while Patristic Library averages 4.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Divine Office or Patristic Library have ads?
Neither Divine Office nor Patristic Library shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Divine Office or Patristic Library?
Divine Office ships an update every 2 weeks, and Patristic Library every 6 days. Most recently, Divine Office was updated on October 31, 2026 and Patristic Library on October 28, 2026.

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