Comparison

StarPilot vs Doyle Guides

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

Head to head
About

StarPilot

This app provides advanced celestial navigation computations for iPhone and iPod touch. It offers mathematical and graphic solutions for position fixes, great circle sailing, and more, including lunar distance methods and a sight planner for accurate results.

Highlights
  • Celestial sight reductions
  • Position fixes and great circle sailing
  • Lunar distance method for GMT
  • Graphical Sight Planner
  • Sight Analyzer function
  • Menu-driven interface
  • Perpetual almanac
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

The state-of-the-art solution to navigation computations on your iPhone or iPod touch. StarPilot does celestial sight reductions of all bodies using high-precision internal almanac, plus mathematical and graphic solutions for position fixes, great circle, rhumb line, traverse and composite sailings, all current problems, piloting solutions, and much more...including lunar distance method of finding GMT from the sky and a unique graphical Sight Planner, and the new Sight Analyzer function that helps you get the most accurate results from a series of sights. The StarPilot is the self sufficient state of the art solution to ocean navigation, fully up-gradeable with free upgrades available via Internet download, easy to use operation from logical menu lists, plus illustrated context sensitive help with practice exercises. The StarPilot requires no external resources to complete its computations. Internet access is not required to use this program or to access any of its help files. General program design features... that save time, keystrokes, and minimize errors - Easy to use menu-driven interface - Stored settings of commonly used values - All bodies and star names stored internally, no need for separate lists - DR functions integrated with the celestial functions - Convenient DR updating by log or time - Input courses as true or magnetic - Convenient time input, with or without zone description and watch error - Graphing calculator plots LOPS, Fixes, DR positions, and Star maps - Program can be easily updated to incorporate latest version and features - Custom menu bar for quick navigation to often-used functions Sight Planning - Sunrise, Sunset, times and bearings (amplitudes) - LAN, time, Equation of time, Hs max at LAN1 - Nautical and Civil twilight times, and LHA Aries at midpoint between them - Moonrise, Moonset, Moon phase, and Moon age - Precompute specific values of Hc and Zn for any body - Planet and Star ID by observed height and bearing - SIGHT PLANNER function plots full sky showing moon, stars, and planets in Radar-like display of heights and bearings. Set Hc min/max and max number of stars before computation. Set cursor and click to read the actual height and bearing of a plotted body. - Special fast almanac mode allows full sky plot - Display internal list of 173 stars by name, brightness, and location - Unique BEST SIGHTS function selects the optimum triads of sights for any sky Sight Reduction - Optional modes for sequential sights using repeated settings or unrelated individual sights - Perpetual almanac accurate to 2100+ - Historically accurate almanac data to 16th century - Sight reduction of Sun, Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn... plus Mercury! - Sight Reduction of 173 stars plus Polaris - “Assumed positions” read directly from DR section without extra input - View intercepts (a-values) with or without course and speed corrections - Full input data displayed with results to check for errors - Special center-body mode for artificial horizon data - Dip-short mode for practice at shorelines Celestial Fixes - Unique SIGHT ANALYZER fits a sequence of sights to the right slope for optimum sight selection - All fixes corrected automatically for course and speed as needed - Fix accuracy independent of DR accuracy in all cases - Plots LOPS with live cursor position display - Fix computed by USNO algorithm in the Nautical Almanac - Zoom in on plot to see where computed fix is located - Fix can be obtained by graphic selection from the LOP plot - Automatic display of DR-to-Fix range and bearing - Optional automatic update of DR after fix - Display new course and distance to stored destination

About

Doyle Guides

Access comprehensive sailing guides for the southern Caribbean, featuring nautical charts, regulations, services, and points of interest. The app offers an interactive map with user-generated comments and corrections, all free to use. In-app purchases provide access to detailed guide book content.

Highlights
  • Comprehensive sailing guides
  • Nautical charts and navigation
  • Interactive satellite map
  • 3000+ points of interest database
  • User comments and corrections
  • Island-specific content bundles
Features
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Doyle Guides produces the southern Caribbean's most comprehensive and up-to-date sailing guides, complete with nautical charts and navigational information, details on regulations, customs and immigration, general and technical yacht services, marinas, restaurants, provisioning, shore-based attractions, and more. The Doyle Guides mobile app allows users to search our comprehensive 3000+ point of interest database with results shown based on distance from the user and displayed on an interactive satellite map where users can leave public comments as well as suggest corrections and new points of interest, all free of charge. Subscriptions to guide book content is available on both long and short term basis, as well as bundled by island.

Screenshots

StarPilot4 screens
Doyle Guides4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Doyle Guides at Free against StarPilot's $49.99. Doyle Guides also leads on update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (50 vs 8). StarPilot's advantage is rating (4.9 vs 4.3) and in-app purchases (none vs 18). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Doyle Guides is free to download; StarPilot costs $49.99 up front. Doyle Guides sells 18 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. StarPilot asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

StarPilot holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Doyle Guides has 50 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of StarPilot's written reviews are positive against 60% of Doyle Guides's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

StarPilot ships an update every 4 months, Doyle Guides every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
StarPilot versus Doyle Guides: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarPilotDoyle Guides
Price$49.99Free — better
Rating4.9 (8 ratings) — better4.3 (50 ratings)
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews — better60.0% of reviews
Number of ratings850 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#141 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB51 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarpath CorpChris Doyle Publishing Limited

Customer experience

StarPilot

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews20 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative20.0%

Doyle Guides

All ratings50 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral8.0%
Negative12.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative30.0%

In-app purchases

None

StarPilot

No in-app purchases

18 purchases

Doyle Guides

Subscriptions18
  • Trinidad & Tobago - 1 month3 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Martinique Sailing Guide3 Days trial$19.991 Month
  • St. Lucia Sailing Guide3 Days trial$19.991 Month
Show 15 more
  • St. Vincent Sailing Guide3 Days trial$19.991 Month
  • Grenada Package - 1 month3 Days trial$19.991 Month
  • Trinidad Tobago Sailing Guide7 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Martinique Sailing Guide7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • St. Lucia Sailing Guide7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • St. Vincent Sailing Guide7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • Grenada Package - 12 months7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • Southern Leeward Sailing Guide3 Days trial$24.991 Month
  • Northern Leeward Sailing Guide3 Days trial$24.991 Month
  • Windward Islands Guide3 Days trial$29.991 Month
  • BVI Cruising Guide3 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Windward Islands Guide7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Virgin Islands Cruising Guide3 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Leeward Islands Sailing Guide3 Days trial$39.991 Month
  • Leeward Islands Sailing Guide7 Days trial$59.991 Year

Questions

Is StarPilot free?
StarPilot costs $49.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Doyle Guides free?
Doyle Guides is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, StarPilot or Doyle Guides?
StarPilot is rated higher. StarPilot averages 4.9 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Doyle Guides averages 4.3 from 50 ratings.
Do StarPilot or Doyle Guides have ads?
Neither StarPilot nor Doyle Guides shows ads.
Which is updated more often, StarPilot or Doyle Guides?
StarPilot ships an update every 4 months, and Doyle Guides every 5 weeks. Most recently, StarPilot was updated on September 29, 2026 and Doyle Guides on October 10, 2026.

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