Ventra vs CONNECT Transit
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ventra
Manage your public transit fares and tickets for Chicago's CTA, Metra, and Pace services. Load value, buy Metra mobile tickets, and access real-time arrival information all in one place. Add your Ventra Card to your iPhone for seamless travel.
- Manage Ventra Card balance and passes
- Load value and passes to Ventra Card
- Buy Metra mobile tickets
- Real-time CTA, Metra, Pace arrivals
- Add Ventra Card to Apple Wallet
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Ride CTA, Metra & Pace with Ventra: Manage your fares, buy Metra mobile tickets, get arrivals and add your Ventra Card for riding CTA and Pace to iPhone and Apple Wallet. Use transit in and around all of Chicago: It's easy to manage and pay your fare on CTA, Metra and Pace buses and trains with the Ventra app. Find all the features you're used to on the Ventra website and more, including mobile ticketing for Metra trains! With the Ventra app, you can: • Check your balance and available passes in your Ventra Card's transit account. • Instantly load value or passes to your Ventra Card's transit account. • Switch autoload for transit value or passes on and off. • Buy and use Metra mobile tickets to ride any Metra train. • Use transit value you've loaded to buy a Metra ticket. • Get real-time account notifications so you know when it's time to load more fare or buy more tickets. • Get real-time arrival/departure information from CTA, Metra and Pace all in one app—by picking a stop, using favorites or looking at service near where you're standing.
CONNECT Transit
Track your bus in real time, get arrival predictions, and plan your trips. Receive service alerts and mark favorite stops to save time and reduce uncertainty when riding public transit.
- Real-time bus tracking
- Bus arrival predictions
- Trip planning
- Service alerts
- Favorite stop marking
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The Connect Transit app keeps you connected in Bloomington-Normal. Use the app to track your bus in real time, see when the next bus is coming your way, plan your trips, and see service alerts. You can even mark your favorite stops. Stay connected, save time, and take the guess work out of riding the bus with the Connect mobile app. Connect Transit is connecting you in new ways!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Ventra at 3.3K against CONNECT Transit's 26. Ventra also leads on chart position (#96 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.4). CONNECT Transit's advantage is review sentiment (24% vs 8%). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 1.8 for Ventra against 1.7 for CONNECT Transit. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ventra has 3.3K ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 8% of Ventra's written reviews are positive against 24% of CONNECT Transit's.
Ventra ships an update every 4 months, CONNECT Transit every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ventra | CONNECT Transit |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.8 (3.3K ratings) — better | 1.7 (26 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 7.7% of reviews | 23.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3.3K — better | 26 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #96 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 61 MB | 34 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chicago Transit Authority | Syncromatics |
Customer experience
Ventra
CONNECT Transit
Bugs and requests
Ventra
Reported bugs
5 issues- Purchase button not working on iPhones
- Favorites list glitches and resets
- Inconsistent and unreliable ticket display
- Frequent app crashes and login issues
- Payment processing failures and lost funds
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to manage Ventra cards and balances
- Improve real-time transit tracking and notifications
- Allow saving of favorite routes and stations
- Integrate with Apple Wallet for easier access
- Provide more transparent and user-friendly payment options
CONNECT Transit
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ventra
No in-app purchases
CONNECT Transit
No in-app purchases
