Comparison

KBMS vs BMS Pal

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

Head to head
About

KBMS

Monitor your KiloVault HLX+ Lithium batteries with this open-source application. View real-time charging and discharging status, battery health, temperatures, and cell voltages. Receive immediate alerts and protection state notifications.

Highlights
  • Real-time charging/discharging status
  • Battery health monitoring
  • Internal temperature display
  • Cell voltage readings
  • Alerts and protection states
  • Intuitive dashboard
Features
Read full description

Keep a close eye on your power system with the KiloVault Battery Monitoring System (KBMS). Designed specifically for KiloVault HLX+ Lithium (LiFePO4) batteries, KBMS provides a clean, reliable, and open-source interface to replace the discontinued vendor application. Whether you are sailing offshore, living off-grid, or traveling in your RV, KBMS connects your batteries to your phone or tablet to provide the critical data you need to manage your energy storage. Key Features: Real-Time Monitoring: View live charging and discharging status. Health & Safety: Check battery health, internal temperatures, and cell voltages. Alerts & Status: Get immediate visibility into battery alerts and protection states. Modern Interface: A fast, lightweight, and intuitive dashboard designed for modern iOS devices. KBMS is a community-driven, open-source project dedicated to keeping KiloVault owners powered up.

About

BMS Pal

Features
Read full description

All your batteries. One app. A JBD pack in the garage, a Victron in the van, a power station on the table - and a different vendor app for each one. BMS Pal ends the app-hopping: every pack you own in one live list, with state of charge, voltage, current, watts, and time remaining. Device detail pages have tools for a deep dive into your devices. Up to eight connected at once. EIGHT FAMILIES AT LAUNCH BMS boards get the deep treatment - per-cell voltages with live balancing indicators, protection alerts, chemistry detection, configuration reads, and confirmation-gated FET control: - JBD (including XiaoXiang and legacy variants) - JK - Daly Battery monitors and power stations get their essentials, with the same charts and history: - Victron (including encrypted advertising) - Junctek KL-F shunt monitors - Bluetti, Jackery, and EcoFlow power stations Coverage varies by family - the full who-reports-what table is at bmspal.app. WHAT IT DOES - Live telemetry: voltage, current, power, temperature, and state of charge stream in as your BMS reports them. Charts hold the last week, so you can see what happened while you slept. - Per-cell detail: every cell gets its own bar, down to the millivolt. Cells the BMS is balancing light up, so you can watch the spread tighten in real time. - Alerts, plainly stated: protection events appear in plain language. No sirens, no red flashing. Just the facts. - Groups: packs that work as one bank read as one battery. Group them series, parallel, or series-parallel and get combined voltage, current, and state of charge. - Capacity tests: run a real discharge test on any pack that reports current. BMS Pal integrates it over time against your cutoff and files the result in the pack's history, so "how many amp-hours, really?" gets a measured answer. - Chemistry detection: BMS Pal reads your protection thresholds and works out whether the pack is LiFePO4 or Li-ion. You can override it - you know your pack best. - Sanity Checks: not sure those numbers are fine? Send a snapshot of your pack for an AI review across six dimensions and get a written verdict back - findings graded by severity, with the reasoning and trade-offs spelled out. You see exactly what is sent before anything leaves your phone, and nothing is sent until you tap. BMS boards only, where the setup can actually be changed. - Write mode, off by default: toggling charge or discharge FETs is serious business on a high-energy pack. Writes sit behind a master switch plus a per-command confirmation, and every attempt is logged. LOCAL-FIRST. ACTUALLY LOCAL. No account, ever. No analytics, no trackers, no background traffic. Your telemetry history lives on your device; delete the app and it is gone. The only network calls are the ones you explicitly ask for (a Sanity Check or a problem report), and you see the exact payload first. THE DEAL Free download, and everything works for 7 days - every protocol, every feature, no card up front. Then $5 unlocks it for good: one purchase, no subscription, no "premium tier" holding features hostage. Sanity Checks run in the cloud and cost real server money, so the app includes 25 and $2 adds 25 more. Everything else runs entirely on your device. ONE DEVELOPER, ONE BENCH Every supported family sits on my bench: 92 wire-protocol variants documented, 1,100+ automated tests in the suite. Got a pack that will not identify, a value that reads wrong, or a feature idea? Report a Problem, Confirm Device Support, and Send Feedback are built in, replies land in your Support inbox, and none of it is ever paywalled. Your reports steer the roadmap. Runs on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Silicon Macs. JBD, XiaoXiang, JK, Daly, Victron, Junctek, Bluetti, Jackery, and EcoFlow are trademarks of their respective owners. BMS Pal is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by any battery vendor. BMS Pal shows you what your BMS reports; it is not a substitute for proper fusing, wiring, and common sense.

Screenshots

KBMS4 screens
BMS Pal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: KBMS at none against BMS Pal's 2. KBMS also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.2). 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. BMS Pal sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. KBMS asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
KBMS versus BMS Pal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKBMSBMS Pal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequency—Every 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB25 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDavid CoonInquiring Minds, Inc

In-app purchases

None

KBMS

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

BMS Pal

One-time2
  • 25 Additional Sanity Checks$2.00
  • BMS Pal Unlock (Lifetime)$5.00

Questions

Is KBMS free?
KBMS is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is BMS Pal free?
BMS Pal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do KBMS or BMS Pal have ads?
Neither KBMS nor BMS Pal shows ads.

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