How to analyze competitor app reviews
Pick two to four apps your users would otherwise use, read each one's reviews from the same window and stores, and sort them on one fixed set of themes. Compare the share of reviewers who raise each theme, never raw counts. A complaint one app draws far more than the others is its weak spot; a complaint every app draws is a gap in the category.
Five steps
- Pick the apps a user would pick instead. Two or three direct rivals that solve the same job for the same people, plus one adjacent app if your users mention it. The app with the most downloads is not always the one your users compare you with; their reviews often name the alternative.
- Read the same slice of each. Same window (the last 6 to 12 months, so fixed bugs drop out), same stores, same countries, and all star ratings. If one app is read on Google Play only and another on both stores, the difference you find may be the store.
- Sort every app on one set of themes. Write the themes once (crashes and bugs, pricing, missing feature, ads, login, support) and use them for every app. Themes made up per app cannot be compared. Keep an unsure pile for reviews that fit none, and count it.
- Compare shares of reviewers, with a range. A theme a third of one app's reviewers name and almost none of another's is a difference you can act on. At a few hundred reviews per app, a gap of a few points may be noise; the analysis guide has the sample size table.
- Sort what you find into weak spots and gaps. A weak spot belongs to one rival, and it is where users of that app are open to an alternative. A gap shows up across all of them, and it is the opening for a new app or a feature nobody does well.
Notion vs Obsidian vs Evernote: which notes app do reviewers fault?
Notion (2,022 reviews), Obsidian (1,259 reviews), Evernote (2,236 reviews), each read on the App Store and Google Play from October 26, 2025 to October 25, 2026. Every figure below loads from the public comparison.
Before any of these numbers, OneStar checks that the reports can be compared: 13 of 13 checks pass, including question set, taxonomy version, Jev model, selection and star mix.
| Measure | Notion | Obsidian | Evernote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complain | 56% (54% to 58%) | 57% (54% to 60%) | 85% (84% to 87%) |
| Said they left | 2% (2% to 3%) | 3% (2% to 4%) | 21% (19% to 23%) |
| Blame a change | 16% (14% to 19%) | 22% (19% to 26%) | 59% (57% to 62%) |
| Ask for features | 9% (8% to 11%) | 14% (12% to 16%) | 5% (4% to 6%) |
Weak spots: where one app trails the others
- Evernote is weak on pricing and fees: 38% of reviewers mention it against 2% for Notion, and those reviews average 0.7 stars lower.
- Notion is weak on crashes and bugs: 19% of reviewers mention it against 7% for Evernote, and those reviews average 1.7 stars lower.
Differences: where one app draws more than another
- Evernote draws more complaints about ads: 22% of reviewers against 0% for Obsidian.
- Notion draws more complaints about hard to use or cluttered: 11% of reviewers against 2% for Evernote.
- Obsidian draws more complaints about missing feature: 13% of reviewers against 4% for Evernote.
- Obsidian draws more complaints about bad update or redesign: 8% of reviewers against 2% for Evernote.
| Complaint theme | Notion | Obsidian | Evernote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crashes and bugs | 31% (285) | 26% (155) | 7% (108) |
| Pricing and fees | 2% (20) | 6% (38) | 41% (656) |
| Missing feature | 19% (177) | 20% (122) | 4% (60) |
| Hard to use or cluttered | 17% (158) | 14% (82) | 1% (20) |
| Ads | 0% (0) | 0% (0) | 24% (380) |
Read the two tables together. 41% of Evernote's complaints are about pricing and fees, so that theme fills its complaints and every other theme's share of them looks small. Out of reviewers, the findings above show where each app is actually weaker.
Using rival reviews to test an app idea
- A gap beats a weak spot. One app's weak spot can be fixed in its next release. A complaint the whole category draws has survived every app's roadmap, which is a better sign that it is hard or that nobody has tried.
- Read the near misses. Three star reviews and reviews that praise and complain at once are from people who like the job the app does and want one thing changed. That one thing is often the product.
- Weigh who is leaving. A complaint from reviewers who say they cancelled or quit costs the rival more than one from people who stay. Count the leaving reviewers per theme.
- Then talk to users. Reviews tell you what to ask. Whether people would switch, and pay, is a question for interviews and a landing page.
More public matchups
Comparisons anyone can open, read on one set of themes. Each headline is computed from the reviews.
Duolingo vs Babbel vs Busuu: which language app do learners fault?
Fewer Busuu reviewers complain: 32% against 40% for Duolingo.
Spotify vs Apple Music vs YouTube Music: what listeners complain about
Fewer Spotify reviewers complain: 50% against 53% for Apple Music.
Strava vs Garmin Connect vs Nike Run Club: what runners complain about
Fewer Nike Run Club reviewers complain: 53% against 62% for Garmin Connect™.
Hinge vs Bumble vs Tinder: which dating app do reviewers trust?
Fewer Hinge Dating App reviewers complain: 68% against 84% for Tinder Dating App.
DoorDash vs Uber Eats vs Grubhub: where orders go wrong
Fewer DoorDash reviewers complain: 67% against 75% for Grubhub.
Babbel vs Duolingo
Fewer Duolingo reviewers complain: 44% against 71% for Babbel.
Run it on your category
Search any app on the App Store, Google Play or Steam and OneStar reads its reviews on one fixed set of themes. On Pro, Compare puts two to four reports side by side, checks that they can be compared, and writes the findings above from the counts. Every number opens the reviews behind it. Start from the app review analyzer.
Cite this page: link https://onestar.sh/guides/competitor-app-review-analysis and name OneStar and the date you read it. Figures on this page load from a public OneStar comparison. Shares in OneStar reports are of all judged reviewers unless the report says otherwise.
Questions, answered plainly
Is it allowed to analyze a competitor's app reviews?
App Store and Google Play reviews are public pages anyone can read. Reading them to see what users of a rival app complain about is ordinary market research. Quote short excerpts, never reviewer names, and do not contact reviewers through the store.
How many competitors should I compare?
Two to four. One direct rival tells you its weak spots; three or four show whether a complaint belongs to one app or to the whole category. Past four, the comparison gets harder to read than it is worth.
Which competitor reviews should I read: one star or three star?
Read all of them and count by theme. One and two star reviews hold the complaints, three star reviews hold the near misses (people who would stay if one thing changed), and five star reviews tell you what you must match. Picking one star band skews every share.
Should I compare complaint counts or percentages?
Percentages of reviewers. Apps get very different numbers of reviews, so counts compare popularity. A share of complaints also misleads across apps: when one theme dominates an app's complaints, every other theme's share shrinks even if as many people raise it.
Can competitor reviews validate an app idea?
They can tell you what users of existing apps already complain about, and whether that complaint shows up across several apps. They cannot tell you whether people would switch or pay. Use them to pick the questions you ask in user interviews, then talk to users.
More guides
How to analyze App Store and Google Play reviews
Six steps, a spreadsheet version and a worked example on a live report.
App Store analytics: what Apple and Google show you, and what they leave out
What App Store Connect and Play Console measure, why they say not enough data, and where reviews fit.
Why did my app rating drop? A triage checklist
Five checks in order, the store rules for asking for ratings, and live rating drops.
How to reply to negative app reviews: a template for each complaint
A template per complaint under Google's 350 character cap, the store rules, and live reply rates.
Steam review score explained: what each label needs
The bands behind each label, which reviews count, language scores, and what live games need to move.
How to tell a Steam review bomb from a real problem
Three tells, the rule OneStar uses, and seven games with Steam's own counts.
What a patch did to your Steam reviews
Steam reviews carry no version, so a patch is read through the weeks before and after it.
See where your rivals' users are unhappy.
Search a competitor and OneStar reads its reviews by theme, with the reviews behind every number. Run a report free: 3 report runs a month of up to 500 reviews each and 1,500 reviews a month in all. No card needed.