Comparison

Surf Captain vs DiveSight

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

Head to head
About

Surf Captain

Get detailed 16-day surf forecasts for numerous locations across North America and the Caribbean. This app provides highly accurate predictions in a user-friendly interface, making it easy to plan your next surf session.

Highlights
  • 16-day surf forecasts
  • United States forecasts
  • Canada forecasts
  • Central America forecasts
  • Caribbean forecasts
  • Accurate predictions
  • Simple interface
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Surf Forecasts Made Awesome! Surf Captain gives you 16-day surf forecasts in an app that's fast and simple to read. WHAT YOU GET • 16-day surf forecast, so you can plan your surf week • Surf height, swell, wind and tide together in one timeline • Swell breakdown showing the individual swells behind the surf, with height, period and direction • Favorites for the spots you check every day • Surf alerts that notify you when a spot is forecast to hit the conditions you set • Hundreds of locations across the United States, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean, with more regions on the way FORECASTS BUILT FOR THE BREAK Surf Captain doesn't just show open-ocean numbers. Our own wave model is tuned for each location, so the surf forecast reflects what reaches the beach: swell direction, wind, tide and nearby buoy data. FREE AND PRO The free app gives you the 5 day forecast for any spot. Surf Captain Pro unlocks the full 16 days, surf alerts and more for only $1.67 per month. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the period, and you can manage them in your account settings. Also works with your AI assistant: connect Surf Captain to Claude to ask about surf conditions in plain language. Questions or feedback? Use Contact inside the app. We read everything. Terms: https://surfcaptain.com/terms Privacy: https://surfcaptain.com/privacy Terms Of Use: https://surfcaptain.com/terms Privacy policy: https://surfcaptain.com/privacy

About

DiveSight

This app forecasts marine life abundance and underwater visibility at dive sites globally. Plan your dives with detailed daily updates, long-term climatology, and site-specific conditions to maximize your underwater experience.

Highlights
  • Marine Life Abundance Index
  • Underwater Visibility Forecasts
  • 10-Year Monthly Climatology
  • Depth-Resolved Conditions
  • Dive Site & Species Search
  • Seasonal Event Calendar
  • Offline Access (Pro)
Features
Read full description

Know what you'll see before you dive — the first app to forecast both marine life abundance and underwater visibility, at dive sites worldwide. Updated daily. Pick the right site, the right day, and the right season before you ever get wet. WHY DIVESIGHT Weather apps help tell you if you can dive. DiveSight also tells you how good it's likely to be — how much marine life you're likely to encounter and how far you'll see, days in advance, anywhere in the world. It's the difference between hoping and making decisions based on the best ocean intelligence available. THE FORECASTS - Marine Life Index (0–100) of abundance for every site, updated daily — see which days will be better than usual, up to a week ahead. - Underwater visibility — including the tens of thousands of sites no crowdsourced app has reports for. DiveSight predicts visibility worldwide from satellite data and fisheries oceanography. Plan your dive with confidence. – 10 years of monthly climatology per site: water temperature, visibility, currents, weather, wind, and more — so you can pick the actual best month to go, year over year. – Depth-resolved conditions: temperatures at the surface, 10m/30ft, and 30m/90ft, plus currents, waves, tides, sun, and moon. Everything you want to know about conditions. FIND YOUR NEXT DIVE – By destination — browse a heat map of 28,000+ dive sites across 1,400+ regions. Zoom into Raja Ampat, Cozumel, the Red Sea, Komodo, the Maldives, the Galápagos, or the hidden sites between them. – By creature — search 6,000+ marine species and see exactly where and when you can dive with them: hammerheads, mantas, mola mola, whale sharks, mandarinfish, thresher sharks, nudibranchs, and thousands more. Every species linked to the sites, seasons, and regions where it appears. – Around you — tap once to see every dive site within range, sorted by today's conditions, marine life, or distance. Perfect for layovers, road trips, and your local shore dive. – By season — a calendar of bucket-list events with predicted timing windows: the sardine run, manta cleaning stations, hammerhead schools, whale shark aggregations, mobula ray gatherings, and spawning events. Find what's peaking right now — and where to go for it. WHO IT'S FOR Scuba divers planning a liveaboard, a weekend boat, or a shore dive. Snorkelers and freedivers chasing clear water and big animals. Vacation divers picking the best week — and locals deciding if today is the day. FREE TO START Browse 15,000+ dive sites, 3,000+ marine species, the seasonal events calendar, today's live conditions, and unlimited dive and marine life logging — free, forever. DiveSight Pro unlocks the full 7-day forecasts for marine life, visibility, water, and weather conditions, along with 10-year monthly climatology, the complete 28,000+ site and 6,000+ species marine life-list, and offline access to dive sites, forecasts, and marine life info. Two weeks of Pro are on us: one when you create an account and another one whenever you'd like. BUILT ON REAL OCEAN SCIENCE Institutional-grade satellite and oceanographic data from NASA, NOAA, the European Space Agency, and other leading sources — refreshed daily, in the palm of your hand. Log your dives and sync sightings with iNaturalist. Designed for scuba divers, snorkelers, freedivers, and all ocean lovers. iPhone & iPad. The ocean, forecasted. Your next great dive starts with comprehensive ocean intelligence. DiveSight Pro is an auto-renewing subscription. Plans: Weekly, Monthly, and Annual. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; manage or cancel anytime in Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions. Terms of Use (EULA): https://divesight.ai/terms Privacy Policy: https://divesight.ai/privacy

Screenshots

Surf Captain4 screens
DiveSight4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: DiveSight at none against Surf Captain's shown. DiveSight also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 80%). Surf Captain's advantage is ratings volume (1.3K vs 31) and chart position (#169 vs unranked). On price, rating, update cadence 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. Surf Captain sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year and DiveSight sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Surf Captain against 5.0 for DiveSight. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Surf Captain has 1.3K ratings behind it against 31, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of Surf Captain's written reviews are positive against 100% of DiveSight's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Surf Captain versus DiveSight: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSurf CaptainDiveSight
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (1.3K ratings)5.0 (31 ratings) — better
Positive reviews80.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.3K — better31
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#169 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.1 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size63 MB113 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWeather CaptainDiveSight LLC

Customer experience

Surf Captain

All ratings1,277 ratings
Positive97.6%
Neutral1.4%
Negative1.0%
Written reviews41 reviews
Positive80.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative19.5%

DiveSight

All ratings31 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Surf Captain

Subscriptions3
  • Surf Captain Pro14 Days trial$9.991 Year
  • Surf Captain Pro Annual14 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Surf Captain Pro Plus Annual14 Days trial$39.991 Year
3 purchases

DiveSight

Subscriptions3
  • DiveSight Pro - Weekly$4.997 Days
  • DiveSight Pro - Monthly$9.991 Month
  • DiveSight Pro - Annual$79.991 Year

Questions

Is Surf Captain free?
Surf Captain is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DiveSight free?
DiveSight is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Surf Captain or DiveSight?
DiveSight is rated higher. Surf Captain averages 4.9 out of 5 from 1.3K ratings, while DiveSight averages 5.0 from 31 ratings.
Do Surf Captain or DiveSight have ads?
Surf Captain shows ads; DiveSight does not.
Which is updated more often, Surf Captain or DiveSight?
Surf Captain ships an update weekly, and DiveSight weekly. Most recently, Surf Captain was updated on November 11, 2026 and DiveSight on November 5, 2026.

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