Comparison

Planit Pro vs Benro Connect

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

Head to head
About

Planit Pro

This app helps photographers pre-visualize scenes by combining map data with simulated viewfinders. It offers tools for location scouting, celestial object tracking, and time-lapse planning, making it ideal for landscape and night photography.

Highlights
  • Map-based scene pre-visualization
  • Simulated viewfinders (VR, AR, Picture, Street View)
  • Celestial object tracking (Sun, Moon, Stars, Milky Way)
  • Time-lapse and star-trail planning
  • Location scouting tools (GPS, elevation, distance)
  • Exposure and filter calculators
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

Please email info@planitphoto.com for bug reports or feature requests. Please also remember to visit https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTmlTTxPbBbcn1Fd1NRWTOczTY1RYEug4 for more video tutorials. Each video only lasts a few minutes but you will surely learn a lot from them. You can also reach us through Instagram. Links are under the menu inside the app. This is a special call to landscape photographers, travel photographers, nature photographers, and those who are interested in night photography, city photography, time-lapse, star-trails, milky way or astrophotography: look no more, this is the ultimate app for you - the Planit Pro. It only costs you a cup of Frappuccino but will save you tons of time and effort and a lot of gas money. Most importantly, it will make you enjoy landscape photography even more. Ansel Adams dedicates the beginning of his first book "Taos Pueblo" to visualization. He introduced the idea of "previsualization", which involved the photographer imagining what he wanted his final print to look like before he even took the photo. Of course, there are many great photos that were taken impromptu. However, for landscape photographers, being able to previsualize the scene before going there will greatly reduce the chance of being caught unprepared and will greatly increase the chance of getting better photos. Photographers use various tools to help them pre-visualizing the scene. Nowadays, many of those tools are phone apps. Planit Pro is an all-in-one solution that is designed to leverage the map and simulated viewfinder technologies to provide the necessary tools for photographers to pre-visualize the scene in combination with the ground subjects and the celestial objects such as the Sun, the Moon, Stars, Star-trails and Milky Way. In the Planit Pro app, we packed it with features - from location scouting such as GPS coordinates, elevations, distance, elevation gain, clear view, focal length, depth of field (DoF), hyperfocal distance, panorama, and aerial photography, to the Ephemeris features such as the sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset time and direction, twilight time, special hours of the day, sun/moon finder, major stars, constellations, nebulae azimuth and elevation angle, star trail planning, time-lapse calculation and simulation, sequence calculation and simulation, milky way searching, solar eclipse and lunar eclipse, exposure/ND filter calculator, light meter, rainbow position prediction, tide height, and tide search, etc. All the information is either represented on the map as an overlay or visually presented in simulated viewfinders (VR, AR, picture, or street view), just like you look through your camera's viewfinder. Whatever you want for your landscape photography, it is there in the Planit Pro. Landscape photography is an adventure in the natural world. We understand that sometimes there won't be any network connection when you are out exploring. Planit Pro was designed for having it in mind. If you preload the offline elevation files and the offline mbtiles maps, you can use the app fully offline without the need for network connections. License agreement at https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy at https://planitphoto.com/privacy.html

About

Benro Connect

Control your smart tripod head and modules for advanced photography. Remotely adjust angles, preview shots, and utilize programmable modes like time-lapse and panoramas. Achieve professional astrophotography and smooth day-to-night time-lapses with real-time light detection.

Highlights
  • Remote tripod head control
  • Real-time shot preview
  • Programmable shooting modes
  • Astrophotography tracking
  • Holy Grail time-lapse
  • Live streaming capability
Features
Read full description

Benro Connect is designed to control the Polaris Smart Electric Tripod Head and Theta Smart Modules, delivering an uparalleled experience in long-distance photography. [Polaris Smart Electric Tripod Head] With the app connected to Polaris, you can remotely control the shooting angle and preview your shots in real-time on your mobile device via Wi-Fi or cellular networks, offering great flexibility. The app supports various programmable shooting modes such as time-lapse, panoramic shooting, and sunrise/sunset time-lapse. Additionally, when paired with the optional Astro kit, Polaris can be transformed into a professional equatorial mount, allowing you to easily capture stars using the GoTo feature and automatically track stars for long-exposure shots without star trails. [Fine-Tuning and Remote Control] By wirelessly connecting the app with Battery Module and Camera Control Module, you can not only fine-tune the leveling but also achieve precise remote camera control, including live view, parameter adjustments, and media file management, making the shooting process more efficient and flexible. [Holy Grail Time-Lapse Shooting] By wirelessly connecting the app with Battery Module, Camera Control and Optical Sensor Module, enabling real-time ambient light detection. The Camera Control Module can then combine sensor input with advanced algorithms to dynamically adjust exposure settings, ensuring smooth transitions from day to night (and vice versa) for Holy Grail time-lapse photography. [Live Streaming] By wirelessly connecting the app to Battery Module and GoLive Module, you can easily enable real-time live streaming.

Screenshots

Planit Pro4 screens
Benro Connect4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Benro Connect at Free against Planit Pro's $9.99. Benro Connect also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 4) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.6). Planit Pro's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 2.3) and review sentiment (72% vs 41%). On update cadence, 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

Benro Connect is free to download; Planit Pro costs $9.99 up front. Planit Pro sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Benro Connect asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Planit Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Planit Pro has 1.5K ratings behind it against 33, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Planit Pro's written reviews are positive against 41% of Benro Connect's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Planit Pro versus Benro Connect: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPlanit ProBenro Connect
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (1.5K ratings) — better2.3 (33 ratings)
Positive reviews72.1% of reviews — better40.7% of reviews
Number of ratings1.5K — better33
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#59 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS16.612.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size159 MB327 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJIDE Software, Inc.Benro Image Technology Industrial Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

Planit Pro

All ratings1,463 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral1.9%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews201 reviews
Positive72.1%
Neutral4.5%
Negative23.4%

Benro Connect

All ratings28 ratings
Positive28.6%
Neutral10.7%
Negative60.7%
Written reviews27 reviews
Positive40.7%
Neutral14.8%
Negative44.4%

Bugs and requests

Planit Pro

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crash on iPhone 13 after the update
  • Sync issues with update
  • Crash, can't open after upsate
  • Tides are way off.

Requested features

5 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard
  • Desktop version
  • User manual
  • Record walking track (GPS positions)

Benro Connect

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Planit Pro

Subscriptions4
  • 3D Model (A Month)$0.991 Month
  • Location Explorer (Month)$4.991 Month
  • 3D Model (A Year)$5.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Location Explorer (A Year)$29.991 Year
None

Benro Connect

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Planit Pro free?
Planit Pro costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Benro Connect free?
Benro Connect is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Planit Pro or Benro Connect?
Planit Pro is rated higher. Planit Pro averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while Benro Connect averages 2.3 from 33 ratings.
Do Planit Pro or Benro Connect have ads?
Neither Planit Pro nor Benro Connect shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Planit Pro or Benro Connect?
Planit Pro ships an update every 2 weeks, and Benro Connect every 2 weeks. Most recently, Planit Pro was updated on November 1, 2026 and Benro Connect on October 23, 2026.

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