Mesa Marathon vs The Program by Bandit Running
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mesa Marathon
This app offers real-time race day tracking for runners and their loved ones. It also features a loyalty program to earn and redeem points for discounts on future events and merchandise.
- Real-time race tracking
- Progress monitoring for friends and family
- Points-based loyalty program
- Earn rewards points
- Redeem points for discounts
- Event and merchandise offers
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The Mesa Marathon app includes race day tracking and a points-based loyalty program. For race day, use the app to get your tour of Mesa as you run and for your friends and family to track your progress in real-time. The loyalty program tracks the rewards points that you earn when you purchase race entries, attend an expo, etc. You can also redeem points for discounts on upcoming events or items as they become available.
The Program by Bandit Running
This app offers a free guided training experience for marathon and half marathon runners. It generates personalized training plans based on your race, goal time, and weekly mileage. Get instant answers to training questions with the integrated coach feature.
- Free guided training plans
- Marathon and half marathon focus
- Personalized plan generation
- Interactive training schedule
- Instant coach answers
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The Program is a 100% free guided training experience for marathons and half marathons powered by Bandit Running. Select your race, goal finish time, and weekly mileage, and an interactive training plan will be automatically generated for you. Plus, access Coach for instant answers to all your fundamental training questions.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: The Program by Bandit Running at 73% against Mesa Marathon's 0%. The Program by Bandit Running also leads on rating (3.9 vs 2.3) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 months). Mesa Marathon's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.2 vs 16.4). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
The Program by Bandit Running holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Program by Bandit Running has 115 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Mesa Marathon's written reviews are positive against 73% of The Program by Bandit Running's.
Mesa Marathon ships an update every 4 months, The Program by Bandit Running every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mesa Marathon | The Program by Bandit Running |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.3 (10 ratings) | 3.9 (115 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 72.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 10 | 115 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 12.2 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 92 MB | 31 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Brooksee, LLC | Bandit Running |
Customer experience
Mesa Marathon
The Program by Bandit Running
Bugs and requests
Mesa Marathon
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
The Program by Bandit Running
Reported bugs
3 issues- Login screen freezes
- Incompatible with older devices
- Account creation problems
Requested features
2 requests- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
In-app purchases
Mesa Marathon
No in-app purchases
The Program by Bandit Running
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Mesa Marathon free?
Is The Program by Bandit Running free?
Which has better reviews, Mesa Marathon or The Program by Bandit Running?
Do Mesa Marathon or The Program by Bandit Running have ads?
Which is updated more often, Mesa Marathon or The Program by Bandit Running?
Other comparisons
