RailRoster vs Open Railroad Guide
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RailRoster
Explore the world of diesel locomotives with this comprehensive catalog. Featuring detailed information, high-quality images, and historical context, it's an essential resource for rail enthusiasts.
- Detailed locomotive information
- High-quality images
- Horsepower stats
- Wheel arrangements
- Years built
- Railroad rosters
Read full descriptionHide full description
Discover the power, history, and variety of diesel locomotives with RailRoster. Built for railfans and train enthusiasts, RailRoster is your complete guide to the diesel era — from first-generation switchers to today’s high-horsepower giants. Browse beautifully designed cards with high-quality images, horsepower stats, wheel arrangements, and years built. See which railroads rostered each locomotive and explore the technological progress that defined modern railroading.
Open Railroad Guide
Explore detailed railroad maps, historical imagery, and live train data. Features include AR track viewing, frequency finding, and community collaboration for rail enthusiasts and historians.
- Live train map
- AR 3D Track View
- Frequency Finder
- Channel Log
- Transit Map
- Rail Community
- Train Watch
- FRA Records
Read full descriptionHide full description
OpenRailroadGuide puts detailed railroad maps and historical aerial imagery in your pocket so you can explore, save, and share the places that matter to railfans, historians, and planners. Enjoy a completely distraction free experience with no ads on any level! -**My Trip:** Manage your Amtrak and VIA Rail trips all in the app -**ORG Postchive:** Post videos and photos to the rail community -**Live train map:** View all Amtrak and VIA Rail trains on a Live Map -**AR 3D Track View:** See tracks in augmented reality to get quick identification. -**Frequency Finder:** Find the exact frequency of any rail line in NA to use on your scanner -**Channel Log:** Use side-by-side with your scanner to tag and organize your channels -**Transit Map:** View all transit lines in your local city, with color coded lines -**Rail Community:** Use the rail community to collaborate with other users to put user-made info on rail lines and train sightings that update in real time -**Train Watch:** Put specific points on the map to get alerts and see upcoming trains to that point - **FRA Records:** Get official records by the FRA on how much trains run through a railroad in the day, night, and weekly. - **Interactive Map:** Fast vector-tile map with smooth zooming and panning built for rail lines and right-of-ways. - **Grade Crossings:** View every railroad crossing in the US with full FRA Inventory records on them. -**Trainspotting Logs & AI Predictions:** Log every train you spot and use AI Overview to predict where & when the next train will be -**Railroad Lookup:** Lookup the selected Railroad directly on the internet within the app to get all the info you need - **Historical Imagery:** Slide through years of aerial imagery to compare past and present alignments. - **Saved Places & Folders:** Save coordinates with notes, organize them into folders, edit details, and quickly fly to any point. - **Local Edits & Annotations:** Draw and persist local edits and annotations right on the map; they render alongside map tiles. - **Seamless Device Sync:** Automatic background sync and backups via iCloud Key-Value Store keep your saved places and edits in sync across your devices. - **Restore & Backup:** One-tap restore and safe merge behavior prevent accidental data loss and detect when data are already up to date. - **Quick Access:** Add bookmarks from the map or the main menu and use a dedicated “View on Map” flow that reliably navigates and centers the map on saved places. - **Power Tools for Enthusiasts:** Street-view toggle, custom map styles and layers, and a compact UI designed for quick field reference. Privacy: Your saved places and edits are stored on-device and synced only via your iCloud account when enabled. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: RailRoster at none against Open Railroad Guide's 7. Open Railroad Guide's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs monthly) and ratings volume (49 vs 1). On price, rating, ads and monetization model 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. Open Railroad Guide sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. RailRoster asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for RailRoster against 4.9 for Open Railroad Guide. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Open Railroad Guide has 49 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
RailRoster ships an update monthly, Open Railroad Guide every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | RailRoster | Open Railroad Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.9 (49 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 49 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 242 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Josh Fenton | IKworks |
Customer experience
RailRoster
Open Railroad Guide
In-app purchases
RailRoster
No in-app purchases
Open Railroad Guide
- Insider Club$2.991 Month
- ORG+ Monthly$12.001 Month
- ORG+ Yearly$84.001 Year
- AI Tools for ORG$6.99
- Open Railroad Guide Premium$14.99
- Unlock All$20.00
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- ORG+ Lifetime$129.99





