Comparison

AyeTides XL vs Coastal Explorer

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

Head to head
About

AyeTides XL

Access tide and current data for over 12,500 global locations without an internet connection. View daily events in tabular or graphical formats, find stations by map or name, and save favorites. Designed for iPad, it offers accurate, ad-free planning for marine activities.

Highlights
  • Offline tide and current data
  • 12,500+ global locations
  • Interactive tide graphs
  • Calendar view
  • Station search by map, name, or location
  • Favorite stations
Read full description

Never be without the tides again! You too can carry the tides with you as you walk along the shore, fly into a harbor, or sail off into the sunset. AyeTides XL displays tides and/or currents for over 12,500 locations worldwide. and unlike many other tide apps it does not require a network connection. With AyeTides XL you will never see those annoying ads or be asked to pay for additional features! Sailors, harbor pilots, beachcombers, nature photographers, and more use AyeTides to plan their outings on or around the world's oceans. And there are NO ads and NO subscriptions! Here are some of the things people are saying about AyeTides... "AyeTides is a quality professional product” "Your support has been the best I have experienced!" “As a harbor pilot in New York I’ve been using your excellent tide and current app” "I really appreciate the effort that you put into making AyeTides as accurate as it can be. It is a great program that has been very useful to us. I think we have 60 pilots using iPhones and iNavX and your app links in so well." "I am a ships Pilot in BC and use Aye Tides a lot and it has become invaluable.” You can see the day’s events in tabular form with an interactive graph, or you can rotate the phone for an calendar view. Tapping on a day brings up additional information for that day. You can find a station on a map, by name, based on your current location, or set a favorite station and always have it handy. AyeTides XL is updated regularly and stations are added whenever we find new data. We encourage our customers to contact us if you hare having any issues with the program. This app is designed to run on your iPad. It does not run on an iPhone or iPod Touch. If you have multiple devices, you may want to consider our bundle. Get both apps for a discounted price! This is the only place to install AyeTides. Other websites may look like they have AyeTides, but they do not. We only support iOS, any other version of AyeTides is not ours.

About

Coastal Explorer

Plan and log your cruises with detailed nautical charts and weather forecasts. Enhance your experience with a subscription for offline access, real-time navigation, and integration with marine electronics.

Highlights
  • View NOAA and USACE nautical charts
  • Create routes and waypoints
  • Cloud synchronization
  • ActiveCaptain points of interest
  • US Coast Pilot information
  • Marine weather forecasts
  • Tide and current predictions
Features
Read full description

Coastal Explorer™ is a sophisticated, full-featured, easy-to-use cruise planning and logging tool designed specifically for the pleasure boater. And it becomes a complete navigation system with the purchase of a chart subscription. The free Coastal Explorer app provides these great planning features: * View NOAA and USACE nautical charts for the US in vector format * Create routes, waypoints, boundaries, and other navigation objects * Cloud-synchronization of your navigation objects * ActiveCaptain points of interest * US Coast Pilot information * Marine weather forecasts and observations for the US * Tide and current predictions for the US Purchasing a chart subscription turns Coastal Explorer into a complete navigation system that includes: * Downloadable charts, tide and current predictions, Coast Pilot, and ActiveCaptain places for offline use * Interfacing with compatible networked marine electronics devices, including GPS, compass, depth sounder, anemometer, AIS, autopilot, and more * Customizable instrument panels * Route following with cross-track error, distance and time to go, estimated time of arrival, etc * Track and event recording * Integrated blogging Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. See our Terms of Service at https://www.rosepoint.com/legal/terms_of_service.

Screenshots

Coastal Explorer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: AyeTides XL at 76% against Coastal Explorer's 11%. AyeTides XL also leads on rating (4.8 vs 2.8) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). Coastal Explorer's advantage is price (Free vs $7.99) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 weeks). On ads 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

Coastal Explorer is free to download; AyeTides XL costs $7.99 up front. Coastal Explorer sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. AyeTides XL asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

AyeTides XL holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AyeTides XL has 1.3K ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of AyeTides XL's written reviews are positive against 11% of Coastal Explorer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

AyeTides XL ships an update every 3 weeks, Coastal Explorer every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard9 real differences · 1 level
AyeTides XL versus Coastal Explorer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAyeTides XLCoastal Explorer
Price$7.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (1.3K ratings) — better2.8 (16 ratings)
Positive reviews76.2% of reviews — better11.1% of reviews
Number of ratings1.3K — better16
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size81 MB54 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHahn Software LLCRose Point Navigation Systems, Inc

Customer experience

AyeTides XL

All ratings1,301 ratings
Positive97.2%
Neutral2.1%
Negative0.7%
Written reviews63 reviews
Positive76.2%
Neutral9.5%
Negative14.3%

Coastal Explorer

All ratings16 ratings
Positive43.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative56.3%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive11.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative88.9%

Bugs and requests

AyeTides XL

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Scrambled date display when scrolling calendar
  • Fewer tide stations than advertised

Requested features

4 requests
  • Display lunar phases on tidal calendar
  • Improve navigation and menus
  • Display current direction and speed arrows on chart
  • Add more European/UK tide and current data

Coastal Explorer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

AyeTides XL

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Coastal Explorer

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription$19.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription$49.991 Year

Questions

Is AyeTides XL free?
AyeTides XL costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Coastal Explorer free?
Coastal Explorer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, AyeTides XL or Coastal Explorer?
AyeTides XL is rated higher. AyeTides XL averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.3K ratings, while Coastal Explorer averages 2.8 from 16 ratings.
Do AyeTides XL or Coastal Explorer have ads?
Neither AyeTides XL nor Coastal Explorer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, AyeTides XL or Coastal Explorer?
AyeTides XL ships an update every 3 weeks, and Coastal Explorer every 2 weeks. Most recently, AyeTides XL was updated on October 24, 2026 and Coastal Explorer on October 24, 2026.

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