Stockwave vs ACV Auctions
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Stockwave
Streamline wholesale vehicle acquisition by simplifying auction sourcing. Quickly evaluate vehicles, access pricing guides, and get real-time bid guidance to make profitable decisions.
- VIN scanning for bid determination
- Access to multiple price guides
- Vehicle history reports
- Auction condition report evaluation
- Save vehicle notes
- Navigate auction run lists
- Real-time bid guidance
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Stockwave is the latest innovation from vAuto for Wholesale Vehicle Acquisition. The Stockwave application will work for all existing vAuto clients that have a current AuctionGenius subscription or sign up for a new Stockwave subscription. Sourcing used car inventory at auction can drain time and money from a dealership. The searching and researching before the auction doesn’t always lead to the best buying opportunities. The bidding and buying process doesn’t always lead to profitable outcomes. Stockwave simplifies sourcing so much, you don’t have to spend time searching or researching - or waste money on the wrong bids again. The Stockwave mobile application is designed to aide in searching for Wholesale inventory from all major United States Automobile Auctions and for quickly evaluate the vehicles when at alive auction. Key Features: * Scan a VIN to quickly determine what to bid on a vehicle * Access price guides based on your current subscription such as MMR, KBB, Black Book, NADA, and Galves * Access Vehicle History Reports * Evaluate the Auction Condition Reports before you place a bid * Save Notes about each Vehicle to access your prior research * Navigate Auction Run Lists with ease while at the auction * Access real time bid guidance and profit projections Usage Requirements: * This app requires an active subscription with vAuto for AuctionGenius or Stockwave. * The VIN scanner requires access to your camera, and you can grant permissions by going to Settings -> Privacy -> Camera. * The VIN scanner requires an autofocusing camera. Some older Apple devices do NOT have autofocus cameras, so VIN scanning is NOT supported on those devices. * The Black Book and Galves price guides may require an additional subscription to access the data on a mobile device.
ACV Auctions
This app is a digital marketplace for dealers to buy and sell wholesale vehicles. It streamlines the auction process, allowing sellers to easily list cars and buyers to bid in live auctions. The platform handles all payments and title transfers for a seamless transaction experience.
- Dealer-to-dealer marketplace
- Live 20-minute auctions
- VIN scanning and condition reporting
- Live and proxy bidding
- Real-time negotiation
- Integrated payment and title transfer
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ACV Auctions is a dealer-to-dealer marketplace. The app replaces the physical wholesale car auctions that facilitate the sale of approximately 15 million vehicles every year. This platform allows dealers to engage in our live 20 minute auctions. It's easy for sellers to create an auction. Simply scan the VIN, enter vehicle condition information, and snap a few photos. Tap "Send to Auction" and your auction is instantly sent to thousands of potential bidders. Buyers review the condition report and bid to own using live and proxy bids. Auctions are live for 20 minutes. The system prevents last-second bid sniping so you're sure to get a fair chance in every auction. Once an auction ends, sellers can accept or send the high bidder a counter offer to start a live, real-time negotiation session with the buyer. Buyers can accept the counter offer or negotiate further. All of this right from the convenience of your mobile phone. All payments and title transfers are handled through our office. Buyers can pay instantly with an electronic check or floorplan. For sellers, we email prepaid FedEx® labels for sending in titles. Bill of sales get emailed for your records. ACV Auctions is free for dealers to use. There are no monthly fees or contracts. Our buyer and seller fees are considerably lower than physical auctions. Sign up for a completely free account at http://www.acvauctions.com/ (requires proof of valid dealer license). This app collects personal information. To see our Privacy Policy / Notice at Collection, please follow the link in the App Privacy section below.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ACV Auctions at 4.4 against Stockwave's 3.5. ACV Auctions also leads on ratings volume (1.2K vs 31) and review sentiment (55% vs 42%). Stockwave's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.4.1). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
ACV Auctions holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ACV Auctions has 1.2K ratings behind it against 31, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 42% of Stockwave's written reviews are positive against 55% of ACV Auctions's.
Stockwave ships an update monthly, ACV Auctions every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Stockwave | ACV Auctions |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (31 ratings) | 4.4 (1.2K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 41.7% of reviews | 55.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 31 | 1.2K — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.4.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 161 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | vAuto, Inc. | ACV Auctions Inc |
Customer experience
Stockwave
ACV Auctions
Bugs and requests
Stockwave
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
ACV Auctions
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes when navigating between vehicles
- Notifications not working consistently
- Inability to view ended auctions and sold vehicles
- Lack of landscape mode support on tablets
Requested features
5 requests- Watchlist feature to track interested vehicles
- Faster bidding times
- Improved notification system
- Easier access to account and payment information
- Better integration between mobile app and website
In-app purchases
Stockwave
No in-app purchases
ACV Auctions
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Stockwave free?
Is ACV Auctions free?
Which has better reviews, Stockwave or ACV Auctions?
Do Stockwave or ACV Auctions have ads?
Which is updated more often, Stockwave or ACV Auctions?
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