USThing vs CourseGrab
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
USThing
This campus app consolidates various Hong Kong University of Science and Technology IT services into a single platform. It offers features like facility booking, grade viewing, timetable access, and event information, all accessible with encrypted local storage of credentials.
- Facility booking (Library, FBS)
- View grades and timetables
- Course waitlist positions
- Next lesson notifications
- TimeMatch for finding free time
- Campus info and directory
- News and events
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USThing is a student-developed campus app for the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. With USThing, you can access multiple HKUST IT services in one single app. Features include: - Facility Booking (supports both Library rooms and FBS facilities) - View Grades, Time Tables and Course Waitlist positions - Next Lesson Notification - TimeMatch (Find common free time among friends) - Campus Info and Directory - News and Events around campus and more are on their way... USThing requires your ITSO username and password in order to help you access services conveniently. Your credentials are only saved locally with encryption and never stored on remote servers. If you have any enquiry regarding privacy, feel free to contact us. USThing is not affiliated with student societies and contains no paid ads or promotions. All contents are freely uploaded by our users.
CourseGrab
This app helps students at a specific university get into full courses. It sends instant notifications when a spot opens up, allowing users to quickly access the enrollment system and secure their place.
- Search courses by name or code
- Track unlimited courses
- Instant spot opening notifications
- Direct link to Student Center
- Open source project
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Trying to get into a class at Cornell that’s already full? CourseGrab is here to help! CourseGrab enhances the student enrollment experience by notifying students of available spots in courses they wish to enroll in. CourseGrab currently caters to Cornell University’s class roster. The key features of the application include: - Search for any course name or course code for easy tracking - Track an unlimited number of courses - Receive immediate push notifications when an empty spot opens up - Navigate to Student Center to grab your spot straight from CourseGrab CourseGrab is an app from Cornell AppDev, an open source app development project team at Cornell University. Check us out at www.cornellappdev.com! Let us know what you think of CourseGrab by sending feedback at team@cornellappdev.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: USThing at every 2 weeks against CourseGrab's every 6 months. USThing also leads on rating (4.0 vs 3.6) and review sentiment (44% vs 25%). CourseGrab's advantage is ratings volume (17 vs 4). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
USThing holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 17 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 44% of USThing's written reviews are positive against 25% of CourseGrab's.
USThing ships an update every 2 weeks, CourseGrab every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | USThing | CourseGrab |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (4 ratings) — better | 3.6 (17 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 44.4% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 17 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 63 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Zachary Lo | Walker White |
Customer experience
USThing
CourseGrab
In-app purchases
USThing
No in-app purchases
CourseGrab
No in-app purchases
