Comparison

IONITY vs Carregar

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

Head to head
About

IONITY

Find and use high-power EV charging stations across Europe. Plan your routes, start and stop charging sessions, and manage payments easily. Offers subscriptions for lower charging prices.

Highlights
  • Find nearest charging stations
  • Real-time charger availability
  • Route planner
  • Start/end charging sessions
  • Track charging progress
  • QR code scanning to start
  • Secure payment storage
Features
Read full description

Say hi to your co-driver. You’re searching for a top-notch EV charging experience? Here you are: Download the IONITY App to access Europe’s leading High-Power Charging (HPC) network available across 24 countries – open to EVs from all manufacturers. Our network delivers maximum charging speeds of up to 400 kW, enabling you to charge 300 kilometres of range in 15 minutes. Faster charging sessions — more time for you. Discover the highlights of the IONITY App Navigation • Search and find the nearest or a specific IONITY Station — the availability of all charging points is displayed in real-time. • Use the IONITY Route Planner to plan your journey ahead and import your daily or upcoming routes to your favourite navigation app with ease. Charging • Conveniently start and end your charging session directly within the IONITY App. • Track your charging progress in real-time and receive a push notification when you’re at 80% to go back on the road. • Optional: Use our app to scan the QR code on the charger to start the session. Payment • Safely store your account and payment details within the app to conveniently pay for your charging sessions. • Receive monthly invoices for your personal or professional use to keep an eye on your spendings. • Have a closer look at your past IONITY charging sessions and explore useful information like station location and kWh charged. Find the right IONITY Subscription for you Discover our subscriptions within the app: Choose the one that matches your lifestyle, driving habits, and charging needs by opting for IONITY Power or Motion. Sign up now and charge your electric vehicle at very attractive price per kWh. Prices vary by country. IONITY Power Power your EV and charge for less: Our IONITY Power subscription is the right choice for most EV drivers. You save money after only two charging sessions per month: Benefit from the cheapest charging prices per kWh and continue your journey fast. IONITY Motion Keep yourself in motion: IONITY Motion is the ideal subscription for drivers that only occasionally use their electric vehicle and want to benefit from a cheaper charging price per kWh by using the IONITY App. Your benefits with IONITY Power and IONITY Motion: • A significantly lower charging price per kWh • No seasonal or peak changes of kWh prices • Switch your current subscription anytime • Cancel subscription anytime to next billing date • Subscribe and pay via the IONITY App Charging for registered users without IONITY Power or Motion subscription: IONITY App tariff Ready. Set. Charge! Sign up within the IONITY App and automatically benefit from a slightly lower charging price per kWh. No subscription and no monthly fees. This is the IONITY App tariff. Upgrade to our subscriptions to save even more. About IONITY IONITY builds and operates Europe’s largest ultra-fast charging network. With a High-Power Charging (HPC) capacity of up to 400 kW, it enables maximum charging speeds. IONITY exclusively uses renewable energy, ensuring emission-free and carbon-neutral driving. Currently, the IONITY network includes over 700 charging stations and more than 4,800 HPC charging points across 24 European countries. IONITY was founded in 2017 and is a joint venture between the car manufacturers BMW Group, Ford Motor Company, Hyundai Motor Group, Kia, Mercedes-Benz AG and Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche as well as BlackRock's Climate Infrastructure Platform as a financial investor. The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and has additional offices in Dortmund, Germany, the French metropolis Paris, and outside the Norwegian capital Oslo. Further information at www.ionity.eu.

About

Carregar

Features
Read full description

The Carregar app helps you locate Mobi.e charging stations, simulate charging costs, and view network statistics. The app has the following features: - View stations on a map - Aggregate stations at the same location with a horizontal radius - Aggregate stations with a blue icon when zooming out - Clicking on a blue icon zooms in on the map to one of the stations in that group - Filter stations by Power - Filter by amenities - adhoc filter - Go to the user's location - Change the map view - Refresh the station data - View on the map the price of the simulation of the cheapest CEME according to the filters - Switch between the total price and the price per kWh - View the information provided by Mobi.e for each station and its sockets - Simulate the price for a socket - View the price of the OPC and CEME components of the simulations - View the price of all components of the simulations in detail - View a list of CEMEs and their prices with TAR (excluding VAT) - View network statistics - Show the date of the last update of the station status - Save the last cycle used - Save the kWh and minutes from the previous AC and DC simulation - Calculate the energy and time needed based on the chosen charging percentage of the vehicle - View the charging curve for the chosen socket - Search stations - Navigate to the station by clicking on the address or share the location to any app, like the Tesla app - CarPlay Simulation features: - Supports Ad-hoc - Uses the crowdsourced CEME price - If the CEME price does not include TAR, it includes TAR according to the voltage level of the station, LV or MV, from the chosen tariff and the station's region - Adds the EGME to CEMEs without EGME included in the price - Adds the environmental fund support - Adds the IEC to CEMEs without IEC included in the price - Adds the activation fee for CEMEs with this fee - Calculates the OPC price based on three conditions: Activation, price per kWh, and price per Minute - Also calculates the OPC restrictions. E.g., minute 0 to 30 is cheaper than minute 31 to 60. The charging curve is not used here - Assumes that the OPC integrates the EGME fee somewhere in its prices and does not add it, typically the OPC adds it in the activation fee - Calculates the hourly cycle according to the available tariff: Tri-hourly, bi-hourly, or simple - Calculates the Daily or Weekly cycle, depending on the CEME - Calculates the hourly cycle according to the station's region - To reduce the app size, the price of LuziGás losses is calculated based on the annual loss average of 16.912% - Adds VAT according to the station's region - Uses the station's schedule to calculate the hourly cycles - Saves the settings from the last simulation, separating the kWh and minutes into AC and DC - The AC charging curves use a constant power, which is not correct for the final percentages - The DC charging curves do not take into account the low battery voltage at the start - Shows the normalized price Map simulation features: - Calculates a simulation for each socket and each CEME and chooses the lowest price - Filtered sockets do not enter into the calculation of the lowest price. - Uses the hourly cycle, kWh, and minutes from the last AC or DC simulation - The simulation will use the kWh and minute values of the AC or DC sockets saved. E.g., If you simulate on an AC socket, 11kWh and 1h, on the map all AC simulations will use these values to show the lowest price Search features: - The search is done by the name of the station, e.g., OER-00057 - When the results of this search are 0, the search will search by addresses - This way, stations from one area are not mixed with addresses that include the initials of the station - Selecting a station and then exiting the search, the map will focus on that station - Shows the total number of stations for each search Not supported: - CEME per-minute prices. At this moment, an estimate in kWh is used for these CEMEs.

Screenshots

IONITY4 screens
Carregar4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Carregar at every 5 days against IONITY's fortnightly. On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

IONITY ships an update fortnightly, Carregar every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
IONITY versus Carregar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterIONITYCarregar
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (148 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews44.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings148 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size71 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIonityJoao Nunes

Bugs and requests

IONITY

Reported bugs

22 issues
  • App hangs on logo screen and won't load
  • Login and registration process fails repeatedly
  • Map doesn't display charging stations
  • Charging session won't start despite payment
  • App crashes during payment authorization
Show 17 more
  • QR code scanner button missing or non-functional
  • Charging status not updating in real-time
  • Unable to stop charging from app
  • Session stuck in app after failed charge attempt
  • Email verification codes not received or delayed
  • App freezes when selecting locations
  • Payment method changes not working
  • Subscription cancellation failing with server errors
  • Route planner crashes and malfunctions
  • Charger not recognized after QR scan
  • Double charging occurring on account
  • App doesn't sync with vehicle data
  • Language settings not respected
  • Tariff/pass information not displaying
  • Invoice download functionality broken
  • Weak mobile signal causes app failures
  • Address validation rejecting valid entries

Requested features

19 requests
  • CarPlay and Android Auto integration
  • Plug and Charge functionality
  • Real-time charger availability status
  • Route planning with charging stops
  • Business/company account invoicing
Show 14 more
  • RFID card or badge payment option
  • Charger occupancy forecasting
  • Infrastructure information (restaurants, toilets, WiFi)
  • Dark mode for app interface
  • Ability to save and export planned routes
  • Multiple invoice consolidation
  • Wallet/prepaid balance feature
  • Live charging progress notifications
  • Filter for IONITY-only stations
  • Improved vehicle database for route planning
  • Email language preference settings
  • Payment method management in app
  • Charger power output display on map
  • Home screen widget functionality

Carregar

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

IONITY

No in-app purchases

None

Carregar

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is IONITY free?
IONITY is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Carregar free?
Carregar is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do IONITY or Carregar have ads?
Neither IONITY nor Carregar shows ads.
Which is updated more often, IONITY or Carregar?
IONITY ships an update fortnightly, and Carregar every 5 days. Most recently, IONITY was updated on October 25, 2026 and Carregar on October 20, 2026.

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