Comparison

Garmin Catalyst™ vs Trackside

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, including lap times, session summaries, and driver profiles, on your smartphone or tablet. Track annual driving metrics and record weather conditions for each session. Customize driver and vehicle icons for a personalized experience.

Highlights
  • Access performance data
  • View session summaries
  • Track lap times
  • Record weather conditions
  • Customizable driver profiles
  • Track annual driving metrics
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

Trackside

Record and analyze your driving with automatic lap timing and telemetry. Compare your performance, sync with friends, and create shareable videos with data overlays. Supports various external GPS devices and car integrations.

Highlights
  • Automatic lap timing
  • Telemetry video creation
  • AI driving insights
  • Friends leaderboards
  • External camera support
  • VBOX file import
  • Porsche direct connection
Features
Read full description

Get more from every lap with free, unlimited recording and automatic lap timing. Record in any car with your iPhone, analyze your driving, and create shareable telemetry videos. LAP TIMING • Automatic track detection, predicted lap times, and live delta • Create custom circuits and point-to-point courses for autocross and other runs • View live delta timing and control recording with Apple CarPlay ANALYSIS & AI • Compare laps, sectors, and corners, review inputs, and see your optimal lap • Compare reference videos from YouTube with synchronized playback and a live time delta • Get in-app AI insights or explore synced telemetry with the Trackside ChatGPT plugin FRIENDS & LEADERBOARDS • Compare stats and personal bests on friends-only leaderboards • Share full session telemetry with friends and compare laps CAMERAS & VIDEO • Record with your iPhone or control supported GoPro, DJI, and Insta360 cameras • Import footage directly from supported cameras • Sync onboard footage and export videos with telemetry overlays IMPORT, SYNC & EXPORT • Import VBOX, Porsche Track Precision, Garmin Catalyst, and other supported files • Sync sessions with iCloud and export VBOX-compatible files GPS & OBD COMPATIBILITY • RaceBox: Mini, Mini S, and Micro • Dragy: Pro, Lite, DRG70, DRG70-C, and DRG69 • OBD: OBDLink CX, Veepeak OBDCheck BLE/BLE+, Dragy OBD II, Vgate (IOS-Vlink), and OBDBLE PORSCHE DIRECT CONNECTION Trackside supports the same Porsche models as Track Precision. • 911: all 992 models; 991.2 (2017+); 991.1 GT3 / GT3 RS (2015+) • Cayman & Boxster: 982 / 718 (2017+); 981 Cayman GT4 (2015+) • Cayenne, Panamera, and Taycan: 2022+ Questions or feedback? Email trackside@californiamotorsports.co Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Garmin Catalyst™4 screens
Trackside4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Garmin Catalyst™ at none against Trackside's 2. Garmin Catalyst™ also leads on ratings volume (120 vs 5). Trackside's advantage is update cadence (daily vs monthly) and review sentiment (100% vs 81%). 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. Trackside sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month. Garmin Catalyst™ asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Trackside holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Garmin Catalyst™ has 120 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Garmin Catalyst™'s written reviews are positive against 100% of Trackside's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Garmin Catalyst™ ships an update monthly, Trackside daily. The most recent releases landed on November 14, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Garmin Catalyst™ versus Trackside: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGarmin Catalyst™Trackside
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (120 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews80.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings120 — better5
Update frequencyMonthlyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.5 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size223 MB61 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperGarminDaniel Stratton

Customer experience

Garmin Catalyst™

All ratings120 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.5%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews62 reviews
Positive80.6%
Neutral8.1%
Negative11.3%

Trackside

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Trackside

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Garmin Catalyst™

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Trackside

Subscriptions2
  • Trackside Pro Monthly$12.991 Month
  • Trackside Pro Annual$59.991 Year

Questions

Is Garmin Catalyst™ free?
Garmin Catalyst™ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Trackside free?
Trackside is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Garmin Catalyst™ or Trackside?
Trackside is rated higher. Garmin Catalyst™ averages 4.8 out of 5 from 120 ratings, while Trackside averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Garmin Catalyst™ or Trackside have ads?
Neither Garmin Catalyst™ nor Trackside shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Garmin Catalyst™ or Trackside?
Garmin Catalyst™ ships an update monthly, and Trackside daily. Most recently, Garmin Catalyst™ was updated on November 14, 2026 and Trackside on November 13, 2026.

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