# Garmin Catalyst™ vs Trackside

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Garmin Catalyst™ at none against Trackside's 2. Garmin Catalyst™ also leads on ratings volume (120 vs 3). Trackside's advantage is update cadence (daily vs monthly) and review sentiment (100% vs 80%). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Trackside sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Garmin Catalyst™ asks for nothing beyond the download.

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 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of Garmin Catalyst™'s written reviews are positive against 100% of Trackside's.

Garmin Catalyst™ ships an update monthly, Trackside daily. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Garmin Catalyst™ | Trackside |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.8 (120 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/garmin-catalyst/id1603280610/reviews) | **[5.0 (3 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/trackside-gps-lap-timer/id6796196239/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **120** | 3 |
| Positive reviews | 80.3% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Monthly | **Daily** |
| Monetization | **Free** | Freemium |
| Size | 220 MB | 45 MB |
| Requires iOS | **16.5** | 17.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Garmin](https://appshunter.io/developer/411046952) | [Daniel Stratton](https://appshunter.io/developer/1555112389) |

## What reviewers say

### Garmin Catalyst™

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/garmin-catalyst/id1603280610)

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

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Easy to use interface
- 🚀 Great performance data
- 💡 Actionable driving insights
- 👍 Simple setup
- 👍 Great for track drivers

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Glitches when logging in
- 🐛 App just glitches
- 🐛 Loading is soooo slow
- 🐛 Not user friendly
- 🐛 Comparing to friends frequently fails

**Reported bugs**

- 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.

**Requested features**

- 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


### Trackside

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/trackside-gps-lap-timer/id6796196239)

Record and analyze track driving sessions with automatic lap timing, turn-by-turn insights, and video comparison. Connect your iPhone or compatible GPS receiver to capture telemetry data and share performance videos. Explore demo mode to test features without a vehicle.

**Highlights:** Automatic lap timing, Turn-by-turn telemetry analysis, Reference video comparison, Shareable telemetry videos, Friends and leaderboards, Import from VBOX, Garmin Catalyst

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Trackside Pro Monthly | $9.99 | per month |
| Trackside Pro Annual | $59.99 | per year |


## Frequently asked 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 3 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 October 21, 2026 and Trackside on October 24, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*