Hook vs Pushcut
Hook vs Hookdeck Console
Hook vs
BarkA Bark alternative that takes raw webhooks.
Bark is a free, open-source iOS app: put a title and body in a URL and it arrives as a push. Hook takes requests in whatever shape a service sends them and lets you read all of it.
Hook and Bark, side by side.
Hook Free, Pro from $5.99 a month | Bark Free, open source | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price | Free: 10 requests a month. Pro: $1.99/week, $5.99/month or $39.99/year; Lifetime $59.99 (US App Store prices) | Free app; self-host the server if you like |
| Volume | 10,000 requests a month on Pro | Public-server limits not stated |
| Receiving | ||
| Third-party webhooks | Yes: Any request from any service: point Stripe, GitHub or anything else straight at it | No: Needs Bark's /:key/:title/:body URL format |
| Read the full request | Yes: Headers, query string and full body, formatted, with the raw request kept | No: No |
| Signed payloads | Yes: JWS/JWT bodies decoded, nested ones too (App Store notifications) | No: No |
| Sender recognition | Yes: Stripe, GitHub, Slack, Shopify, GitLab, Linear, Vercel, Sentry, Discord and the App Store named on arrival | No: No |
| Email in | Yes: A mail.gethook.app address per workspace | No: No |
| Forward to your service | Partly: Proxy to your own URL on Pro | No: No |
| Notifications | ||
| AI-written notifications | Yes: Title and summary written from any payload, in your language; or your own template | No: No: you write every message |
| Push | Yes: iPhone push, and browser push on Pro | Yes: APNs, with time-sensitive and critical levels |
| Publish from scripts | Yes: Hook-Title, Hook-Priority, Hook-Tags, Hook-Click, actions, as headers or URL parameters | Yes: Title, body, group, icon, levels, optional encryption |
| Priority | Yes: Five levels, from silent (1) to urgent (5) | Yes: Passive to critical |
| Platform | ||
| Apps | Partly: iPhone and iPad app, plus a web app; no Android | Partly: iOS only |
| History | 7 days on Free; full history on Pro | Not stated |
| Self-hosting | No: Hosted only | Yes: Yes |
| Open source | No: Closed source | Yes: MIT |
- Supported
- Limited
- Not available
Bark details are from their public website and docs as of October 2026. Hook prices are US App Store prices.
Why people pick Hook over Bark.
Services call it directly
No URL template to build for each sender: paste the endpoint into Stripe, GitHub or any dashboard.
Read everything that arrived
Full requests, formatted and searchable, on iPhone and the web.
When Bark is the better choice.
You want free and open source, or to self-host.
You need critical alerts or end-to-end encrypted messages.
Questions about Hook and Bark.
Can Hook send critical alerts?
No. Hook's priorities go from silent to urgent, but it does not use iOS critical alerts, which bypass the mute switch.
More in the docs: Get started · Publishing messages
How Hook compares with other tools.
- vs
ntfy alternative for iPhone
ntfy is an open-source pub/sub service: you publish a message to a topic and subscribed devices get it. Hook gives you an endpoint any service can call as it is, and shows the whole request as well as the notification.
Compare - vs
Pushover alternative
Pushover is a reliable push API: your code sends a token, a user key and a message. Hook is an endpoint other services call directly, so a webhook you don't control still becomes a notification you can read in full.
Compare - vs
webhook.site alternative with push
webhook.site is a browser tool for inspecting requests sent to a disposable URL. Hook does the inspecting too, but on a permanent endpoint that notifies your iPhone, so you don't have to keep a tab open.
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