CloudAhoy vs Right Rudder
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CloudAhoy
This app provides pilots with detailed post-flight analysis and performance evaluations. It automatically segments flights, scores maneuvers, and offers various visual tools to identify areas for improvement. Get a comprehensive understanding of your flying proficiency shortly after landing.
- Automated flight segmentation
- Objective maneuver scoring
- 2D/3D flight visualization
- Chart and map overlays
- HUD cockpit view
- Flight data import
- Instrument approach comparison
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CloudAhoy provides post-flight data driven debriefs for pilots of all levels. Each flight is automatically analyzed and broken down into segments to easily evaluate pilot performance. Maneuver scoring provides a snapshot of how well you flew. Review airspeed, altitude, and wind corrections and relive your ground reference maneuvers or instrument approaches. Combine different views, chart overlays and detailed graphs to assist with identifying areas of improvement. Get a full picture of your performance and proficiency within minutes of landing. Download the app and enjoy CloudAhoy free for 35 days. USERS - General aviation pilots: weekend warriors, commercial & recreational pilots - Flight training: students and instructors - Flight schools - Professional pilots and corporate flight departments - Military CloudAhoy users fly all types of aircraft and simulators. Debrief VFR and IFR flights, training flights, cross country flights, and special missions such as search and rescue. FEATURES • Auto-segmentation and recognition of flight maneuvers • Objective maneuver scoring and evaluation • View flights in 2D or 3D, on the app or any computer platform • Overlay aviation charts, terrain maps, or satellite images • HUD cockpit view: relive your flight in 3D animation • Flight data import from many devices, apps, and EFIS • Glass cockpit gauges • Display the wind along your route. Check your wind corrections. • Optional synchronized video - view up to two feeds • IFR: Compare your instrument approaches vs. 3D or 2D published IAPs • Plot altitude, IAS, VS and other profiles of your approaches • In-flight mode for marking custom segments of the flight in real-time • Logbook-like listing of any flight you have flown with CloudAhoy • Use internal iPhone/iPad GPS, or an external GPS • Flight sharing between CloudAhoy pilots, and with people without an account • Supports iPad multitasking REVIEWS “It’s a fun way to replay your flights, but it also has real value for training and currency flights.” -Sportys iPad Pilot News “Always available, cost effective, and emotionally neutral technology that helps a CFI be more efficient.” -SAFE Pilots Blog “CloudAhoy is my debriefing tool of choice.” -Steve Thorne, FlightChops
Right Rudder
This tool helps flight instructors manage student progress, track training records, and issue endorsements. It organizes ground and flight lessons, stage checks, and document expirations with customizable templates. Data is synced privately via iCloud for easy access on multiple devices.
- Student profile management
- Customizable training checklist templates
- Endorsement issuance and recording
- Stage check and scheduling tracking
- Document expiration reminders
- iCloud data synchronization
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Know where every student stands before you walk to the airplane. Right Rudder is a records and scheduling app for working flight instructors. Open it and see your day: who is scheduled, what is next, and what needs attention. Tap a student and see exactly what they have flown, what they have studied, and what is still open. YOUR DAY, FIRST The Today tab puts your schedule, your next lesson and the items that need attention on one screen. It can read a calendar you choose to show who is scheduled today. It never creates, edits or deletes calendar events. STUDENT PROGRESS YOU CAN TRUST Assign a lesson list to each student and check items off as training happens. Progress counts every checked item across the student's assigned lessons, so the number you see matches the work you recorded. Recent Activity lists lessons, endorsements, invoices, payments and account changes in one feed. Ran out of daylight? Finish Lesson closes out a lesson as flown without checking the remaining items. The lesson is finished and its percentage stays real, so the record never says something that is not so. LESSON AND ENDORSEMENT LIBRARY Start from a ready-made library of lessons, including a 46-lesson CFI category (FOI, T1 to T18, FI lessons, spin training and checkride prep). Edit it to fit your syllabus. Lessons are in Settings on iPhone and in the sidebar on iPad. Library updates never erase work you have checked. Endorsement wording is taken from AC 61-65K and is not reworded when you fill it in. Sign with your finger or Apple Pencil, keep the record with the student, and export a slip or an audit log as a PDF. Time-limited endorsements and medical certificates show their expiration dates, with reminders before they lapse. You remain responsible for every endorsement you sign. Right Rudder helps you keep the record; it does not decide whether a student is eligible. BILLING AND INVOICES The Billing tab is your hub: balances, New Invoice, Record Payment and Statements. Set one dual rate and one ground rate and they apply to every student. Each flight lesson starts with 0.5 hour of ground time, and a new invoice fills in from the lesson time you logged in the period, so you review it instead of retyping it. Choose Invoice mode to bill after lessons, or Prepaid mode to draw lessons down from a balance and flag low balances. Payments, refunds and corrections stay in each student's ledger. Export PDF invoices, and statements for all students or one. Right Rudder does not process payments or touch a card; it keeps the books. APPLE INTELLIGENCE SUMMARIES (OPTIONAL) On a device that supports it, draft debrief and training summaries. They are created on your device from your notes. This feature is off until you turn it on in Settings. HAND OFF A STUDENT Moving a student to another instructor? Share Progress sends the student's record as a file the next instructor can open in Right Rudder. SHARE WITH YOUR STUDENT Invite a student with their Apple ID to see their own training progress in the Right Rudder Student companion app. Access is by invitation only, never by an open link. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account to create and no password to remember. Your records are stored in your own private iCloud and sync between your iPhone and iPad. Right Rudder has no server of ours that holds your students' information, and it does not track you. It works with no network, and syncs when you are back online. The camera is used only to photograph documents you choose to attach to a student's record. Right Rudder does not replace your logbook, your training records requirements or your judgment as an instructor. It gives you one reliable place to keep them.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: CloudAhoy at Free against Right Rudder's $14.99. CloudAhoy also leads on ratings volume (35 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). Right Rudder's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 3.4) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). 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
CloudAhoy is free to download; Right Rudder costs $14.99 up front. CloudAhoy sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Right Rudder asks for nothing beyond the download.
Right Rudder holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CloudAhoy has 35 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of CloudAhoy's written reviews are positive against 100% of Right Rudder's.
CloudAhoy ships an update every 5 weeks, Right Rudder every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CloudAhoy | Right Rudder |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $14.99 |
| Rating | 3.4 (35 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 80.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 35 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | CloudAhoy, Inc. | Ryan Primeau |
Customer experience
CloudAhoy
Right Rudder
Bugs and requests
CloudAhoy
Reported bugs
17 issues- App glitching and failing to load
- iPad mini no longer plays back 3D
- Sharing feature not working as expected
- Display with layovers is jumbled
- App crashed
Show 12 moreShow fewer
- Won't record routes on iPad
- Server error during login
- Cannot get app to work on Mac
- Redirects to get Google Earth and plugin
- Support email not working
- Does not recognize internal GPS
- Logging stopped after 30 min with BadElf GPS
- Auto recording setup issue
- Google Earth not working right on iPad
- GPS signal issues in some apps
- Takeoff measured long, landing early
- Accuracy of recorded speeds not always 100%
Requested features
40 requests- Fix grading for CFI assistant
- Ensure scoring aligns with ACS standards
- Fix app glitches and loading failures
- Restore 3D playback on iPad mini
- Clarify subscription costs
Show 35 moreShow fewer
- Improve sharing feature
- Redesign display and layovers
- Simplify interface
- Improve 3D view functionality
- Integrate with ForeFlight for tracking
- Show course and altitude overlay on approach plates
- Add more background map options (ELAs, Sectionals)
- Allow adding airplane type for automatic info
- Integrate with iWatch to start flight
- Add in-app 3D playback from pilot's view
- More features working on iPhone
- Add WX superposition
- Allow reviewing flights within the app (not just browser)
- Improve UI for better clarity
- Add top-down plus side view
- Restore app to previous version's functionality
- Fix server errors for login/registration
- Improve Mac compatibility
- Fix support email
- Make app work on iPhone 5
- Ensure sufficient data for debrief on all devices
- Address excessive security requirements
- Fix password reset issues
- Ensure internal GPS is recognized
- Add auto-start option
- Improve GPS signal tracking
- Make Google Earth work correctly on iPad
- Fix auto-recording setup
- Provide directions for adding procedures to database
- Improve accuracy of measurements at low altitudes
- Optimize for glider use
- Ensure accurate recording of speeds
- Make it easier to remember to turn on the app
- Improve 2D GPS data capture
- Make it possible to add custom procedures
Right Rudder
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
CloudAhoy
- CloudAhoy Standard$64.99
- CloudAhoy Pro$149.99
Right Rudder
No in-app purchases









