Chicago CTA Bus Tracker vs ChiTrack
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker
Track Chicago CTA buses in real-time. Select your route, direction, and stop to view upcoming bus arrivals. Save favorite stops for quick access to arrival times.
- Live bus tracking
- Route and direction selection
- Stop arrival predictions
- Save favorite stops
- Fast and easy to use
Read full descriptionHide full description
Live bus tracker for Chicago CTA buses. Simply select a route, direction and stop to see the next bus arrivals. Save your favorite stops to see upcoming arrivals with a single touch. - CTA buses - Save unlimited number of favorites - Easy to use - Fast This is not an official app.
ChiTrack
This app provides real-time Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) train arrival information directly from the official API. It offers a streamlined experience with automatic updates for favorite stops and a glance-friendly design for quick readability.
- Real-time CTA train arrivals
- Official API data source
- Direction-specific train filtering
- Automatic home/favorite stop refresh
- Glance-friendly design
- Search any station
Read full descriptionHide full description
Taking the train to work just got a whole lot easier! ChiTrack is the easiest, fastest, and most reliable Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) train tracker for your everyday commute. ----------------- What makes ChiTrack different: - Official, real‑time arrival data: Direct data from the CTA API, unlike Google or Apple Maps - Your direction only: Choose Belmont → Loop (or any stop + direction) and skip irrelevant trains. - Zero‑tap arrivals: Open the app and home + favorite stops refresh automatically. - Glance‑friendly design: Large, clean arrival times you can read in a second. - Search any station: Full coverage when your routine changes. Made by a Chicagoan, for Chicagoans who ride the L every day. ----------------- ChiTrack: Chicago CTA Tracker is not affiliated with the CTA or Ventra. All arrival times come from the public CTA Train Tracker API. Ventra® is a registered trademark of the Chicago Transit Authority / Cubic Transportation Systems. ChiTrack is an independent product and is neither endorsed by nor connected to CTA or Cubic.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Chicago CTA Bus Tracker at Free against ChiTrack's $0.99. Chicago CTA Bus Tracker also leads on ratings volume (184 vs 8) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.1). ChiTrack's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.2) and ads (none vs shown). On in-app purchases 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
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker is free to download; ChiTrack costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
ChiTrack holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chicago CTA Bus Tracker has 184 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Chicago CTA Bus Tracker's written reviews are positive against 78% of ChiTrack's.
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker ships an update every 37 months, ChiTrack every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chicago CTA Bus Tracker | ChiTrack |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | 4.2 (184 ratings) | 5.0 (8 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 59.6% of reviews | 77.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 184 — better | 8 |
| Update frequency | Every 37 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Naiara Albaina | Declan Kramper |
Customer experience
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker
ChiTrack
Bugs and requests
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker
Reported bugs
8 issues- App doesn't update
- App doesn't refresh
- Home page doesn't load
- No information available when searching
- App freezes sometimes
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- No real-time info refresh
- Doesn't load consistently
- Takes a while to upload
Requested features
6 requests- Ability to rearrange favorites
- Add a refresh button
- Improve user-friendliness on the go
- Add train tracking
- Fix discrepancy between app and website
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Allow users to refresh current input
ChiTrack
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker
No in-app purchases
ChiTrack
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chicago CTA Bus Tracker free?
Is ChiTrack free?
Which has better reviews, Chicago CTA Bus Tracker or ChiTrack?
Do Chicago CTA Bus Tracker or ChiTrack have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chicago CTA Bus Tracker or ChiTrack?
Other comparisons
