CarDrive vs PlateDetect
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CarDrive
Manage all your vehicle details, track expenses, services, and tire information. Get reminders for inspections and maintenance to keep your car in top condition.
- Store unlimited car details
- Track fuel consumption and tire status
- Log services and parts replacements
- Monitor expenses and inspections
- Set maintenance reminders
- Manage multiple tire sets
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CarDrive is a comprehensive app for any car owner and enthusiast who wants to track their car collection information. The app is designed to be very easy, fast and intuitive to use. STORE CAR DETAILS Set car details including make, model, manufacture year, odometer, registration plate and date, vehicle identification number(VIN) and much, much more. The number of cars stored is unlimited (as long as the device has free storage left). CONSUMPTION DETAILS VIEW Get a nice view of last and previous consumption details along with lifetime average consumption Remaining Gas Tank estimation based on all of the previous refuels average consumption ACTIVE TIRE SET VIEW Shows the active tire set, tire size, last tire pressure check date and previous seasons tracked mileage for the tire set. LAST TREAD DEPTH MEASUREMENT VIEW Shows the last tread depth for all the four tires individually. By tracking tire treads regularly it's easy to see how each tire wears over time SERVICE DETAILS VIEW Quickly see when a car was last serviced, what type of service, odometer of the service, how many days, months or years since the last service and also how many miles/kilometres are tracked since the last service EXPENSE DETAILS VIEW Shows car price, lifetime expenses for the car, lifetime total cost for a car (car price plus lifetime expenses), Lifetime cost per mile or kilometre. It's really nice to see how lifetime cost per km/mile usually gets lower and lower as time goes by and miles are tracked for the car INSPECTION DETAILS VIEW Shows last inspection date, result, next inspection date and deadline in years, months and days before the next inspection SERVICE STATION ESSENTIALS INFO VIEW Track for each car the type of headlight bulbs, windshield wipers and front and rear recommenced tire pressures INDICATOR LIGHTS Within app settings one can set as an example oil level indicator days to 30. This would mean that the respective indicator on main car view would turn red after 30 days to remind one to check the oil level of the specific car. Same goes for inspection, tire pressure, and service as well. TRACK EXPENSES For each car, track expenses such as refuel or recharge, insurance, vehicle tax etc. Expenses can be easily viewed for the last seven days, month, year or lifetime of the car. TRACK SERVICES For each car, track services such as interim services, major services or specific services such as fuel pump changes, spark plugs changes etc. TRACK PARTS Along with services for each car, it's possible to track different parts that are replaced with the service. If the next replacement due date or mileage are also entered, the app even calculates for how long a specific part can still be used before replacement is needed TRACK TIRE SET SEASONS For each car in the collection, CarDrive allows tracking unlimited number of tire sets. As an example a car can have summer tires and winter tires. For each tire set one can enter season start and season end mileage. Doing this enables one to track how many miles/kilometres each tire set has been driven across multiple seasons. TRACK TIRE SET TREAD WEAR For each tire set in the collection, CarDrive allows tracking unlimited number of tread depth measurements for each four tires individually. It's a good practise to often check the condition and tread depth of car tires. CarDrive allows tracking of each tire tread depth along with car mileage, this way it's easy to see how much the tires are worn as an example every 2000 miles or so. CUSTOMIZABLE CAR PLATE COLOR Change colours of plate to distinguish between different cars. LOG BOOK Automatically logs, when a car is added to the CarDrive collection, miles or kilometres that the user has tracked along with possible refuel/recharge indication. APP DEVELOPMENT CarDrive stores all data on your device and does not need an internet connection. CarDrive is regularly updated with new features and we welcome feedback.
PlateDetect
This app reads license plates directly on your device using your camera or imported photos. It offers features for checking plate readability from a distance, managing scan history, and setting up custom alerts for specific plates.
- On-device license plate reading
- Live camera scan
- Photo import recognition
- Readability checks
- History management
- Watchlist alerts
- Plate format configuration
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PlateDetect is an on-device license plate reading app built for controlled field scans, photo imports, readability checks, local review, and watchlist alerts. Start by adding the plate formats used in your area, such as AA ## or AAA ####. PlateDetect strictly follows the formats you add. If no format is configured, detection stays off. Use Live Scan to read plates with the camera, or import a photo for the same on-device recognition workflow. The app combines plate localization, Apple Vision OCR, configurable confidence thresholds, and duplicate-save timing so History stays focused on useful reads instead of every frame. Field Check is a separate mode for measuring whether a plate is readable from a selected distance. It reports readiness using OCR confidence, plate size, framing, and plate shape without saving the check as a scan. History keeps each saved detection organized with normalized plate text, raw OCR text, detection confidence, OCR confidence, matched format, capture time, source, notes, optional GPS region, and saved media. You can choose how much surrounding image context is kept around the plate crop. Watchlist alerts help identify plates you choose to monitor locally. Standard detections use a quieter confirmation tone, while watchlist matches use a distinct higher alert repeated three times. Plate Rules let you allow or restrict plate endings by day and time window, with a Monday-Sunday overview for quick schedule review. PlateDetect is local-first. Detection runs on device, History is stored locally, Face ID app lock can protect saved records, and backend sync is optional through your own HTTPS endpoint. PlateDetect is a field aid, not a legal identity system. Confirm important reads against official records and follow the rules for your role and location. Standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: CarDrive at none against PlateDetect's 1. CarDrive also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks) and price ($0.99 vs $3.99). On rating, ratings volume, ads 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
CarDrive costs $0.99 and PlateDetect $3.99 up front. PlateDetect sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. CarDrive asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for CarDrive against 5.0 for PlateDetect. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
CarDrive ships an update every 4 days, PlateDetect every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CarDrive | PlateDetect |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Anssi Hakkarainen | Ona Pacholo Asis |
Customer experience
CarDrive
PlateDetect
In-app purchases
CarDrive
No in-app purchases
PlateDetect
- PlateDetect Pro$9.99









