National Rail vs Thistle Cabs Group
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
National Rail
Plan train journeys, check live times, and purchase tickets for the British rail network. Receive real-time updates on delays and disruptions to travel with confidence.
- Live train times
- Route planning
- Ticket purchasing
- Real-time updates
- Delay notifications
- Save favorite stations
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Your journey, simplified. Get live train times, plan routes, buy tickets, and receive real-time updates—all in one app. Travel smarter with National Rail. Travel with confidence across the British rail network. The National Rail app is your essential companion for stress-free train travel. Plan your journey with our intelligent route planner. Find the fastest connections, compare train times, and get live departure boards for any station. Buy tickets, access Railcard discounts and find the best value Season Tickets all in one place. Stay informed with real-time updates on delays, platform changes, and disruptions. Receive email, SMS, or WhatsApp notifications so you're always in the know during your commute. My Travel. Save our favourite stations and journeys in Live Trains and Journey Planner for quicker results and less clicking. Status and Disruptions. Find out about anything that might impact your journey.
Thistle Cabs Group
Book a taxi quickly and easily with real-time car tracking and driver communication. Schedule rides in advance, manage favorite locations, and receive dispatch notifications. Enjoy priority service with this convenient travel app.
- Instant taxi booking
- Real-time car tracking
- Advance ride scheduling
- Driver communication
- Favorite location management
- Push notification alerts
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Book a taxi in under 10 seconds and experience exclusive priority service from Thistle Cabs Group. You can place the booking directly on our map, and see how many available cars there are. No standing in the rain. Track your car as it arrives on a map, or call the driver when they are nearby. No more guessing where your cab might be. Place bookings hours, days or weeks in advance. Whenever it's convenient for you. If necessary, cancel your booking at any time. It takes seconds to place a new booking directly from the handy favourites list. Having integrated SMS booking, we've now launched this intelligent IOS App so you can book a taxi within 3 screen taps. Thistle Cabs is FREE to download and it costs you nothing to register. ---------------------------------------- It's so easy and quick to use. Download the App and register just once. Our intelligent software will suggest your favourite Pick Up locations, and you're ready to book your a car. When you make a bookings, we'll notify you by Push Notification as your car is dispatched. We'll also inform you when your car is 2 minutes away, giving you additional details such as registration number, make, model and vehicle colour. ---------------------------------------- We value feedback and take all reviews very seriously. So please leave us feedback about your journey using the App. This helps us continually improve our service.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Thistle Cabs Group at 100% against National Rail's 8%. Thistle Cabs Group also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). National Rail's advantage is ratings volume (98 vs 5) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence and iOS requirement 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. National Rail sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Thistle Cabs Group asks for nothing beyond the download.
Thistle Cabs Group holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: National Rail has 98 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 8% of National Rail's written reviews are positive against 100% of Thistle Cabs Group's.
National Rail ships an update every 2 months, Thistle Cabs Group every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | National Rail | Thistle Cabs Group |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (98 ratings) | 5.0 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 7.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 98 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 91 MB |
| Age rating | +4 | 4+ |
| Developer | National Rail | B & G CONTRACTS LIMITED |
Customer experience
National Rail
Thistle Cabs Group
Bugs and requests
National Rail
Reported bugs
4 issues- App frequently crashes or freezes
- Inaccurate train times and journey information
- Ticket booking functionality not working properly
- Compatibility issues with newer iPhone models
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to save favorite stations and journeys
- Option to view earlier/past train departures
- More granular search options (e.g. search by minute, not just 15-minute intervals)
- Improved live train tracking and disruption notifications
Thistle Cabs Group
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
National Rail
- Ad-free version$4.99
Thistle Cabs Group
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is National Rail free?
Is Thistle Cabs Group free?
Which has better reviews, National Rail or Thistle Cabs Group?
Do National Rail or Thistle Cabs Group have ads?
Which is updated more often, National Rail or Thistle Cabs Group?
Other comparisons
