Hotlap vs Garmin Catalyst™
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hotlap
This app offers GPS lap timing and data logging for track day enthusiasts. Compare your performance with others in a community setting to improve your personal bests.
- GPS lap timing
- Data logging
- Performance comparison
- Community features
- Personal best tracking
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Experience the competitive spirit and camaraderie of track days from anywhere. Hotlap is an exciting new community for track day enthusiasts. With intuitive GPS lap timing and data logging you can ealiy compare your performance with fellow drivers to achieve your next personal best.
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 Hotlap's 4.3. Garmin Catalyst™ also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (82% vs 69%). On price, ratings volume, 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. Hotlap sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Garmin Catalyst™ asks for nothing beyond the download.
Garmin Catalyst™ holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 79 and 120 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of Hotlap's written reviews are positive against 82% of Garmin Catalyst™'s.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hotlap | Garmin Catalyst™ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (79 ratings) | 4.8 (120 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 69.4% of reviews | 81.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 79 | 120 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 16.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 118 MB | 220 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Extravehicular Activity, Inc. | Garmin |
Customer experience
Hotlap
Garmin Catalyst™
Bugs and requests
Hotlap
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
Hotlap
- Hotlap Plus Monthly$2.991 Month
- Hotlap Plus Annual$23.991 Year
Garmin Catalyst™
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Hotlap free?
Is Garmin Catalyst™ free?
Which has better reviews, Hotlap or Garmin Catalyst™?
Do Hotlap or Garmin Catalyst™ have ads?
Which is updated more often, Hotlap or Garmin Catalyst™?
Other comparisons
