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

Plan your technical or recreational dives in seconds on your iPhone, iPad and Mac ! Diveplanner is a full featured planner for technical and recreational scuba diving. It features various modules to quickly plan one or multiple dives including gas contingency and oxygen toxicity. Diveplanner was designed as a safe and reliable tool for divers. It helps plan technical and recreational dives quickly and easily and to share the schedule instantly with your dive buddy. Dive planning module: • Open Circuit / CCR, multi gas, decompression dive schedules up to 300 m/985 ft deep in fresh water or saltwater (including E​N13319) at sea level or altitude • Uses Bühlmann decompression model ZH16L-C with user selectable gradient factors as conservatism • Multi level dive instructions • Full automatic gas switch (from the list of selected gas for the dive) or manual gas switch or a mix of both • Full automatic contingency plans computation (lost decompression or travel gas) and ++ (too long/too deep) plans • Automatic bailout plan computation in CCR mode • Various information, caution or warnings for deep END, high or low PPO2, Setpoint, ICD, vestibular DCS due to ICD on gas switch • Computation of gas requirement and gas weight • Account for up to 6 consecutive dives with surface interval to account for residual saturation at start of the current dive • Works in Metric or Imperial units Dive table module: • Open Circuit / CCR, multi gas decompression dive table up to 66 m/210 ft deep and 60 min bottom time, in freshwater or saltwater (​including EN13319) at sea level or altitude • Uses Bühlmann decompression model ZH16L-C with user selectable gradient factors as conservatism • Account for up to 6 consecutive dives with surface interval to account for residual saturation while computing the dive table • Works in Metric or Imperial units • Translated in English, French and German

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
Read full description

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 20%. 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) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). 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: 20% 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 August 19, 2026 and September 21, 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 reviews20.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size37 MB82 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperSensetrails LLCDive Buddy LLC

Customer experience

Diveplanner Tec & Rec

All ratings7 ratings
Positive42.9%
Neutral28.6%
Negative28.6%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive20.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative80.0%

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 August 19, 2026 and DiveBuddy on September 21, 2026.

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