Comparison

Drone Start vs NAV Drone

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Drone Start

This app provides advanced flight checks and planning for drones, ensuring safe takeoffs and operations. It analyzes weather, GPS, battery health, and local airspace conditions, while also offering detailed flight route planning with elevation and wind data.

Highlights
  • Comprehensive pre-flight safety checks
  • Detailed flight route planning
  • Real-time drone battery and sensor monitoring
  • Weather, GPS, and airspace analysis
  • No-fly zone and wind map visualization
  • Daily FlyCast notifications
  • Intelligent Return To Home height calculation
Read full description

Drone Start is an advanced flight check & planning tool for drones. Drone Start is packed full of features that will help you plan a safe drone flight every time! You simply turn on your drone, plug your device into the drone controller, open the app & tap Start! Drone Start will then do a comprehensive set of advanced checks to see if its safe to fly in your current area & it will even check your drones battery and sensors in real time to check your drone is in perfect condition to take off! When your not out flying you can use Drone Start to create comprehensive flight plans, just type in where you want to fly and Drone Start will get Weather, GPS, Light Levels, Terrain Elevation, No Fly Zones and more! You can also plan your flight route and find out the elevation change & how much battery you'll have left! You can view the area map and see No Fly Zones, Terrain Elevations, Sunrise/Sunset Times & Positions plus you can also see an animated Wind Map, showing the wind direction with colour coded arrows so you can immediately see if its too windy to fly or not. Drone Starts calculation are also based on your drone model*, so things such as winds speeds and battery range are calculated using your actual drone! Drone Start also has some great advanced features too such as: Daily FlyCast Daily FlyCast is a daily notification sent at sunrise every morning outlining the days flying conditions. You'll also have access to the FlyCast Widget, so you can always quickly check if its good to fly without even opening the app! Solar Storm Warnings Solar Storm Warnings are notifications informing you incoming solar storms which can cause high levels of magnetic interference which can affect GPS signals and impact the accuracy of your RTH point. Intelligent RTH If enabled Drone Start will automatically calculate and set your Return To Home Height based on surround terrain elevation and building heights, making sure your doesn't fly into a mountain side or building when it returns to you! Fly Zone Alert When enabled you will receive a notification informing you have entered a No Fly Zone, we will also let you know when you leave one too! Battery Manager Drone Start records battery data before each flight so you easily check battery health, including deviations. It also recommends battery rotation order if you have multiple batteries. You can also perform a battery test to check it's heath & efficiency, plus create pdf reports from the results. Intelligent VPS If there are large bodies of water in the area, Drone Start will automatically disable your VPS for you and automatically enable it next time you fly in an area with low amounts of water. Active Drone Alerts Get notified when theres a another drone flying near your location. Drone Start Features Include**: Start Checks - Weather, GPS, KP Index, Terrain Elevation & Airspace Checks - Light Checks - Aircraft Checks - Aircraft Warming - Building Height Check - Drone Battery Health Check - Drone Sensor Health Check - Wind Altitude Checks - RTH Height Check - Wind Map - No Fly Zone Map - Terrain Elevation Map - Ephemeris - Dedicated Drone Model Checks - Golden Hour Times - Water Area Check - Active Drone Check - RTH Reminder Flight Plans - 7 Day Weather Forecast - 7 Day GPS Forecast - 7 Day KP Index Forecast - No Fly Zone Check - Terrain Elevation Check - Weather Check - Wind Map - 3D Building Map - No Fly Zone Map - Terrain Elevation Map - Ephemeris - Best Time To Fly - Flight Route Planner - Dedicated Drone Model Checks - Weekly Summary - Light Check - Golden Hour Times *DJI Drone Models are only currently supported. **Some Feature May Require An Active Monthly or Yearly Auto Renewing Subscription. See our Terms of Use here: www.faulknerlabs.io/drone-start-terms

About

NAV Drone

This app helps drone pilots in Canada fly safely and legally. It provides airspace information, allows flight planning, and automates authorization requests for controlled airspace.

Highlights
  • Airspace information
  • Flight planning
  • Flight authorization
  • Controlled airspace guidance
  • Automatic authorization responses
Read full description

Fly your drone safely and legally in Canada’s controlled airspace using NAV Drone, a mobile app from NAV CANADA. Review important guidelines, discover where you can fly, schedule flights, and receive automatic authorization responses from NAV CANADA when you’re approved to fly — all from your mobile device. KEY FEATURES • Airspace information – Provides drone pilots with information on classification, restrictions, and NOTAMs. • Flight planning – Provides capabilities to schedule and plan flights in controlled airspace. • Flight authorization – Automates authorization responses to fly in controlled airspace.

Screenshots

Drone Start4 screens
NAV Drone4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: NAV Drone at 4.8 against Drone Start's 4.1. NAV Drone also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (52% vs 41%). Drone Start's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, ratings volume, ads and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Drone Start sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. NAV Drone asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

NAV Drone holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 47 and 17 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 41% of Drone Start's written reviews are positive against 52% of NAV Drone's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drone Start ships an update every 3 weeks, NAV Drone every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on July 5, 2026 and August 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Drone Start versus NAV Drone: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrone StartNAV Drone
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (47 ratings)4.8 (17 ratings) — better
Positive reviews41.4% of reviews52.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings47 — better17
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size120 MB356 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNeil FaulknerNAV Canada

Customer experience

Drone Start

All ratings47 ratings
Positive76.6%
Neutral8.5%
Negative14.9%
Written reviews29 reviews
Positive41.4%
Neutral13.8%
Negative44.8%

NAV Drone

All ratings16 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews100 reviews
Positive52.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative38.0%

Bugs and requests

Drone Start

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

NAV Drone

Reported bugs

21 issues
  • App logs out constantly, sometimes mid-session
  • Pilot license documents not saving/persisting
  • Login credentials not retained between sessions
  • App crashes during launch and landing functions
  • Cannot save new flight areas
Show 16 more
  • Map defaults to wrong location despite location permissions
  • Flight area scaling incorrectly after adjustment
  • Validation errors preventing flight submission
  • Unable to load login information
  • Cannot select operation category
  • Fails to pull user preferences and drone data
  • Bad gateway errors after updates
  • Inconsistent airspace restriction status for same location
  • Map display too small on larger phones
  • Difficulty zooming and expanding map areas
  • Drone selection dropdown extremely slow to load
  • Unable to register standard profile
  • Cannot adjust map while setting flight limits
  • Cumbersome altitude adjustment interface
  • Dangerous goods field not defaulting to 'no'
  • Withdraw flight button too close to accept button

Requested features

17 requests
  • Biometric login (Face ID/fingerprint authentication)
  • Remember email address on login screen
  • Save default drone and flight operation preferences
  • Numeric keypad for altitude and distance input instead of sliders
  • Built-in NOTAM advisory information
Show 12 more
  • Automatic notifications for approaching aircraft
  • Notification when requested flight time expires
  • Support for uploading KML files for flight planning
  • Ability to enter flight location coordinates directly
  • Add provincial parks and local restrictions to map
  • Auto-fill support for 2FA authentication codes
  • Save favorite locations with custom names
  • Edit existing flight permits after submission
  • Multi-drone selection for single operation
  • Longer approval windows for regular flying locations
  • Conflict detection visible without account login
  • Update drone model database (DJI Air 3S, Mini 4K, etc.)

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Drone Start

Subscriptions2
  • Professional Monthly7 Days trial$1.491 Month
  • Professional Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
None

NAV Drone

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Drone Start free?
Drone Start is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is NAV Drone free?
NAV Drone is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Drone Start or NAV Drone?
NAV Drone is rated higher. Drone Start averages 4.1 out of 5 from 47 ratings, while NAV Drone averages 4.8 from 17 ratings.
Do Drone Start or NAV Drone have ads?
Neither Drone Start nor NAV Drone shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Drone Start or NAV Drone?
Drone Start ships an update every 3 weeks, and NAV Drone every 4 months. Most recently, Drone Start was updated on July 5, 2026 and NAV Drone on August 12, 2026.

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