ForeFlight Mobile EFB vs PilotBrief
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ForeFlight Mobile EFB
This app simplifies flight planning, briefing, and filing for pilots. It offers interactive weather layers, detailed charts, and hazard awareness tools for enhanced situational awareness. Logbook features track flight hours and currency.
- Touch Planning on Map
- Interactive Weather Layers
- Geo-referenced Plates & Charts
- Global Hazard Awareness
- Digital Logbook
- Synthetic Vision
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Download for a 30-day free trial of our top subscription plan! Visit our website for more information on available plans and add-ons. ForeFlight is the leading flight app for VFR and IFR pilots everywhere, making flight planning and flying easier, safer, and more enjoyable. FLIGHT PLANNING, BRIEFING, & FILING Plan flights with Touch Planning on the Map or full-featured form-based Flights view. Tap out a route in seconds and quickly see if flights will be affected by weather or TFRs. Helpful Route, Altitude, and Procedure Advisors make planning easy and accurate. Generate a graphical preflight briefing and file your flight plan directly from the app. Print a professional-grade Navlog for inflight reference. WEATHER Interactive weather layers include animated radar, global satellite and winds aloft, global icing, turbulence, and surface analysis, graphical AIR/SIGMETs, flight category, visibility, and more. View decoded METARs, TAFs, and MOS forecasts. Thoughtfully organized Imagery view puts a full range of forecast tools at your fingertips. PLATES, CHARTS, & MAPS Both VFR and IFR operations are covered with all of the essentials required for planning and navigation: data-driven Aeronautical Maps, VFR Sectionals, High/Low Enroute charts, SIDs, STARs, approach and taxi charts, and terrain, satellite, and street map views. GEO-REFERENCED APPROACHES & TAXI CHARTS Plates and taxi charts enable the real time display of your GPS location on the chart. They can also be overlaid on the Maps view along with weather and hazards for the ultimate situational awareness. GLOBAL HAZARD AWARENESS TECHNOLOGY Plan and fly with more confidence in all conditions and terrain. Top-down-view Hazard Advisor map layer, Terrain Profile View, and 3D Synthetic Vision seamlessly integrate into the map display to depict a clear picture of terrain and obstacle hazards anywhere in the world. When paired with an AHRS source, Synthetic Vision provides a backup attitude display. LOGBOOK Logbook makes it easy to log and share flights, track hours, review currency, record certificates and ratings, receive electronic instructor endorsements, and create experience reports. Your data is automatically synced across all your devices and protected in secure cloud storage. ADDITIONAL FEATURES INCLUDE: Built-in documents catalog with FAR/AIM, charts supplements, and more Airport, FBO, and fuel price information for thousands of locations Dynamic data-driven Aeronautical Maps Weight & Balance Glide Advisor Automatic chart and data data updates Chart color inversion for better night flying experience Access to web planner
PilotBrief
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PilotBrief provides real-time aviation weather briefings for pilots across North America. Features: • Interactive map with color-coded flight categories (VFR, MVFR, IFR, LIFR) • Live METAR and TAF weather reports for thousands of airports • NOTAMs and TFRs displayed on map • Airport webcam feeds • Detailed airport information including runways, frequencies, and elevation • Search by ICAO code, airport name, or city • Premium features: route weather briefings, go/no-go advisor Plan your flights with confidence. Check weather conditions at a glance with our intuitive color-coded map, or dive deep into individual airport weather data. Designed by pilots, for pilots.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PilotBrief at none against ForeFlight Mobile EFB's 18. PilotBrief also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). ForeFlight Mobile EFB's advantage is chart position (#10 vs unranked). 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
Both are free to download. ForeFlight Mobile EFB sells 14 one-off in-app purchases. PilotBrief asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | ForeFlight Mobile EFB | PilotBrief |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (3.3K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 68.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3.3K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | #10 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 592 MB | 34 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ForeFlight | Mike Christie |
Bugs and requests
ForeFlight Mobile EFB
Reported bugs
3 issues- Weather data not updating correctly
- Issues with syncing user waypoints and annotations
- Incompatibility with certain iOS versions and device models
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to add multiple landing legs in a single flight plan
- Improved map annotations and drawing tools
- Customizable logbook and flight data export options
- Better support for Apple Watch and other wearables
- More comprehensive coverage of international airports and charts
PilotBrief
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
ForeFlight Mobile EFB
- Basic Plus US - 3 months$70.00
- Starter LATAM - 1 Year$129.99
- Starter US - 1 Year$129.99
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- Starter CA - 1 Year$129.99
- Starter EUR - 1 Year$129.99
- Starter APAC - 1 Year$129.99
- Starter ME & SA - 1 Year$129.99
- Essential APAC - 1 Year$259.99
- Essential ME & SA - 1 Year$259.99
- Essential US - 1 Year$259.99
- Essential CA - 1 Year$259.99
- Premium LATAM$390.00
- Premium ME & SA$390.00
- Premium US - 1 Year2 variants$390.00
PilotBrief
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is ForeFlight Mobile EFB free?
Is PilotBrief free?
Do ForeFlight Mobile EFB or PilotBrief have ads?
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