If you keep bees and you've started searching for an app to log inspections, track queens, and remember which hive needed a mite treatment two weeks ago, you've probably landed on both HiveBook and BeeKeepPal. They're two of the more commonly recommended options for solo beekeepers and small sideliners, and at first glance they look similar. Once you actually use them side by side, though, the differences are pretty clear — and the right choice depends a lot on how you work, whether you have signal at your apiary, and how much you're willing to pay year after year.
This comparison is written by someone who builds beekeeping software, so take the bias warning up front: HiveBook is our app. We're going to be honest about where BeeKeepPal does things well, because if it's the right tool for you, you should use it. But we'll also be direct about where HiveBook wins, especially for beekeepers who want something simple, free, and that works in the bee yard whether or not LTE reaches the back fence.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | HiveBook | BeeKeepPal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, forever | Free tier + $39/year Pro |
| Works Offline | Yes, 100% offline | Limited — cloud-dependent |
| Account Required | No account, no signup | Yes, account required |
| Best For | Solo operators, hobbyists, small businesses | Beekeepers who want cloud sync across devices |
| Platform | iOS (iPhone & iPad) | iOS and Android |
| Key Features | Hive logs, inspections, queen tracking, treatments, harvests | Inspections, calendar, treatments, sync |
| Data Privacy | Stays on your device | Stored in cloud servers |
Pricing
Let's start with the part most people care about: what does each app actually cost over time?
BeeKeepPal offers a free tier with basic logging, plus a Pro plan at roughly $39 per year that unlocks the full feature set, cloud sync, and removes restrictions. That's a fair price for what you get, and it's lower than some competitors. The catch is that it's a recurring fee — if you keep bees for ten years, that's almost $400 just to keep your records accessible.
HiveBook takes a different approach. It's free. Not "free trial" free, not "free with ads" free, not "free until we add a paywall later" free. The full app is free to download and use indefinitely. There's no Pro tier, no subscription, no premium unlock. We make the app because we keep bees ourselves and small farms generally.
| Time Frame | HiveBook | BeeKeepPal Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 | ~$3.25 (annual billing) |
| 1 Year | $0 | $39 |
| 3 Years | $0 | $117 |
| 10 Years | $0 | $390 |
If you only run two or three hives as a hobby, that subscription math gets uncomfortable fast. And nothing about logging an inspection or tracking a queen requires a recurring server bill — the data lives on your phone just fine.
Save money. Try HiveBook free today. Download HiveBook Free — no account needed, works 100% offline.
Features
BeeKeepPal is a capable app. It handles the basics well: you can log inspections, set reminders for treatments, track honey harvests, and view a calendar of your beekeeping year. The Pro tier adds cloud sync across multiple devices, which genuinely matters if you share an apiary with a partner or want to log on your phone and review on a tablet at home. The interface is clean, and the data model covers most of what a hobby or sideliner beekeeper needs.
Where BeeKeepPal shines: multi-device sync, a polished calendar view, and a community of users who post tips. If those things matter to you, it's a reasonable pick.
HiveBook focuses on a slightly different beekeeper. We built it for the solo operator who walks out to the hives, opens the app, logs what they saw, and closes it. The features are intentionally focused:
- Hive logs — track every hive in every yard, with notes and history
- Inspections — structured forms for brood pattern, queen status, stores, temperament, and observations
- Queen tracking — mark dates, lineages, requeening events, and supersedure
- Treatments — log mite treatments, feeding, and medications with dates so you actually know when the next round is due
- Harvests — track honey pulled, weight, and which hives produced
- Photos & notes — attach pictures of brood frames, queen cells, or anything else you want to remember
What HiveBook deliberately skips: cloud sync (your data stays on your device), social feeds, gamification, and Pro upsells. If you want a chat community for beekeepers, HiveBook isn't trying to be that. It's a record-keeping tool that respects your time and your data.
If you also raise other animals or grow produce alongside your hives, you might already use our sister apps — Barnsbook for livestock and barn management, or CropsBook for vegetables, orchards, and market farming. Same philosophy across all three: free, offline, no account.
Want to try HiveBook for free? Download HiveBook Free — no subscription required.
Offline & Privacy
This is the biggest practical difference between the two apps, and it matters more than people realize until they're standing in a bee yard with one bar of signal.
BeeKeepPal is cloud-dependent. The free tier has limited offline functionality, and Pro features lean on sync to the company's servers. If you have signal, it works fine. If your apiary is in a holler, behind a hill, or just somewhere with patchy LTE, you'll hit moments where the app can't load, can't save, or gets confused about whether your latest inspection actually went through. For some beekeepers that's a non-issue. For anyone with rural yards, it's a daily annoyance.
HiveBook works 100% offline. Always. There is no server. The app doesn't phone home, doesn't sync your data to a cloud, doesn't require a login, and doesn't care if your phone is in airplane mode. You can log a full inspection in a basement, in a bee yard with zero signal, on a plane, or in a Faraday cage if you want to. The data lives on your iPhone, and that's it.
That has two consequences. First, reliability: the app never breaks because of a dropped connection or an authentication timeout. Second, privacy: your beekeeping records are yours. Nobody at our company can see your hive count, your harvest weights, or the GPS location of your yards. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is analyzed, nothing is sold. For commercial beekeepers who consider their yard locations and production numbers competitive information, that's a real advantage.
The trade-off is honest: HiveBook doesn't sync between devices. If you want your iPad and iPhone to show the same data automatically, BeeKeepPal Pro does that and HiveBook doesn't. For most solo operators, one phone is the system of record, and that's fine.
Who Should Use BeeKeepPal
BeeKeepPal is the better choice if:
- You share beekeeping with a partner or co-op and need multiple people accessing the same data
- You want your records on both Android and iOS — HiveBook is iOS only right now
- You're comfortable with a $39/year subscription in exchange for sync and cloud backup
- You always have reliable cell signal at your apiaries
- You like having a community feed built into the app
If those describe you, BeeKeepPal is a fine app and you'll be well served by it. We'd rather you use the right tool than be unhappy with ours.
Who Should Use HiveBook
HiveBook is the better choice if:
- You're a solo beekeeper or small-scale operator who manages everything yourself
- You want an app that works in the bee yard whether or not you have signal
- You don't want to pay a yearly subscription to keep your own records accessible
- You don't want to create yet another account with yet another company
- You care about data privacy and don't want your hive locations or harvest data sitting on someone else's server
- You prefer simple, focused tools over feature bloat and gamification
- You run an iPhone or iPad and want something that just opens and works
This is the beekeeper HiveBook is built for. Hobbyists with two hives in the backyard. Sideliners with twenty colonies across three yards. Small commercial operators who want to keep clean records without paying a SaaS bill every year. If that's you, you'll feel at home in the app within five minutes.
The Bottom Line
Both apps can keep your beekeeping records. Both are made by people who understand bees. The honest summary:
Pick BeeKeepPal if you specifically need cloud sync across devices, you want Android support, you have a partner managing the same hives, and you don't mind a recurring subscription.
Pick HiveBook if you want a free, offline, private, simple app for your own beekeeping — the app most solo operators actually need, without the subscription tax.
The thing about beekeeping records is that you keep them for years. A queen you marked in 2024 might still be laying in 2026. Treatments and brood disease history matter across seasons. Whatever app you pick, you're committing to that data living somewhere for a long time. We built HiveBook so that "somewhere" is your phone, free, forever, with no company in between you and your hives.
Try it. If it's not for you, BeeKeepPal will still be there. But we think most beekeepers, once they realize they don't have to pay or sign up or worry about signal, won't look back.
Ready to switch? Download HiveBook Free — it takes 30 seconds and costs nothing.