NS Travel Planner vs RET
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NS Travel Planner
Plan your entire journey across the Netherlands, from door-to-door. Get real-time travel updates, check public transport options like trains, buses, and bikes, and manage your tickets and season passes easily.
- Journey planning to any address
- Real-time travel information
- Public transport bicycle and shared car hire
- Train crowding information
- Ticket and season ticket management
- Nearby transport options overview
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About the NS app The free NS app is your ideal travelling companion. It lets you plan your entire journey to any address in the Netherlands and keep up to date with the latest travel information and any disruptions as you go. You can also easily check where you can hire a public transport bicycle or shared car in your area, or quickly find the nearest P+R if you are travelling partly by car. See how crowded it is on the train and have your tickets quickly on hand. Everything to help you get going by whatever transport suits you best today. Why traveling with the NS app + Best app in the Public Transport category + over 2 million users + Quick, safe and easy payment + The “Nearby me” feature lets you see exactly which forms of transport are available in the neighbourhood, from train, bus, tram and metro to public transport bicycles and shared cars. All in a single overview. So it’s the easy way to plan your entire door-to-door journey. + Arrange it all easily in Mijn NS. You can check your balance, access your journey information, simply change your travel class and view and change your season tickets. Feedback Every journey starts with the NS app. That’s why we’re always improving the app with new functions that will help you with your journey even more. If you have any questions, tips or other feedback, let us know in the app. That will let us make the app experience even better!
RET
Plan your journeys across the Netherlands with real-time public transport information for Rotterdam. View departure times, track your travel history, and purchase tickets and subscriptions for buses, trams, and metros.
- Real-time departure times
- Trip planner for all of Netherlands
- Barcode ticket purchases
- Travel history tracking
- Disruption notifications
- Shared mobility options
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In the RET app you can find up to date information about public transport services in Rotterdam, see your travel history and buy barcode tickets to travel with the RET. The RET app also shows the nearest stops with current departure times. Get a push notification when there is a disruption at one of your favorite lines or stops. With the planner you can travel with public transport from any location to every address in The Netherlands. The planner contains the latest departure times for bus, tram, metro and trains. Why use the RET app? - Connect your payment cards and view your full travel history with the RET; - Buy a barcode ticket to travel with RET busses, trams and metros; - Buy savings subscriptions and place them on your bank card; - Buy Park and Ride Combi Ticket; - View the latest departure times on your favorite lines, stops - Plan your trip in the travel planner; - View the available shared mobility options nearby; - Push notifications of disruptions; - Overview of all the disruptions for bus, tram & metro and lifts en escalators; - Latest weather forecast - Contact customer service
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: RET at free against NS Travel Planner's free with in-app purchases. RET also leads on review sentiment (50% vs 31%). NS Travel Planner's advantage is ratings volume (6.8K vs 168) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 5 weeks). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for NS Travel Planner against 4.7 for RET. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NS Travel Planner has 6.8K ratings behind it against 168, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 31% of NS Travel Planner's written reviews are positive against 50% of RET's.
NS Travel Planner ships an update every 2 weeks, RET every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NS Travel Planner | RET |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (6.8K ratings) — better | 4.7 (168 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 30.9% of reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6.8K — better | 168 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 199 MB | 113 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | NS Reizigers B.V. | RET |
Customer experience
NS Travel Planner
RET
Bugs and requests
NS Travel Planner
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crashes frequently
- Login process is unreliable
- Ticket information not always accurate
- Saved trips feature not working as expected
- Disruption notifications not always up-to-date
Requested features
5 requests- Add Apple Pay and Apple Wallet support
- Improve language translation and consistency
- Allow ticket purchases without a Dutch bank account
- Provide better disruption notifications
- Integrate saved trips more prominently
RET
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
NS Travel Planner
No in-app purchases
RET
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is NS Travel Planner free?
Is RET free?
Which has better reviews, NS Travel Planner or RET?
Do NS Travel Planner or RET have ads?
Which is updated more often, NS Travel Planner or RET?
Other comparisons
