Kaiyo vs SurfSage
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Kaiyo
This app is your ultimate surf companion, offering detailed forecasts, spot finding, and session tracking. Connect with other surfers, share conditions, and discover new breaks.
- Hourly & Weekly Surf Forecasts
- Nearest Spot Finder
- Community Features
- Apple Watch Integration
- Live Surf Cameras
- Add Custom Surf Spots
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Catch every wave with confidence. Kaiyo - Your Ultimate Surf Companion Connect with your crew. Track your progress. Catch every wave. Kaiyo is the all-in-one surf platform built for surfers, by surfers. Whether you are looking to connect with your local lineup or analyze your performance in the water, Kaiyo delivers everything you need - right in your pocket and on your wrist. What’s New Sessions - Plan a session at your break and invite friends. See who's going, or keep it to the people you invite. Apple Watch Integration - Track your surf sessions directly from your Apple Watch. Sync your waves, top speed, and heart rate seamlessly with the app. Add Your Own Surf Spots – Found a hidden gem? Drop a pin, name it, and make it yours. Live Surf Cameras – Watch real-time conditions at select beaches before you even wax your board. Core Features Hourly & Weekly Forecasts: Wave height, swell direction, period, wind, tide, and temperature. Nearest Spot Finder: Automatically shows the closest surf spots wherever you are. Favorites List: Keep your go-to breaks just a tap away. Session History: Review your tracked sessions to see your progress over time. Designed by surfers - for surfers.
SurfSage
Visualize global ocean conditions with a live wave map, detailed surf reports, and personalized swell alerts. Track wave height, wind, and currents, and access historical data. Includes user-submitted beach reports and a personal logbook.
- Live global wave map
- Detailed surf break reports
- Customizable swell alerts
- 3-day forecast and 3-day history
- Wave energy, wind, and current layers
- User-submitted beach reports
- Personal surf logbook
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See what the ocean is doing, anywhere on Earth. SurfSage paints live wave conditions across every coastline on the planet. Open it and the whole ocean is colored by wave size — blue for small, green for fun, red and pink for the days most people watch from the beach. Tap any patch of water for the numbers behind the color. A LIVE WAVE MAP OF EVERY COAST Wave height painted across the world's oceans, with named surf breaks drawn on top. Pan anywhere. It works the same in Portugal as it does in California. A REAL SURF REPORT FOR ANY BREAK Tap a break for a plain-English condition score and the reasons behind it — wave height, swell period, wind, water temperature — plus an aerial view so you can see the shape of the coast before you drive to it. SWELL ALERTS THAT RESPECT YOUR PHONE Star the breaks you ride, choose the size and quality worth getting up for, and SurfSage sends one ping when it happens. At most one per spot per day. No streams, no badges, no noise. THREE DAYS FORWARD, THREE DAYS BACK Slide through the forecast and watch a swell arrive before you commit to the drive. Replay the last three days to see what you missed. FOUR WAYS TO READ THE WATER Switch the map between wave height, wave energy, wind and surface currents. REPORTS FROM PEOPLE ACTUALLY AT THE BEACH Ten seconds, a handful of words, completely anonymous. No forecast has ever seen the sandbar — the person standing on it has. YOUR OWN LOGBOOK Every report you file is kept privately, with what you saw and where you were. Record sessions and keep them. LOCAL WEATHER Temperature, wind and the three days ahead for wherever you're standing. BUILT TO BE READ FAST Plain words instead of jargon, generous type, and a short guide for anyone new to reading a forecast — available any time from the home screen, not just on day one. NO ADS. NO ACCOUNTS. NO TRACKERS. Nothing to sign up for. Nothing following you around. SURFSAGE PRO Free forever: the live wave map, surf reports for every break, three saved spots, three swell alerts and three recorded sessions. SurfSage Pro unlocks unlimited saved spots, unlimited alerts, unlimited sessions, and the wave energy, wind and current map layers. - SurfSage Pro Monthly — $3.99 per month - SurfSage Pro Yearly — $24.99 per year Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Privacy Policy: https://snoflo.org/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ IMPORTANT — PLEASE READ SurfSage is an educational and recreational tool. It is not a navigation, marine safety, weather warning or emergency service, and must not be relied upon as one. Everything shown is an estimate and can be inaccurate, delayed or unavailable. What a wave actually does at any beach depends on the tide, the sand and the reef. Surfing and other ocean activities carry an inherent risk of serious injury and death. You are solely responsible for deciding whether, where and when to enter the water. For official marine forecasts, warnings and safety information, consult your national weather service and local authorities, and follow lifeguards, flags and posted signage. Waves for the Wise. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://snoflo.org/products/surfsage
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is device support: Kaiyo at 3 against SurfSage's 1. On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Kaiyo sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and SurfSage sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Kaiyo against 5.0 for SurfSage. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
Kaiyo ships an update every 2 weeks, SurfSage every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Kaiyo | SurfSage |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 45 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alberto Charabati | Snoflo.org LLC |
Customer experience
Kaiyo
SurfSage
In-app purchases
Kaiyo
- Tip The Developer$4.99
- Tip the Developer$4.99
SurfSage
- SurfSage Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
- SurfSage Pro Yearly$24.991 Year









