SailTimer™ vs Sail Buddy
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SailTimer™
Visualize wind and wave conditions before you head out on the water with this marine weather app. It uses crowdsourced data for more accurate, real-time forecasts than traditional satellite imagery. Track your GPS, create waypoints, and access offline charts for any boat type.
- Crowdsourced wind and wave map animation
- Route viewing with aerial photos and land maps
- Waypoint creation and GPS track saving
- Offline map and chart usage
- Follow-Me GPS tracking
- Optimal tacking distance calculation for sailboats
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For all types of boats. Beautiful marine weather animations: • Crowdsourced wind maps for the most accuracy and highest resolution. • Marine weather forecasts from Weathernews Inc. (WNI) with maps of precipitation, visibility, air & sea temperature, wind, waves/swell & ocean currents. • AI models of ocean currents and marine weather from Amphitrite. There are lots of weather services and apps, but they all use the same satellite weather forecast. Low resolution, low accuracy, and only updated 4 times per day. Weather satellites are 500 to 22,000 miles up in space. Crowdsourcing is changing marine weather. Why rely on satellite imaging, when you can use actual measurements from other boaters? In coastal areas, we archive these to map wind flow for more accuracy. Crowdsourced weather maps like these have never been possible before. A wind sensor measures local wind around your boat, but now you can also know the wind and sea state up ahead or around the next point. FEATURES FOR ALL TYPES OF BOATS: • View your route with free aerial photos and land maps worldwide. If you have the Navionics Boating app, you can import worldwide Navionics charts here with a yearly subscription. • The weather map animations each have low-cost monthly/yearly subscriptions with a free 7-day trial. • Hourly weather tables for crowdsourced wind and WeatherNews Inc. (WNI) weather maps. Tap on a certain hour to move the weather animation to that time. • Create and rename waypoints by tapping or importing a list. Save, import or email your GPS track. • All maps and charts in the app can be used offline. • The white crosshair icon in the top left is the “Follow-Me” button. If tapped, it turns blue and keeps your location in the center of the screen as you move. Unselect when not moving to look around the map. • Your device will not go to sleep when the app is open, to allow you to continue to monitor your progress on the chart. You can also continue to track your movement with the app running in the background or when the device is asleep (unless you hard-quit). (Note: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. This app may use your location even when it isn’t open, which can decrease device battery life.) FOR SAILBOATS: Whether cruising or racing, it is important to be able to determine the best heading on all points of sail. GPS chartplotters do not calculate tacking distances. But if they do not know the distance you will travel, how can they calculate your correct ETA? This is the only product that calculates your optimal tacks using your tacking distance and polar plots. Details at www.SailTimerApp.com. The SailTimer app gives you a quick and easy display of your optimal tacks and TTD® (Tacking Time to Destination). • Use our wireless Wind Instrument or wired Ultrasonic (www.SailTimer.co) to see wind direction, angle & speed. Enter a waypoint and your optimal tacks will update automatically as the wind changes. • Bring in wind data from any other wind sensor on wifi from NMEA 2000 or 0183, using our low-cost Air Link™ (https://wi-rb.com/airlink). • Custom polar plots: When using a wind sensor, the app can learn your sailboat's unique speed profile on all points of sail, for the most accurate tacking results. • Switch the display to the port or starboard tack to avoid obstructions, or let the app automatically display the tack nearest to your current heading. • Audio Navigation: when using the wireless Wind Instrument, optionally hear wind conditions or boat speed when they change by more than a set amount. • Convert from Apparent to True wind direction, angle & speed. See our channel on Tiktok and YouTube for more background.
Sail Buddy
This app provides a clean, easy-to-read display for course, speed, and NMEA data, complementing other navigation tools. It supports various devices, including iPads in split-screen mode and Apple Watches for hands-free data access. Route tracking and export are also available.
- Large, readable course and speed display
- NMEA data reception via WiFi
- Route tracking and export (CSV, KML, GPX, GeoJSON)
- Apple Watch integration for hands-free data
- Split View support on iPads
- Alarms for data loss and grounding
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Sail Buddy is a light-weight app that displays course, speed and NMEA data in a fast, clean interface. This is not a "kitchen sink" application with lots of features you may or may not use. If you want a clean, easy-to-read data display to complement your navigation and weather apps, this might be the one for you. Also works very well on iPads and other tablets, including "split screen" mode so you can use other navigation apps side-by-side. And the Apple Watch lets you keep track of course, speed and essential data, hands free, no matter where you are on your boat! Sail Buddy receives NMEA data from external hardware via a WiFi connection. Your hardware must support WiFi or be connected to a multiplexer with WiFi support. Sail Buddy includes a "demo" mode that plays sample NMEA data if you just want to see how the app works without connecting to an NMEA network. Features: • Displays course and speed and NMEA data in a large, easily read display • Multi-view instrument dial option for wind, course, speed and satellite views • Support for TCP and UDP connections • Support for Sail Timer wind instrument™ and Sail Timer wind vane™ • Route tracking with full capture of GPS and NMEA data • Export routes in CSV, KML, GPX and GeoJSON • Alarms for lost data connections and potential groundings (if your hardware supports depth data) • Start and stop instruments and tracking with your Apple Watch • Full support for "dark mode" • Supports Split View on newer iPads (use Sail Buddy alongside your favorite navigation app)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Sail Buddy at 100% against SailTimer™'s 37%. Sail Buddy also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 12). SailTimer™'s advantage is price (Free vs $4.99) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). On ads and device support 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
SailTimer™ is free to download; Sail Buddy costs $4.99 up front. SailTimer™ sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Sail Buddy asks for nothing beyond the download.
SailTimer™ ships an update every 2 months, Sail Buddy every 6 months. Both last shipped on October 12, 2026.
| Parameter | SailTimer™ | Sail Buddy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | — | 4.4 (14 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 37.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 14 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 126 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SailTimer Inc. | Tim Herzog |
Customer experience
SailTimer™
Sail Buddy
In-app purchases
SailTimer™
- WNI Marine Weather Map7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Wind Animation7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Navionics Charts$10.991 Year
- ActiveCaptainFree
- Polar Plot LearningFree
- Import NMEA data$0.99
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- SailTimer Pro Bundle$7.99
- USA Atlantic Coast$15.99
- USA Pacific Coast$15.99
- USA Great Lakes$15.99
- USA Gulf Coast$15.99
- Cuba, Bahamas, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands$15.99
Sail Buddy
No in-app purchases









