VesselFlow vs Marinate
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
VesselFlow
Explore a live, global map of marine traffic in real time. Track various vessel types, view their details, and search for specific ships. Offers optional upgrades for in-depth vessel specifications and voyage information.
- Real-time global ship map
- Detailed vessel information
- Search by name, MMSI, or IMO
- Personal watchlist
- Live voyage and track history (Pro)
- Worldwide port coverage
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Watch the world's ships move in real time. VesselFlow is a live ship tracker that turns global AIS data into a beautiful map of marine traffic. Follow cargo ships, tankers, cruise liners, ferries, tugs, fishing boats, and sailing yachts anywhere on the map. Maritime pro, ship spotter, or just curious about the vessel on the horizon? VesselFlow makes it effortless to find a ship, see where it's headed, and explore global shipping in a single tap. HOW IT WORKS: Open VesselFlow and explore the live map of ships worldwide. Tap any vessel for its name, type, speed, and heading. Search by name, MMSI, or IMO to find a specific ship. Add vessels to your watchlist and follow them anytime. LIVE SHIP MAP: • Real-time vessel positions from live AIS data. • Worldwide coverage of ports, coastlines, and busy shipping lanes. • A fluid, density-aware map that reveals more ships as you zoom in. • Vessels color-coded by type, so you can read the traffic at a glance. TAP ANY VESSEL: • Name, ship type, and country flag. • Live speed, course, and heading. • Its recent track, drawn right on the map. SEARCH & FOLLOW: • Instant search by vessel name, MMSI, or IMO. • Find vessels near you. • Build a personal watchlist of the ships you care about. • Jump back to recently-viewed vessels. TRACK ANYTHING AT SEA: • Cargo ships, container ships, tankers, and bulk carriers. • Cruise ships, passenger ferries, yachts, and sailing boats. • Tugs, pilot boats, fishing vessels, and more. FREE TO USE: The live map, search, watchlist, and live vessel details are free, with optional in-app purchases to unlock more. Upgrade to VesselFlow Pro: Full vessel specifications: length, beam, draught, gross tonnage, deadweight, year built, home port, and call sign (where available). Live voyage: destination, estimated arrival (ETA), and route progress. In-depth track history: recent track with speed, distance, and timeline stats. VesselFlow Pro is available as an auto-renewable subscription: Weekly, Monthly, or Annual. Subscription details: Payment is charged to your Apple Account at purchase confirmation. Auto-renews unless 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, at the stated cost. Manage subscriptions and turn off auto-renewal in your Account Settings. DISCLAIMER: • VesselFlow is unaffiliated with any shipping company, vessel operator, or maritime authority. • Positions come from publicly-broadcast AIS data and may be delayed, incomplete, or unavailable. • For informational use only, not for navigation or any safety-of-life-at-sea decision. Privacy Policy: https://caseadri.com/vesselflow/privacypolicy.html Terms & Conditions: https://caseadri.com/vesselflow/termsandconditions.html Support: vesselflow-support@caseadri.com
Marinate
Navigate the seas with offline charts, depth shading, and an anchor alarm that ensures your safety. Access worldwide charts, vessel traffic, and essential marine references without an internet connection. This app provides crucial navigation tools for any boater.
- Offline worldwide charts
- Anchor alarm with safety radius
- Man overboard marker
- Plain language chart symbol explanations
- Global depth shading and seabed relief
- GPX import/export
- Offline marine reference library
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Marinate is the chartplotter that works when nothing else does, no signal, no marina wifi, thirty miles offshore. Download your cruising area before you slip the lines and the whole app keeps working: charts, routes, depth shading, reference tables. Nothing phones home mid-passage. No account, no sign-up. Open it and you are navigating. WORLDWIDE CHARTS, NOT CHART PACKS Every coast on earth is included. No region to buy, no chartbook to add, no upgrade when you cruise somewhere new: the Aegean this summer and the Caribbean next winter on the same subscription. • Seamarks, buoys, lights, depth contours and soundings as vectors, sharp at any zoom • A fraction of the storage image tiles need • Download by area or along a route corridor AN ANCHOR WATCH THAT ACTUALLY WAKES YOU Set your anchor and a safety radius, and Marinate watches your position in the background, with the screen off and the phone in your bunk. If the boat drifts outside the circle it raises a continuous siren, not a single polite notification. We spent the most time on this, because a dragging anchor at 3 a.m. is when an app either earns its place or does not. SAFETY, NOT UPSELL Man overboard is one tap: a marker, the frozen position, and range and bearing back to it. MOB and the anchor drag alarm are free forever. NEW TO CHART SYMBOLS? Tap any buoy, beacon or light and Marinate says what it is in plain language: which side to leave it, which side to pass, what Fl.G.4s means. DEPTH YOU CAN READ AT A GLANCE • Global depth shading and contours: the blue gradient showing the bottom rise long before a sounding does, worldwide and offline • Seabed relief shading for the shape of the ground beneath you • Optional NOAA overlay in US waters, high-resolution survey depth in European seas SATELLITE AND HYBRID Satellite imagery of the whole planet, plus 10-metre coastal imagery for reading an anchorage before you commit: the sandy patch, the weed, the reef edge. Hybrid mode lays roads and place names over it. ROUTES, TRACKS AND MARKERS • Distance, bearing and ETA at your speed • Record and replay tracks • Markers for anchorages, hazards, dive sites and fishing marks, with photos • GPX import and export to swap with any other chartplotter MARINAS AND WHAT IS ASHORE Search marinas and harbours by name or near you, details kept offline: berths, fuel, water, contact. Search around your anchorage too: fuel, chandlery, pharmacy, supermarket, bus stop, by walking distance. A REFERENCE THAT KNOWS THE SEA Collision regulations in plain language with diagrams, code flags A to Z, day shapes, night lights, sound signals, IALA buoyage, emergency card. All offline, in your language. WEATHER, TRAFFIC AND FISHING • Live rain radar, so you see a squall coming and reef before it arrives. Free, no account • Wind forecast, pressure isobars, tides and currents • Shipping lanes and restricted areas you can tap to see what is restricted and why • AIS traffic (with a free aisstream.io key) • SignalK connects the boat's instruments (depth, wind, speed) with a shallow-water alarm • Sea-surface temperature and plankton layers: fish hunt the fronts and plankton edges, so look where the colour changes FOUR LANGUAGES English, Hebrew, French and Spanish, including the reference tables and the collision rules, not just the buttons. FREE AND PREMIUM Free forever: charts, GPS, routes, tracks, markers, MOB, anchor alarm, rain radar and one offline area. Premium adds depth shading and contours, satellite and official chart overlays, wind and pressure, sea temperature and plankton, AIS, SignalK, unlimited offline downloads and the extended forecast. 14-day free trial, with special launch pricing, cancel any time. IMPORTANT Marinate is an aid to navigation, not a replacement for official charts, a proper lookout, or your own judgement. Carry the charts your flag state requires. Continued use of GPS in the background can decrease battery life. Terms of Use: https://getmarinate.com/terms.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: VesselFlow at 4.4 against Marinate's 4.0. VesselFlow also leads on ratings volume (19 vs 1). Marinate's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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. VesselFlow sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days and Marinate sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
VesselFlow holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: VesselFlow has 19 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
| Parameter | VesselFlow | Marinate |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (19 ratings) — better | 4.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 19 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Weekly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 40 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Stephen Fung | Ofer Kamrat |
Customer experience
VesselFlow
Marinate
In-app purchases
VesselFlow
- Weekly$3.997 Days
- Monthly$9.991 Month
- Yearly$39.991 Year
Marinate
- Premium Monthly14 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Premium Annual14 Days trial$14.991 Year









