Comparison

Diveplanner Tec & Rec vs DiveBuddy

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

Head to head
About

Diveplanner Tec & Rec

Plan technical and recreational scuba dives with detailed gas management, decompression schedules, and contingency planning. This tool helps divers quickly create and share dive plans for various depths and conditions.

Highlights
  • Technical and recreational dive planning
  • Multi-gas and CCR dive schedules
  • Bühlmann decompression model (ZH16L-C)
  • Automatic contingency plans
  • Gas requirement and weight calculation
  • Dive table generation
  • Metric and Imperial units
Features
Read full description

Diveplanner Tec & Rec plans recreational and technical dives, on open circuit or closed circuit rebreather (CCR), in a few taps, and keeps your logbook. PLAN • Bühlmann ZH-L16C decompression model with your gradient factors, or the Thalmann algorithm of the U.S. Navy: VVal-79 for air and nitrox, XVal-He-9 for heliox CCR dives; compare a plan with both • Open circuit and CCR, down to 300 m / 985 ft, in salt, fresh or EN 13319 water, at sea level or at altitude • Multi-level dives, multi-gas decompression with automatic or chosen switch depths • Contingency plans computed for you: deeper, longer, lost deco gas, GF 100 and the CCR bailout • Warnings for ppO2, END, gas density, isobaric counter diffusion, CNS and OTU • The decompression chart of each plan: the profile, the tissues' ceilings at GF 100 and at your gradient factors, the leading tissue • A dive day of as many repetitive dives as you need, with their surface intervals • Saved plans in folders, shared as files GAS • Describe your cylinders: the plan gives the pressure at the end of the dive, the turn pressure, the rock bottom and the maximum bottom time your gas allows • Gas needed by volume and weight, per gas TABLES • Dive tables by depth and bottom time for your own gases, gradient factors and conditions, with the previous dives of the day • Share or print the table as a PDF TOOLS • Gas blender: partial pressure blending of nitrox, trimix and heliox from what is left in the cylinder, ideal or real gas; the best mix for a depth from your ppO2, END and gas density limits, and the cylinder label • Tides: the tide of a day anywhere at sea, from the nearest NOAA tide station or the EOT20 global tide model, its high and low waters, and the tidal currents and slack waters of a nearby current station, read to the minute on the chart • Photo colors: restore the true colors of your underwater photos and videos, their blue or green cast, haze and missing red corrected, with the depth of your logged dive; compare before and after, then save or share LOGBOOK • Log your dives by hand, from a plan, or download them over Bluetooth from a Shearwater dive computer (Petrel 2, Perdix, Perdix AI, Nerd 2, Teric, Peregrine), with the profile, stops, gases and sensor values • Photos, dive sites on a map, statistics, tags, search and filters • Synchronised between your iPhone, iPad and Mac with iCloud • Export to UDDF, Subsurface, CSV, a PDF logbook and .divelog archives; import UDDF and Subsurface SHARE • Ready-to-cut dive schedules as a PDF, for your buddy or your slate: every plan, the gas and cylinders, CNS, OTU and warnings EVERYWHERE • iPhone, iPad and Mac • Metric or imperial units • In 12 languages, each with its user guide LICENCES • Rec, free: one gas, air or nitrox up to 40 %, down to 66 m / 210 ft • Tec Basic: up to 3 gases, nitrox up to 100 %, normoxic trimix and triox • Tec Advanced: unlimited gases and depth, hypoxic trimix • Try every feature free for 2 weeks Diveplanner is a planning aid. It does not replace training, experience, a dive computer or your own judgement: always dive within the limits of your certification.

About

DiveBuddy

Connect with fellow scuba divers, find dive buddies, and discover new dive sites. This app offers essential scuba calculators, a digital dive log, and a platform to store certifications and share underwater photos. Engage in community forums and discussions to enhance your diving experience.

Highlights
  • Find dive buddies
  • Scuba calculators
  • Digital dive log
  • Community dive sites
  • Store certifications
  • Share underwater photos
  • Scuba forums
Features
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Core features of the Dive Buddy app: - Find dive buddies near you or near a dive destination. - Scuba calculators - Weight, SAC, MOD, EAD, and more. - Maintain your dive log, with option to import, export, and attach photos. - Search our community-maintained dive sites with ratings & comments. - Store digital copies of your scuba certifications or C-cards. - View and share underwater photos with other scuba divers. - Participate in scuba-related forum discussions and ask questions. - Send private messages and comment on community content. Apple Family Sharing: Share a single DiveBuddy Pro subscription with up to five family members. Dive Buddy is the essential social community for scuba divers only, trusted by tens of thousands of members globally since 1998. As a fully independent platform, we are not affiliated with any specific certification agency, we proudly welcome and support divers from all training backgrounds. The platform is built to handle the real-world needs of the scuba community. Whether you are planning your next local shore dive, a weekend boat trip, or a dream destination adventure, DiveBuddy helps you connect with other divers, discover new places to explore, and keep your diving life organized in one easy-to-use app. Learn more at www.divebuddy.com.

Screenshots

Diveplanner Tec & Rec4 screens
DiveBuddy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: DiveBuddy at 100% against Diveplanner Tec & Rec's 43%. DiveBuddy also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.1) and update cadence (daily vs every 3 months). Diveplanner Tec & Rec's advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium). On price, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Diveplanner Tec & Rec sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and DiveBuddy sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

DiveBuddy holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7 and 3 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 43% of Diveplanner Tec & Rec's written reviews are positive against 100% of DiveBuddy's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Diveplanner Tec & Rec ships an update every 3 months, DiveBuddy daily. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Diveplanner Tec & Rec versus DiveBuddy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDiveplanner Tec & RecDiveBuddy
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.1 (7 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews42.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size96 MB82 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperSensetrails LLCDive Buddy LLC

Customer experience

Diveplanner Tec & Rec

All ratings7 ratings
Positive42.9%
Neutral28.6%
Negative28.6%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive42.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative57.1%

DiveBuddy

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Diveplanner Tec & Rec

One-time3
  • Two weeks free trialFree
  • Tec Basic$7.99
  • Tec Advanced$19.99
2 purchases

DiveBuddy

Subscriptions2
  • DiveBuddy Pro - Monthly$2.991 Month
  • DiveBuddy Pro - Annually$24.991 Year

Questions

Is Diveplanner Tec & Rec free?
Diveplanner Tec & Rec is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DiveBuddy free?
DiveBuddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Diveplanner Tec & Rec or DiveBuddy?
DiveBuddy is rated higher. Diveplanner Tec & Rec averages 3.1 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while DiveBuddy averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Diveplanner Tec & Rec or DiveBuddy have ads?
Neither Diveplanner Tec & Rec nor DiveBuddy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Diveplanner Tec & Rec or DiveBuddy?
Diveplanner Tec & Rec ships an update every 3 months, and DiveBuddy daily. Most recently, Diveplanner Tec & Rec was updated on October 25, 2026 and DiveBuddy on October 8, 2026.

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