RaceCapture vs Garmin Catalyst™
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RaceCapture
Transform your device into a real-time telemetry dashboard for a powerful data acquisition system. Design custom dashboards, analyze lap data, and configure pit stop timers. Supports live streaming, predictive lap times, and automatic track map detection.
- Customizable dashboards
- Real-time telemetry streaming
- In-app log file analysis
- Configurable pit stop timer
- Predictive lap times
- Sensor and OBDII/CAN data integration
- Automatic track map detection
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Transform your phone or tablet into a dashboard that can transmit real-time telemetry for RaceCapture/Pro - a powerful Data Acquisition system by Autosport Labs. Learn more at http://www.autosportlabs.com Features * Design custom dashboards that you can share with friends * Stream real-time telemetry to Podium http://podium.live for live analysis, sharing, lap comparison and playback * In app analysis features - import your RaceCapture log file data and inspect your lap data! * Automatic, configurable pit stop timer for endurance racers * Show predictive lap times using RaceCapture/Pro's high performance GPS * Customize gauges with sensor data, OBDII and CAN bus data streams from the RaceCapture system * Automatic track map detection with support for hundreds of race tracks * Fully configure all of the features and settings in RaceCapture/Pro - no laptop needed! Getting started: * Full quick-start guide: http://wiki.autosportlabs.com * Power up your RaceCapture device * Connect your iOS device to RaceCapture's WiFI network * Start the Race Capture app * The app will automatically search and connect your RaceCapture system. * Select the dashboard view and navigate the different screens. Here you can customize the screens with the channels you have enabled. Troubleshooting: * Make sure you're on the latest version of the RaceCapture firmware * If you have trouble connecting via WiFi: * * Verify you're connected to RaceCapture's wifi network. Alternatively, you can configure your RaceCapture device to connect to your phone's hotspot, or you can connect both devices to a common WiFi access point. * * More troubleshooting at: http://wiki.autosportlabs.com and forums at http://forum.autosportlabs.com
Garmin Catalyst™
Access and analyze your motorsports performance data on your smartphone. Review lap times, session summaries, and driver profiles. Track annual driving activity and session weather conditions.
- Access performance data
- View lap times
- Session summaries
- Customizable driver profiles
- Track annual activity
- Record weather conditions
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For motorsports drivers of all levels, the Garmin Catalyst™ app provides a simple, intuitive way to access your Garmin Catalyst™ performance data — including lap times, session summaries and customizable driver profiles— on your compatible smartphone or tablet. The app also tracks your annual driving activity metrics and provides a record of weather conditions for each session. Garmin Catalyst™ App • Easily access your Garmin Catalyst™ performance data with use of this app on your compatible smartphone or tablet • Shows your session summaries, lap times, session weather conditions, lap-by-lap data and annual driving activity metrics • Customizable icons within the app let you tailor the look of your driver profile and vehicle icons • View vehicles and track notes from your Garmin Catalyst™ device
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Garmin Catalyst™ at 4.8 against RaceCapture's 4.0. Garmin Catalyst™ also leads on ratings volume (120 vs 9). RaceCapture's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 16.5). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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.
Garmin Catalyst™ holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Garmin Catalyst™ has 120 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | RaceCapture | Garmin Catalyst™ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (9 ratings) | 4.8 (120 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 80.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 9 | 120 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 16.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 164 MB | 220 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Autosport Labs | Garmin |
Customer experience
RaceCapture
Garmin Catalyst™
Bugs and requests
RaceCapture
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Garmin Catalyst™
Reported bugs
7 issues- Everytime you try logging in the app just glitches anyways can’t even get logged in.
- Comparing to others frequently fails
- Compare to friend feature way to frequently fails with the message about the tracks not matching well enough despite being the same track on the same days even.
- New version is off
- It won’t let me compare the laps with other friends on the same day. Says lap not similar. Literally same day same track same session.
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- Friend integration is currently pretty lacking. When I try to compare laps it complains that the tracks aren't similar enough.
- Worse though is that there's no apparent way of sharing your sessions with friends.
Requested features
17 requests- Option to select 1-5 laps for optimum view
- Watch reference videos side by side on the Catalyst
- Add video review on phone or iPad
- Allow moving videos to iCloud for review
- Ability to download in-car camera footage directly from device to app
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- Compare data from other sessions
- Use for Sim racing games
- More functionality to come
- Make it even more simple
- Overall leaderboard
- Leaderboards of other tracks
- Compare session data between friends
- Fix track matching issues for friend comparison
- Allow browsing friend's sessions
- Add option to compare against other sessions
- Add dark mode option
- Add advanced analytics dashboard
In-app purchases
RaceCapture
No in-app purchases
Garmin Catalyst™
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is RaceCapture free?
Is Garmin Catalyst™ free?
Which has better reviews, RaceCapture or Garmin Catalyst™?
Do RaceCapture or Garmin Catalyst™ have ads?
Which is updated more often, RaceCapture or Garmin Catalyst™?
Other comparisons
