Comparison
Earwitness and the alternatives
There are four other ways people deal with this, and each is better than Earwitness at something. Here is the honest version, including where you should not buy from us.
Competitor prices and features were checked in November 2026 from public app store listings, vendor sites and council procurement records. They change often, and app store prices vary by country and by what is on special. Check before you rely on a figure here.
The five options
This product
Earwitness
A graded, sealed diary plus the council-ready pack, bought by the resident for one case. Works whether or not your council has heard of us.
Weak at: we are new, and we cannot give you a certified sound level.
Council-provided
The Noise App and similar
Free to the resident because the council or housing provider pays a yearly licence. Recordings go straight into the officer's queue, which is genuinely the smoothest route — when it exists.
Weak at: only works if your authority subscribes, short clips only, and the case lives in their system, not yours.
Measurement apps
Decibel meter apps
Cheap or free, a live number on screen, often a spectrum analyser. Good for satisfying your own curiosity about how loud something is.
Weak at: a number with no dated diary, no grading and no integrity trail — which is the part a council asks for.
Diary apps
Noise-log and complaint apps
A diary, a PDF and pre-filled complaint letters, usually on a subscription. The closest category to us, and some are decent.
Weak at: readings presented without grading, integrity claims that stop at a device fingerprint, and a meter rented monthly for a finite dispute.
Professional
Acoustic consultant
A calibrated Class 1 measurement and an expert report that stands up in a contested hearing. If the level itself is in dispute, this is what wins.
Weak at: cost, and a one-night visit cannot show a pattern across six weeks. Use Earwitness for the pattern and them for the level.
Feature by feature
Rows are the things that decide whether a complaint goes anywhere. Where a category is mixed, the cell says so rather than picking the flattering answer.
| Earwitness | Council apps | Decibel meters | Diary apps | Consultant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price to the resident | A$49 once, per case | Free (council pays £240–£36,888 a year) | Free to about A$110, or A$10–60 a year | Typically A$10–60 a year, some one-off | Commonly A$1,500+ for a report |
| Works regardless of your council | Yes | No — subscribing authorities only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Continuous dated diary, including quiet nights | Yes | Partly — built from submitted clips | No | Yes | No — you keep the diary |
| Every reading graded for trustworthiness | Yes, five grades, in words | No level given | No — often claims instrument accuracy | No | Yes — stated class |
| Refuses to mix grades into one figure | Yes, by design | Not applicable | No | No | Yes |
| Tamper-evident record | Hash chain, independent trusted timestamp, attachments sealed by content | Partly — held in the authority's system | No | Partly — device fingerprint on the PDF | Expert's signed report |
| Recipient can verify the pack independently | Yes, verification code | Not needed — they hold it | No | No | By contacting the author |
| Your council's own rules, quiet hours and checklist | Where verified; says so plainly when not | Yes, theirs by definition | No | Generic country templates | Yes |
| Overnight unattended capture | Yes, screen off, logs interruptions | No — clips of about 30 seconds, capped per day | Varies | Varies | Yes, with deployed equipment |
| Voices muted in saved clips | Yes | No — full audio to the officer | Usually no audio at all | Some record no audio; some record all of it | At the consultant's discretion |
| Import a hired meter's figures | Yes, kept at its own grade | No | No | No | It is their measurement |
| You keep the evidence if you stop paying | Yes — diary and exports always free | Case sits in the authority's system | Varies | Often locked behind the subscription | You own the report |
| Certified sound pressure level | No — and we say so everywhere | No | No, whatever the listing claims | No | Yes |
| Six countries in one app | AU, UK, IE, CA, NZ, US | One authority | Anywhere, no local rules | Country letter templates | Local to the practice |
What the grading row means in practice
Screens from the current design build. Detail changes between releases.
When you should not buy Earwitness
Three cases. We would rather you read this now than ask for a refund later.
Your council runs its own app
If your authority subscribes to a noise app and your complaint is already open with them, start there — it is free to you and it goes straight into the officer's queue. Come to us if you need a continuous record of your own, a diary that covers the nights their clips miss, or evidence that is yours to keep if the case moves to a tribunal.
You only want to know how loud it is
Buy a decibel meter app for a few dollars, or none. You are curious, not building a case, and we would be charging you for a diary you are not going to keep.
The level itself is in dispute at a hearing
You need a calibrated measurement and probably an acoustic consultant. Use Earwitness alongside them for the pattern across weeks, which their single visit cannot show — but do not expect our readings to carry that argument.
Still the right fit?
Check whether your council is covered before you pay anything.