VESL vs ER Buoy
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
VESL
Simplify government reporting with this business tool. Easily file all your obligations in one central location, saving time and reducing frustration. Get started for free and streamline your compliance process.
- Government reporting hub
- Effortless filing
- Time and cost savings
- Specify reporting obligations
- User-friendly interface
Read full descriptionHide full description
Meet your reporting obligations with ease. VESL is a hub for reporting to the government. File your reports with the least amount of effort, all in one place. Reduce frustration, saving time and money. Get started by creating an account, specifying your reporting obligations, and filing your reports. Start now - it's free!
ER Buoy
This application displays anonymized fishing gear locations in real-time to help fishermen deploy their gear safely and avoid conflicts. It indirectly contributes to reducing whale entanglements and mortality by minimizing gear interaction.
- Real-time location sharing
- Anonymized fishing gear display
- Minimizes gear conflict
- Reduces whale entanglements
- No login required
Read full descriptionHide full description
This app enables users with an iOS or iPadOS device to automatically send their location to the EarthRanger platform so that anonymized on-demand fishing gear within 5 nautical miles of the user's location can be shown on the map in real-time. This app makes it easier for fishermen to deploy their ropeless gear while minimizing gear conflict with other fishermen, and indirectly reduces whale entanglements with fishing gear and reduces whale mortality There is no login required to use this app. All gear data shown is completely anonymized to ensure data privacy. Terms of use are governed by the EarthRanger End User License Agreement (EULA), which is available at https://EarthRanger/EULA. For more information about Al2's policy on location data, please visit https://www.earthranger.com/privacy-policy.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ER Buoy at 5.0 against VESL's 3.0. VESL's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks) and ratings volume (31 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
ER Buoy holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: VESL has 31 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
VESL ships an update weekly, ER Buoy every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | VESL | ER Buoy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (31 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 31 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 78 MB | 60 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bluefin Data | Allen Institute for AI |
Customer experience
VESL
ER Buoy
In-app purchases
VESL
No in-app purchases
ER Buoy
No in-app purchases
