Comparison

Garmin Catalyst™ vs TrackNinja

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

Head to head
About

Garmin Catalyst™

Access and analyze your motorsports performance data on your smartphone. Review lap times, session summaries, and driver profiles. Track annual driving activity and session weather conditions.

Highlights
  • Access performance data
  • View lap times
  • Session summaries
  • Customizable driver profiles
  • Track annual activity
  • Record weather conditions
Read full description

For motorsports drivers of all levels, the Garmin Catalyst™ app provides a simple, intuitive way to access your Garmin Catalyst™ performance data — including lap times, session summaries and customizable driver profiles— on your compatible smartphone or tablet. The app also tracks your annual driving activity metrics and provides a record of weather conditions for each session. Garmin Catalyst™ App • Easily access your Garmin Catalyst™ performance data with use of this app on your compatible smartphone or tablet • Shows your session summaries, lap times, session weather conditions, lap-by-lap data and annual driving activity metrics • Customizable icons within the app let you tailor the look of your driver profile and vehicle icons • View vehicles and track notes from your Garmin Catalyst™ device

About

TrackNinja

Features
Read full description

TrackNinja is a race car data app designed to help grassroots drivers extract better on-track performance from their track days and race weekends through data input and analysis. Use our Data Garage to input any metrics about your vehicle from setup numbers, aftermarket parts, and tire sets. Keep track of cold and hot pit data throughout a weekend or across a season and visualize what lap time gains were made from any setup changes through the GPS Lap Timer. The flow of the app is simple: Enter your vehicle information, setup data, and any upgrades or modifications you have and save them in the Data Garage. Select a tire set and hit the track using the GPS Lap Timer to save your on-board video and lap times for review. As you come off the track, enter your Hot Pit Data to gather accurate information about how the vehicle performed. Adjust your setup, update the Data Garage, and hit the track again. Your setup sheets are immediately saved to the cloud and can be compared to each other as soon as you’re back in the paddock. Data Garage Utilize the features of our Data Garage to help increase your organization and efficiency and improve your lap times Enter and track car setup information including tires, engine, suspension, drivetrain, brakes, aero and safety. GPS Lap Timer Use our track database or create your own circuit or point-to-point track Keep track of your lap times throughout each event, separated by session, with GPS and speed trace graphs On-board video recorded from your phone’s camera automatically syncs to each lap* Parts and Upgrades Enter all of your OEM parts or aftermarket modifications into the Data Garage and track your vehicle’s development progress, tied to each session and lap time to correlate gains Save vehicle configurations including racing group, vehicle type, and customize every component Car Setup Visualize your car’s setup data in each session, from Cold Pit Data before the car hits the track to Hot Pit Data and see where the car is at throughout a weekend Tire Inventory Optimize your tire usage by keeping track of mileage, heat cycles, laps completed, and more per set of tires Fuel Calculator Get an idea of how much fuel to run in each session with our fuel calculator including warmup or cooldown laps Save Multiple Vehicles* Switch between vehicles so your data is kept clear for every car you take out on track Checklists Get an idea of what to bring to the track for spares, consumables, tools, and more Create your own custom checklists for every event* Leaderboard See how you stack up against other drivers at the same tracks as you *Requires paid subscription This app offers auto-renewable subscriptions. Subscriptions include: - Epic Monthly: One Month, $9.99 - Epic Yearly: One Year, $99 For more information: - Terms of Use: https://trackninja.io/savetrackninja/end-user-license-agreement - Privacy Policy: https://trackninja.io/savetrackninja/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Garmin Catalyst™4 screens
TrackNinja4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Garmin Catalyst™ at none against TrackNinja's 2. Garmin Catalyst™ also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 7 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. TrackNinja sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Garmin Catalyst™ asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Garmin Catalyst™ ships an update monthly, TrackNinja every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Garmin Catalyst™ versus TrackNinja: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGarmin Catalyst™TrackNinja
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (120 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews80.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings120 — better—
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.5 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size220 MB79 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGarminTrackNinja Inc.

Bugs and requests

Garmin Catalyst™

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Everytime you try logging in the app just glitches anyways can’t even get logged in.
  • Comparing to others frequently fails
  • Compare to friend feature way to frequently fails with the message about the tracks not matching well enough despite being the same track on the same days even.
  • New version is off
  • It won’t let me compare the laps with other friends on the same day. Says lap not similar. Literally same day same track same session.
Show 2 more
  • Friend integration is currently pretty lacking. When I try to compare laps it complains that the tracks aren't similar enough.
  • Worse though is that there's no apparent way of sharing your sessions with friends.

Requested features

17 requests
  • Option to select 1-5 laps for optimum view
  • Watch reference videos side by side on the Catalyst
  • Add video review on phone or iPad
  • Allow moving videos to iCloud for review
  • Ability to download in-car camera footage directly from device to app
Show 12 more
  • Compare data from other sessions
  • Use for Sim racing games
  • More functionality to come
  • Make it even more simple
  • Overall leaderboard
  • Leaderboards of other tracks
  • Compare session data between friends
  • Fix track matching issues for friend comparison
  • Allow browsing friend's sessions
  • Add option to compare against other sessions
  • Add dark mode option
  • Add advanced analytics dashboard

TrackNinja

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Garmin Catalyst™

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

TrackNinja

Subscriptions2
  • Epic Monthly Plan7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Epic Yearly Plan7 Days trial$99.991 Year

Questions

Is Garmin Catalyst™ free?
Garmin Catalyst™ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is TrackNinja free?
TrackNinja is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Garmin Catalyst™ or TrackNinja have ads?
Neither Garmin Catalyst™ nor TrackNinja shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Garmin Catalyst™ or TrackNinja?
Garmin Catalyst™ ships an update monthly, and TrackNinja every 7 months. Most recently, Garmin Catalyst™ was updated on October 17, 2026 and TrackNinja on October 3, 2026.

Other comparisons