Southern Railway vs Train Hugger
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Southern Railway
Plan your UK train journeys with real-time updates and book tickets without extra fees. Manage your travel, set up delay compensation, and request assistance easily.
- Zero booking fees
- Flexible travel with keyGo
- Live service updates
- Auto Delay Repay claims
- On-the-go passenger assistance
- Digital railcards
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Looking for a hassle-free travel experience with no hidden fees? We’ve got an app for that! Download the official Southern Railway app to check train times and book tickets for any train line in Great Britain. With the Southern Railway app you can: ENJOY ZERO BOOKING FEES: Buy any GB tickets directly through our app and pay no additional booking fees. FLEXIBLE TRAVEL OPTIONS: Sign up for keyGo and travel seamlessly with Smartcards. Tap & go without pre-buying tickets. Track your journeys and manage your account easily. LIVE SERVICE UPDATES: Receive real-time updates on your regular services. Stay informed with personalised alerts from network experts. MAKE A CLAIM: Set-up your Auto Delay Repay feature and easily claim compensation for delayed journeys. ON-THE-GO ASSISTANCE: Request Passenger Assistance anytime you need it. Travel with confidence knowing support is just a tap away. DIGITAL RAILCARDS: Save at least 1/3 on train fares with digital railcards. Easily renew online and never worry about losing your physical card.
Train Hugger
Book UK train tickets with this app and help reforest the British countryside. For every ticket booked, a tree is planted in partnership with the Royal Forestry Society. Find the best fares, manage your tickets, and track your tree planting impact.
- Book UK train tickets
- Plant trees in the UK
- Find best fares
- Save e-tickets
- Manage bookings
- Track tree planting
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Welcome to Train Hugger, the UK’s leading green train ticketing app. Whenever you book with Train Hugger, we plant a tree in the UK in partnership with the Royal Forestry Society. We’re planting trees you recognise in places that you’ve been to, in our bid to restore the British countryside. The price is the same, the seat is the same, the journey is the same. You can easily find the best fares, use Apple Pay or PayPal, save e-tickets to your phone, make amends or ask for refunds, all within the app. You can even keep track of how many trees you planted. Our customer service is on hand 7 days a week if you do need to talk to someone.
Screenshots
Verdict
Southern Railway and Train Hugger both sit at 4.9 stars, but that hides the real split: 90% of Train Hugger's written reviews are positive against 44% of Southern Railway's. Train Hugger also leads on device support (3 vs 1). Southern Railway's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, rating, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Southern Railway against 5.0 for Train Hugger. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Southern Railway has 53 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 44% of Southern Railway's written reviews are positive against 90% of Train Hugger's.
Southern Railway ships an update every 2 weeks, Train Hugger every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Southern Railway | Train Hugger |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (53 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 43.9% of reviews | 90.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 53 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 168 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | The Go-Ahead Group plc | Migaloo Ltd |
Customer experience
Southern Railway
Train Hugger
In-app purchases
Southern Railway
No in-app purchases
Train Hugger
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Southern Railway free?
Is Train Hugger free?
Which has better reviews, Southern Railway or Train Hugger?
Do Southern Railway or Train Hugger have ads?
Which is updated more often, Southern Railway or Train Hugger?
Other comparisons
