Pilot Institute App vs PilotBound
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pilot Institute App
This app helps aspiring pilots achieve their aviation dreams through comprehensive training. It has a history of successfully training a large number of pilots.
- Pilot training courses
- Achieve aviation dreams
- Trained over 400,000 pilots
- Comprehensive aviation education
Read full descriptionHide full description
Pilot Institute has trained over 400,000 happy pilots. Pilot Institute classes help you achieve your aviation dreams.
PilotBound
This app provides a personalized roadmap for aspiring pilots, guiding them from the initial decision to fly through to passing their checkride. It tracks flight hours and costs against a custom plan, offering CFI guidance at each step. Users can log flights, monitor progress, and understand their real expenses.
- Personalized flight training roadmap
- Cost projection and tracking
- Flight hour logging
- Progress monitoring against requirements
- CFI guidance on training steps
- Per-aircraft and per-certificate costing
Read full descriptionHide full description
Flight training costs more than the quote. PilotBound tells you what yours will actually cost, priced on the rates your own school publishes, and tracks every dollar against it until checkride day. PRICED ON YOUR SCHOOL, NOT AN AVERAGE • Search 1,713 flight schools and pick where you train • 535 publish enough for us to price your certificate on their real rates • Every figure says where it came from and when it was read • Where a school publishes nothing, we say so and use a national median WHAT YOUR CERTIFICATE WILL COST • A full projection to checkride, not an hourly rate times the legal minimum • Built on the hours examiners actually report, not 40 hours • Sharpens with every flight you log until it is your number • One projection per certificate: Private, Instrument, Commercial, CFI, CFII, ATP • Per aircraft, so a 152 and a Cirrus never hide inside one average CAN YOU AFFORD IT • Track savings, loans and scholarships against what is still ahead • See whether your funding covers the finish, and for how long • Set a budget and get told before you cross it, not after YOUR PLAN, START TO CHECKRIDE • A step by step roadmap from "I want to fly" to checkride passed • Discovery flight, school, medical, student certificate, ground school, gear • First solo, first cross country, the written, the checkride • Plain CFI guidance on each step: what to do, what to skip, what to watch EVERY HOUR, EVERY FIELD • PIC, dual, solo, cross country, night, instrument, approaches, landings, holds • Every Part 61 and Part 141 requirement, completed and remaining • Milestones detected as you fly: first solo, first cross country, first night • Costs pre-filled from your aircraft and instructor rates Built by a CFI for the years before anyone hands you a plan. Your training data stays private. By downloading PilotBound, you agree to the Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: PilotBound at 5.0 against Pilot Institute App's 4.2. Pilot Institute App's advantage is ratings volume (24 vs 3) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.6). On price, update cadence, 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.
PilotBound holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pilot Institute App has 24 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Pilot Institute App ships an update monthly, PilotBound every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pilot Institute App | PilotBound |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (24 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 31.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 24 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 44 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Pilot Institute | FlightXplorer LLC |
Customer experience
Pilot Institute App
PilotBound
In-app purchases
Pilot Institute App
No in-app purchases
PilotBound
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Pilot Institute App free?
Is PilotBound free?
Which has better reviews, Pilot Institute App or PilotBound?
Do Pilot Institute App or PilotBound have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pilot Institute App or PilotBound?
Other comparisons















