Comparison

SailTimer™ vs VMGPolar

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

VMGPolar

Calculate sailing wind and boat speed with this tool. Input three values to determine the rest and log your data for export. It helps build and validate polar graphs for sailing performance.

Highlights
  • Sailing wind and boat speed calculation
  • Input three values to calculate others
  • Save data into a log
  • Export log data
  • Build and validate polar graphs
Features
Read full description

Sailing wind and boat speed calculator. Enter 3 values to calculate the rest, then save the data into a log that can be exported later. The input fields are highlighted, with the least intensive highlight marking the next field to become a calculated value when a new input is entered. BSP = Boat Speed TWS = True Wind Speed TWA = True Wind Angle AWS = Apparent Wind Speed AWA = Apparent Wind Angle VMG = Velocity Made Good (calculated only) Save and export data to build and validate polar graphs.

Screenshots

SailTimer™4 screens
VMGPolar3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: VMGPolar at 100% against SailTimer™'s 37%. VMGPolar also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 12) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). SailTimer™'s advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.6). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. SailTimer™ sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. VMGPolar asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SailTimer™ ships an update every 2 months, VMGPolar fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
SailTimer™ versus VMGPolar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSailTimer™VMGPolar
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.7 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews37.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—3 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size126 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSailTimer Inc.Andrei Skobtsov

Customer experience

SailTimer™

Written reviews27 reviews
Positive37.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative63.0%

VMGPolar

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

12 purchases

SailTimer™

Subscriptions3
  • WNI Marine Weather Map7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Wind Animation7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Navionics Charts$10.991 Year
One-time9
  • ActiveCaptainFree
  • Polar Plot LearningFree
  • Import NMEA data$0.99
Show 6 more
  • 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
None

VMGPolar

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SailTimer™ free?
SailTimer™ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is VMGPolar free?
VMGPolar is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do SailTimer™ or VMGPolar have ads?
Neither SailTimer™ nor VMGPolar shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SailTimer™ or VMGPolar?
SailTimer™ ships an update every 2 months, and VMGPolar fortnightly. Most recently, SailTimer™ was updated on October 12, 2026 and VMGPolar on September 25, 2026.

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