Comparison

arktur vs Acarta

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

Head to head
About

arktur

Features
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Uncover the stories behind what you see. EXPLORE YOUR SURROUNDINGS A fast map highlights interesting buildings around you, with seamless browsing. UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU SEE Discover the history, design, and context of buildings, and learn more about their architects and styles. DISCOVER RELATED BUILDINGS Use See also to jump to similar buildings and keep exploring. PLAN YOUR OWN TOURS Save your favorites, curate custom architecture tours, and share them easily with friends. FIND EXACTLY WHAT FASCINATES YOU Modern classics? Brutalism? Typologies like housing, museums, or industrial sites? Filter by style, era, or typology to find what you’re looking for. Discover architecture right where you are. Or where you're heading.

About

Acarta

Features
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Your architectural field guide. Who designed the building you are standing in front of? When, and why does it look the way it does? Acarta is a field guide to architecture, public art, and landscape architecture: 16,000+ places, with photographs and the story behind the facade. Know what to look at next Open the app and there is already something to go see. Buildings near you, themes to follow, walking tours ready to start. Each suggestion says why it is there: because you like functionalism, because it is ten minutes away. Read the building in front of you Tap a pin: architect, year, style, story. One place leads to the next. A water tower in Oxelösund gets as much room as an opera house in Paris. Walks and road trips Follow curated architecture walks stop by stop. Put your own places on a map and Acarta draws the route. Driving somewhere? See what is worth a stop along the way. Log the places you visit Check in where you stand, or backdate last summer's trip. Photographs, notes, badges for the styles and cities you cover. Over the years it becomes a map of everything you have seen. 7,500+ architects and artists Their works, and the places where you can stand in front of them. Follow an architect the way you would follow a director. Bring your friends Their check-ins and photographs land in your feed. Follow a friend before a trip, come home with their map of what they loved. A living field guide Users add places, refine dates, upload photographs. Every contribution is credited. The guide gets better every week because of people who look closely. Free to read. Every description, photograph and biography, for everyone. Free to check in and to follow friends, too. With Acarta Pro you also get whole cities offline and unlimited maps of your own, and you help us improve the guide. Terms: https://acarta.app/terms Privacy: https://acarta.app/privacy

Screenshots

arktur4 screens
Acarta4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: arktur at none against Acarta's 2. arktur also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.4). Acarta's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 6 days). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Acarta sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days. arktur asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

arktur ships an update every 6 days, Acarta every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 3 level
arktur versus Acarta: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterarkturAcarta
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 6 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size70 MB112 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFritz SchulzVäder AB

In-app purchases

None

arktur

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Acarta

Subscriptions2
  • Acarta Pro$7.997 Days
  • Acarta Pro7 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is arktur free?
arktur is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Acarta free?
Acarta is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do arktur or Acarta have ads?
Neither arktur nor Acarta shows ads.
Which is updated more often, arktur or Acarta?
arktur ships an update every 6 days, and Acarta every 2 days. Most recently, arktur was updated on November 9, 2026 and Acarta on October 31, 2026.

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