Comparison

VesselFinder vs Ship Tracker

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

Head to head
About

VesselFinder

Track ships and monitor maritime traffic globally in real-time. Access detailed vessel information, movement history, and predicted routes. Ideal for maritime professionals and enthusiasts alike.

Highlights
  • Real-time vessel tracking
  • Vessel movement history
  • Predicted routes and ETAs
  • Comprehensive vessel particulars
  • Port call details
  • My Fleet for favorite vessels
  • Weather overlays
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

VesselFinder is the world’s most popular and trusted vessel tracking and marine traffic app, delivering real-time information on ship positions and movements worldwide. Using a powerful network of satellites, roaming and terrestrial AIS receivers, VesselFinder provides accurate and up-to-date insight into global maritime activity. Designed for maritime professionals, shipping enthusiasts, and anyone interested in live ship tracking, VesselFinder offers a fast, intuitive, and reliable way to explore vessel traffic across the globe. VesselFinder key features: • Real-time tracking of over 300,000 vessels daily using global AIS data • Vessel movement history with track visualization • Predicted routes and ETAs to next port • Comprehensive vessel particulars, including technical specifications, and cargo capacity information • Contact details for the owning company, manager, ISM manager, and more • Port Calls per vessel, showing arrival times and duration of stay • Port Calls per port, with detailed lists of expected vessels, arrivals, departures, and ships currently in port • My Fleet – save and monitor favorite vessels, synchronized with your VesselFinder account • My Views – save preferred map views for fast and easy navigation • Ship Photos contributed by the VesselFinder user community • Multiple map styles: Simple, Detailed, Dark, Satellite, and Nautical • Weather overlays, including wind, waves, and temperature • See your location feature for instant orientation • Distance measurement tool for route and range estimation Vessel visibility depends on AIS signal availability, with near-shore coverage consistent with the data provided on VesselFinder.com. If a vessel is outside our terrestrial AIS coverage area, its last reported position will be displayed and updated as soon as new data is received. Extended real-time coverage via satellite and roaming AIS sources is available through a subscription. While we make every effort to ensure accuracy, the completeness of the information cannot be guaranteed. Connect with VesselFinder • Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/vesselfinder • Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/vesselfinder

About

Ship Tracker

Easily locate and track ships worldwide with live marine traffic data. View detailed vessel information, explore port maps, and access 7-day weather forecasts for passage planning. Includes a compass to help spot nearby vessels.

Highlights
  • Live ship tracking
  • Detailed vessel information
  • Port maps
  • 7-day weather forecasts
  • Integrated compass
  • AIS data visualization
Features
Read full description

Ship tracker app: It has never been so easy to track ships! You have just spotted a ship off the coast and now you want to see which ship it is exactly and where it is going – do this easily with this marine traffic app. This ship radar app allows locating and tracking vessels – whether domestic or international, small or big – all this is live and free. Using this ship tracker is very simple. Use the marine traffic map and select the ship you want to track. You will then be shown various details about this vessel and its current route. Available vessel details: -vessel name, IMO and photos -vessel type and flag -next port and ETA -course and speed -length and width This vessel finder app also contains a port map. With this map you can find out the most important information about large and small harbors from all over the world with just one click. In addition, you can call up 7-day wind, wave and weather forecasts, which will help you with your passage planning and weather management. Check the weather before and during trips, ocean races, regattas, cruises and all other types of offshore passages. A compass is also integrated into this tracking app. This easy-to-use compass helps you to determine your own current position and thus helps you spotting ships with the ship radar map around your current location. Are you wondering how it is possible that all this information appears live on your smartphone or tablet? Most modern ships have an AIS (Automatic Identification System) transceiver installed. This transceiver then sends the marine traffic information to a network of ship traffic stations around the world, so that you can see the exact current ship position and details about the ship. Download the free ship tracker app now!

Screenshots

VesselFinder4 screens
Ship Tracker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: VesselFinder at 4.1 against Ship Tracker's 3.5. VesselFinder also leads on review sentiment (28% vs 8%) and ratings volume (232 vs 11). Ship Tracker's advantage is monetization model (ad-supported vs free with in-app purchases) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

VesselFinder holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: VesselFinder has 232 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of VesselFinder's written reviews are positive against 8% of Ship Tracker's.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
VesselFinder versus Ship Tracker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVesselFinderShip Tracker
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (232 ratings) — better3.5 (11 ratings)
Positive reviews27.9% of reviews — better8.3% of reviews
Number of ratings232 — better11
Update frequencyFortnightly—
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
Best chart rank#191 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB55 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAstraPaging Ltd.Sebastian Weiss

Customer experience

VesselFinder

All ratings232 ratings
Positive78.4%
Neutral2.2%
Negative19.4%
Written reviews219 reviews
Positive27.9%
Neutral6.4%
Negative65.8%

Ship Tracker

All ratings11 ratings
Positive54.5%
Neutral18.2%
Negative27.3%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive8.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative75.0%

Bugs and requests

VesselFinder

Reported bugs

15 issues
  • App freezes on splash screen and won't load
  • Crashes when attempting to zoom on map
  • Black screen display on certain devices
  • App won't open or opens after long delays
  • Crashes on iOS 11 and newer versions
Show 10 more
  • Incompatible with iPhone X and newer models
  • Data not updating for days or weeks
  • Crashes when searching for vessels
  • Freezing issues after recent updates
  • Map not displaying on iPad
  • App crashes in low power mode
  • Vessel information not loading correctly
  • Inconsistent performance across iOS versions
  • App becomes unstable after working briefly
  • Zoom functionality broken in multiple versions

Requested features

13 requests
  • Real-time GPS tracking instead of delayed AIS data
  • Distance measurement tool restoration
  • German language support
  • Destination and departure information display
  • Ability to remove ads without expensive pro version
Show 8 more
  • Better search functionality in free version
  • Vessel departure time information
  • Improved map zoom functionality
  • Live results in search function
  • Picture display before clicking on vessel
  • Better map background/quality
  • Local time display instead of UTC only
  • Ability to delete incorrect vessel photos from profile

Ship Tracker

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

VesselFinder

No in-app purchases

None

Ship Tracker

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is VesselFinder free?
VesselFinder is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ship Tracker free?
Ship Tracker is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, VesselFinder or Ship Tracker?
VesselFinder is rated higher. VesselFinder averages 4.1 out of 5 from 232 ratings, while Ship Tracker averages 3.5 from 11 ratings.
Do VesselFinder or Ship Tracker have ads?
Both VesselFinder and Ship Tracker show ads.

Other comparisons