Comparison

Buddy vs PaceBuzz

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

Head to head
About

Buddy

This app is a comprehensive companion for divers, offering features to log dives, manage gear, and connect with a community of ocean enthusiasts. It provides tools for both free and premium users to enhance their underwater adventures and discover new diving experiences.

Highlights
  • Dive Log recording and validation
  • Buddy network and activity feed
  • Gear management
  • Offline access to certifications
  • Buddy Radar for finding dive buddies
  • Discover feed for underwater content
Features
Read full description

Dive into adventure with Buddy, the ultimate companion for divers of all levels! Buddy makes diving accessible, exciting, and safe with both free and premium features that transform your underwater experiences. FREE FEATURES Dive Log: Record dives, validate them with instructors, add buddies, businesses, and share your adventure! Buddy Discover Activity: Build a network of divers, by viewing their dive log activity in the homepage diver feed of content. Gear Management: Add your gear to your profile and link it to dive logs. Offline Mode: Access certifications and log basic dive details, even offline. Discover Feed: Explore a live feed of Buddy activity and inspiring underwater content. PREMIUM FEATURES Buddy Radar: Meet dive buddies near you or at trip destinations for only $2.99/month or $29.99/year. Color-Correction Filters (Coming Soon): Enhance your underwater photos with professional-quality filters. COMING IN 2025 Dive Computer Integration (Coming Soon): Sync your dives directly to your Buddy profile. Book activities with verified dive shops worldwide through Buddy. Join the Buddy community and take your diving adventures to the next level!

About

PaceBuzz

This app helps runners track their pace and splits during workouts and races. Plan your training on your iPhone and receive real-time feedback and alerts on your Apple Watch. Review detailed performance metrics and share your progress.

Highlights
  • Slap-to-split detection
  • Customizable pace alerts
  • Workout planning on iPhone
  • Race pacing for track events
  • Detailed performance review
  • Strava integration
Features
Read full description

Record splits with a slap. Feel your target pace on your wrist. PaceBuzz is an Apple Watch stopwatch and pacing app for track intervals, road workouts and race pacing. Plan on iPhone, run with your Watch, and review your session afterward. TAKE SPLITS YOUR WAY Slap Split records a split from one firm slap to your wrist or Watch using motion detection. You can also use Digital Crown turns or simultaneous button presses. Choose the controls that suit your run. FEEL THE PACE On the track, vibrations follow your planned target times; they do not detect when you cross a track marker. On the road, GPS-based pace alerts tell you when you are faster or slower than your target. Customize the vibration pattern, strength and timing. PLAN EVERY REP Build workouts on iPhone with work intervals, repetitions, recovery and pace targets. Load a plan onto your Watch and see the current rep and what comes next. PACE A TRACK RACE Set a goal time, opening pace and finish buffer. Follow a large race clock and timed cues for the track's 100 m marks, with plans for supported distances from 800 m to 10 km. REVIEW AND SHARE Explore splits, heart rate, cadence and GPS distance. View charts, share a chart, and log your own lactate readings and perceived effort. The Watch does not measure lactate. OPTIONAL STRAVA CONNECTION Upload automatically or send a saved run yourself. Strava uploads and TCX export are available without Premium. A Strava account is needed only for this optional connection. CORE TRAINING FEATURES ARE FREE Keep up to three current workouts and open your three most recent runs. PaceBuzz Premium is a one-time lifetime purchase for unlimited current workouts, full run history, and access to and restoration of archived workouts. No subscription. Run recording requires Apple Watch with watchOS 10.6 or later and the iPhone companion with iOS 18.1 or later. Choose kilometers or miles independently of language. Privacy Policy: https://pacebuzzapp.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://pacebuzzapp.com/terms/

Screenshots

Buddy4 screens
PaceBuzz4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: PaceBuzz at 5.0 against Buddy's 4.3. PaceBuzz also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs monthly) and review sentiment (100% vs 77%). Buddy's advantage is ratings volume (49 vs 5) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.1). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Buddy sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and PaceBuzz sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PaceBuzz holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Buddy has 49 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Buddy's written reviews are positive against 100% of PaceBuzz's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Buddy ships an update monthly, PaceBuzz every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Buddy versus PaceBuzz: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBuddyPaceBuzz
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (49 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings49 — better5
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.1 — better18.1
Further details — not scored
Size118 MB29 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperDive with Buddy, Inc.Andrew Kent

Customer experience

Buddy

All ratings49 ratings
Positive75.5%
Neutral10.2%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews39 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral7.7%
Negative15.4%

PaceBuzz

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Buddy

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Buddy radar not working
  • App crashes and becomes unresponsive
  • Login issues (email not found)
  • Draft dives appearing in public searches
  • Deleted drafts still appearing publicly
Show 2 more
  • Verification issues for certifications
  • App freezes and spins when adding info

Requested features

7 requests
  • Open to dive status to link people
  • Ability to import/export data
  • Direct data download from dive computers
  • Support for technical diving features (e.g., double tanks, trimix volumes)
  • Inclusion of smaller certification organizations (GUE, UTD)
Show 2 more
  • Booking features
  • More ways to connect with other divers

PaceBuzz

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Buddy

Subscriptions2
  • Buddy Radar: Monthly1 Month trial$3.991 Month
  • Buddy Radar: Annual1 Month trial$29.991 Year
1 purchases

PaceBuzz

One-time1
  • PaceBuzz Premium$4.99

Questions

Is Buddy free?
Buddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PaceBuzz free?
PaceBuzz is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Buddy or PaceBuzz?
PaceBuzz is rated higher. Buddy averages 4.3 out of 5 from 49 ratings, while PaceBuzz averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Buddy or PaceBuzz have ads?
Neither Buddy nor PaceBuzz shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Buddy or PaceBuzz?
Buddy ships an update monthly, and PaceBuzz every 4 days. Most recently, Buddy was updated on November 3, 2026 and PaceBuzz on October 31, 2026.

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