Waterway Guide vs AGLCA
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Waterway Guide
This app provides a comprehensive boating resource with a verified database of marinas, anchorages, and navigation alerts. Users can access real-time hazard information, plan trips with a digital handbook, and utilize detailed content optimized for mobile devices. Engage with a community of boaters through comments and reviews.
- Verified points of interest database
- Real-time navigation alerts
- Community comments and reviews
- Skipper's Handbook for trip planning
- Offline content access
- Marina filtering by amenities
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Optimized for your mobile devices with Waterway Guide's detailed and verified points of interest database. Includes over 1.3 million data points on marinas, anchorages, navigation alerts, free docks, bridges and locks displayed on the embedded map or satellite view. Benefit from the experience of 75 years of publishing and hundreds of thousands of active boaters through verified comments and reviews. Share your comments, add points of interest, earn rewards and engage with others from within the app. Stay informed with the latest hazards to navigation reported real time from USCG, government agencies, local experts and boaters everywhere. Plan your time on the water with Waterway Guide's Skipper's Handbook, which is included with the free app download. Access Waterway Guide's library of books as individual chapters or entire guides for the information and details you need for navigation. Content is optimized for mobile devices and can be bookmarked for availability offline. Easily find marinas that fit your needs. Filter our entire database of marinas based on amenities and your preferences. Same functionality as Waterway Guide’s Marinas App. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
AGLCA
Plan your Great Loop adventure with this navigation app. Discover sponsor locations, Harbor Hosts, and member-designated points of interest along the route. Members gain access to exclusive features like location-based Harbor Host finding and sponsor discounts.
- Great Loop route visualization
- Sponsor and Harbor Host locations
- Member-exclusive points of interest
- Great Loop FAQs and boat information
- Sample itineraries
- GPX file downloads for navigation apps
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America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association’s app helps you plan stops on your Great Loop adventure by showing you the route itself, and where you can find our sponsors, Harbor Hosts, and “Best of the Loop” points of interest in more than 10 categories as designated by our members. All app users can review the Great Loop route, read FAQs about the Great Loop route and Great Loop-capable boats, and learn more about each segment of the Great Loop. AGLCA members enjoy additional features, such as finding Harbor Hosts near their current location, getting discount offers from our sponsors, and seeing details about each “Best of the Loop” point of interest. AGLCA members can also see a sample itinerary for the Great Loop that shows just one of the thousands of combinations of stops you can make on the Great Loop. You can also download .gpx files for each leg that can be imported into your navigation app for review.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: AGLCA at 100% against Waterway Guide's 51%. AGLCA also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 43) and rating (4.9 vs 4.7). Waterway Guide's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and chart position (#112 vs unranked). On price, ads, monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Waterway Guide sells 43 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year. AGLCA asks for nothing beyond the download.
AGLCA holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Waterway Guide has 2.9K ratings behind it against 441, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 51% of Waterway Guide's written reviews are positive against 100% of AGLCA's.
Waterway Guide ships an update every 2 weeks, AGLCA every 3 months. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.
| Parameter | Waterway Guide | AGLCA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (2.9K ratings) | 4.9 (441 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 51.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.9K — better | 441 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | #112 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 41 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Waterway Guide | Land and Sea Software |
Customer experience
Waterway Guide
AGLCA
Bugs and requests
Waterway Guide
Reported bugs
4 issues- App not working with latest iOS version
- Subscription purchases not working properly
- Unable to access purchased content
- Frequent crashes and errors
Requested features
4 requests- Provide vertical bridge clearances
- Improve offline functionality
- Enhance search and filtering options
- Implement dark mode
AGLCA
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Waterway Guide
- Chesapeake Bay Ch.3$4.991 Year
- Atlantic ICW Ch.2$4.991 Year
- Atlantic ICW Ch.6$4.991 Year
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- Southern Ch.6$4.991 Year
- Southern Bridges & Locks$4.991 Year
- Bahamas Cruising Guide$4.991 Year
- Florida Keys Ch.3$4.991 Year
- Gulf IWW Ch.4$4.991 Year
- Atlantic ICW Ch.10$4.991 Year
- Gulf IWW Ch.1$4.991 Year
- Western Gulf Coast Ch.4$4.991 Year
- Atlantic ICW Ch.4$4.991 Year
- Southern Ch.4$4.991 Year
- Western Gulf Coast Ch.3$4.991 Year
- Atlantic ICW East Coast Inlets$4.991 Year
- Northern Ch.12$4.991 Year
- Great Lakes Vol.2 Ch.7$4.991 Year
- Northern Ch.11$4.991 Year
- Great Lakes Vol.1 Ch.7$4.991 Year
- Atlantic ICW Ch.9$4.991 Year
- Great Lakes Vol.1 Ch.2$4.991 Year
- Northern Ch.1$14.991 Year
- Great Lakes Vol.2 Ch.8$14.991 Year
- Great Lakes Vol.2 Ch.6$14.991 Year
- Southern Ch.13$14.991 Year
- Southern Ch.10$14.991 Year
- Southern Ch.12$14.991 Year
- Southern Ch.3$14.991 Year
- Southern Ch.11$14.991 Year
- Anchorages Along the ICW$20.991 Year
- Bahamas Bound$20.991 Year
- ICW Cruising Guide by Bob423$29.991 Year
- Northern Edition$49.991 Year
- 1st Ed. Bahamas Land and Sea$49.991 Year
- Chesapeake Bay Edition$54.991 Year
- Atlantic ICW Edition$54.991 Year
- Southern Edition$54.991 Year
- Bahamas Edition$54.991 Year
- Western Gulf Coast Edition$54.991 Year
- Florida Keys Edition$54.991 Year
- Great Lakes Volume 1 Edition$54.991 Year
- Great Lakes Volume 2 Edition$54.991 Year
- Cuba Edition$59.991 Year
AGLCA
No in-app purchases
