Tearline by NGA vs Tail Number offline database
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tearline by NGA
Access open-source intelligence on strategic, economic, and humanitarian topics. Review articles chronologically or by category, with detailed overviews and downloadable structured data. Includes infographics, visualizations, and satellite imagery analysis.
- Open access intelligence content
- Chronological and categorized article review
- Analytic overview and future focus highlights
- Downloadable structured data
- Infographics and visualizations
- Satellite imagery analysis
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Tearline provides open source intelligence to the public. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is partnering with expert non-profit groups to grow public-facing, authoritative open source intelligence on various strategic, economic, and humanitarian intelligence topics that tend to be under-reported within in-depth or long-form formats. Features • Content is open and available to the general public • Review all articles in chronological order or select a category of interest to view related articles • Article Overview feature highlights the analytic overview, activity intro, looking ahead focus areas and things to watch for next • Download the underlying structured data used in the articles, which are organized using simple color codes • Read content in chronological order in the Timeline feature • View infographics and visualizations summarizing the articles main content in the Graphs feature • Satellite imagery analysis available in articles
Tail Number offline database
Access a comprehensive database of aircraft registration information without an internet connection. Track aircraft you've observed while flying. This tool provides details on planes registered with the FAA and Transport Canada.
- Offline aircraft database
- FAA registration lookup
- Transport Canada registration lookup
- Track seen aircraft
- No internet required
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Use Tail Number offline database to look up aircraft even when you don't have cell service! Tail Number offline database has a copy of all aircraft publicly registered with the FAA and Transport Canada, and can be used to keep track of which ones you've seen while airborne.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Tail Number offline database at 5.0 against Tearline by NGA's 3.6. Tail Number offline database also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months). Tearline by NGA's advantage is ratings volume (9 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
Tail Number offline database holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tearline by NGA has 9 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Tearline by NGA ships an update every 3 months, Tail Number offline database monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tearline by NGA | Tail Number offline database |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (9 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 44.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 9 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 78 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency | Dan Driscoll |
Customer experience
Tearline by NGA
Tail Number offline database
In-app purchases
Tearline by NGA
No in-app purchases
Tail Number offline database
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Tearline by NGA free?
Is Tail Number offline database free?
Which has better reviews, Tearline by NGA or Tail Number offline database?
Do Tearline by NGA or Tail Number offline database have ads?
Which is updated more often, Tearline by NGA or Tail Number offline database?
Other comparisons
