Comparison

GolfXI vs 4sum

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

GolfXI

This app revolutionizes golf scoring by allowing users to track any type of game, from classic formats to custom side bets. It automates point tracking, handles complex rules, and provides real-time scorecards for a seamless social golfing experience.

Highlights
  • Score any golf game format
  • Track custom side bets and junk games
  • Automated point tracking and payout calculations
  • Real-time hole-by-hole scorecards
  • Social features to follow friends' rounds
  • Intuitive and mobile-first design
Features
Read full description

Golf is more fun when someone's keeping score properly. GolfXI scores anything your group plays - a $20 Nassau, a four-ball Ryder Cup, skins with automatic presses, or a format someone invented on the first tee. Describe it in plain English and we'll build the teams, the stakes, and the side games. PLAY ANYTHING Stroke play, match play, four-ball, foursomes, scramble, best ball, Stableford, skins, wolf, bramble. Net or gross. Teams or singles. Side games running alongside the main match. Not sure what to play? Get a suggestion, browse formats, or reuse a setup you already know. ONE SCORE, EVERYTHING UPDATES Enter a score once and every format, side game, and leaderboard recalculates. Handicaps and strokes applied automatically, so nobody's doing math on the cart path. EVENTS AND TOURNAMENTS Run multi-round events with live net and gross leaderboards, tee sheets, and pairings. Purpose-built boards for Ryder Cup, round robin, and member-guest, with dedicated side game boards and a hole-by-hole skins explorer. Create an event from your phone - players join with a pairing code. SEASONS THAT KEEP SCORE ALL YEAR Season-long series carrying points, money, and standings across your entire schedule. YOUR GROUP, NOT STRANGERS A feed of rounds from the people you actually play with - photos, video, and full round summaries. Leaderboards for low gross, low net, and most birdies, narrowed to your club or the golfers you follow. MESSAGING BUILT FOR GOLF Direct messages, group threads, and a conversation attached to every match and event. Share photos from the round without leaving the app. KNOW YOUR GAME Scoring averages gross and net, score distribution, performance by hole type, and recent form across your last twenty rounds. Your handicap index, right on your profile. RUN IT BACK One tap to replay your last match with the same players, format, and stakes.

About

4sum

This app simplifies golf betting by tracking twenty different side games and calculating exact payouts. It offers course data, GPS distances, and lifetime records for players. Enjoy a seamless experience with no ads or subscriptions.

Highlights
  • Twenty golf side games
  • Automated bet settlement
  • In-game strategy helper
  • GPS distances to green
  • Lifetime player records
  • Course database and custom courses
Features
Read full description

4sum runs your group's golf bets. 21 side games, scored as you play, and at the end it tells you exactly who pays who. 21 GAMES, NOT FIVE Wolf, Nassau with presses, Skins with carryovers, Vegas, Banker, Bingo Bango Bongo, Snake, Sixes, Rabbit, Dots and junk, Left-Right, Scotch, High-Low, Niner, Match Play, Best Ball, Stableford, Stroke, Scramble, Format Rotation and Longest Drive. Run as many at once as you like on the same card. IT TEACHES THEM TOO Every game has a how-to and a worked example, because the hardest moment in a side game is the tee box where somebody says "wait, how does this one work?" IT SETTLES UP At the end, every game is netted across every player and reduced to the fewest possible payments. Not a table of who owes what to whom eleven times over, just "Mike pays Pat $45." 4sum never touches money itself. IT TELLS YOU WHAT THE HOLE IS WORTH A strategy helper works out what is actually on the line before you hit, from the real state of every game you have running. It cannot disagree with the money, because it reads the same numbers. EVERY COURSE IN THE US Search by name or town and add any of 30,000+ US courses with one tap, scorecard, tees, ratings and slope included. Not listed? Request it. GPS DISTANCES Front, middle and back of the green, live as you walk. Tap Find on map and 4sum pulls the greens from OpenStreetMap where they have been mapped, or stand on a green once and mark it yourself. Tap anywhere on the hole for the carry and what is left from there. LONGEST DRIVE, MEASURED Mark the tee, hit, mark the ball. Add the game whenever you feel like it and use it on whichever holes you want. PLAY TOGETHER, FREE Add a friend to your round and they get an invite to score it on their own phone. Everybody enters their own score on one shared card, and when the round ends it lands in the history of everyone who played. Leaving after nine? Leave early and 4sum settles your games through the holes you played while the rest of the group plays on. FRIENDS AND MESSAGES Add friends by @handle, friend code or straight from a round. Message them, or chat with your group during a round. You choose which notifications you get, and you can report or block anyone. ON YOUR LOCK SCREEN AND YOUR WRIST The live score sits on your lock screen and in the Dynamic Island while you play. On Apple Watch, check yardage, enter scores and see the games, phone in pocket. LIFETIME RECORDS Every finished round adds up: lifetime money, rounds won, and a head-to-head record against everyone you play with. 4SUM PRO Everything above is free. 4sum Pro adds the parts that need our servers or your camera: - Host outings: run your own event for up to 24 players, with one leaderboard for the whole field. - See the other cart: everyone in a joined round shows up live on the hole map. - Your stats: scoring, money, putting and every course, with the people you play with. - Every over/under line: eagles, birdies, pars, bogeys, doubles and worse, overall and for each course you play. Free shows the pars line. - Record your shots: film the round, mark each shot from your Apple Watch, and add labels and tracers. - Custom games: mix parts of the 21 into your group's own game. - Cloud backup: your rounds, players and courses safe in your account and on every phone you sign in to. Pro is $2.99 a month or $25 a year in the US, and renews automatically until you cancel in your App Store settings at least 24 hours before renewal. Pro needs a free 4sum account. Terms: https://twobeersstudios.com/terms/4sum/ Privacy: https://twobeersstudios.com/privacy/4sum/ NO ADS, WORKS WITH NO SIGNAL No ads, and no account needed to keep score (friends, messages and playing together need a free account). Your rounds live on your phone and work with no signal, which is what you want on the back nine anyway. 4sum is a scorekeeper for friendly wagers between people who already play together. It does not process payments, take a cut, or hold anybody's money.

Screenshots

GolfXI4 screens
4sum4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: GolfXI at none against 4sum's 2. GolfXI also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 9 days) and ratings volume (108 vs 5). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. 4sum sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. GolfXI asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for GolfXI against 5.0 for 4sum. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: GolfXI has 108 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

GolfXI ships an update every 2 days, 4sum every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
GolfXI versus 4sum: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGolfXI4sum
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (108 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings108 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS16.416.4
Further details — not scored
Size103 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMC Golf Holdings Inc.Two Beers Studios LLC

Customer experience

GolfXI

All ratings101 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

4sum

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

GolfXI

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

4sum

Subscriptions2
  • 4sum Pro (Monthly)$2.991 Month
  • 4sum Pro (Yearly)1 Year trial$25.001 Year

Questions

Is GolfXI free?
GolfXI is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is 4sum free?
4sum is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, GolfXI or 4sum?
4sum is rated higher. GolfXI averages 5.0 out of 5 from 108 ratings, while 4sum averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do GolfXI or 4sum have ads?
Neither GolfXI nor 4sum shows ads.
Which is updated more often, GolfXI or 4sum?
GolfXI ships an update every 2 days, and 4sum every 9 days. Most recently, GolfXI was updated on November 8, 2026 and 4sum on October 31, 2026.

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