Zwift Companion vs Packstack
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Zwift Companion
This app enhances your indoor cycling experience by acting as a remote control for the Zwift game. Plan rides, connect with friends, track progress, and manage workouts and equipment.
- Plan rides and events
- Connect with friends and clubs
- Track fitness progress and goals
- Control workouts and trainer resistance
- Update equipment firmware
- In-ride chat and notifications
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Already downloaded Zwift? You're in the right place. Zwift Companion makes Zwifting even better. Think of it as your remote control for Zwift—helping you plan rides, connect with friends, track your progress, and get more out of every ride. BEFORE YOUR RIDE Zwift Companion is the perfect place to plan your next activity. Discover thousands of events, find group rides and races, and connect with like-minded Zwifters who want to get fit together. You can also find and join clubs. Take your indoor cycling experience further with Zwift Plus. Zwift Coach builds a training plan around your fitness, goals, and schedule. Get recommendations for workouts, routes, and events, with a plan that adapts when life gets in the way. Check out Companion's home screen to see who's Zwifting, including your friends and people you follow. Have Zwift equipment? You can also update its firmware directly from Companion. DURING YOUR RIDE Stay connected and in control while you ride. Send Ride Ons, chat with fellow Zwifters, make U-turns, choose between routes, and more—all from your phone. During structured workouts, adjust your trainer's resistance to increase or decrease intensity. You can also toggle ERG mode, take screenshots, and see nearby riders and their stats. AFTER YOUR RIDE Dive into your ride data and see who you rode with. Track your fitness progress, follow your goals, and check on your achievements in Tours and challenges. Every ride adds up, and Zwift Companion helps you see how far you've come. Please see the Terms of Use at zwift.com/terms/.
Packstack
This app helps backpackers and hikers meticulously track gear, organize packing lists, and calculate essential trip details like base weight and calorie needs. It offers a comprehensive gear inventory, reusable kits, and detailed trip planning features. Syncs across devices and allows sharing of setups.
- Gear inventory management
- Trip-specific packing lists
- Reusable gear kits
- Base weight and calorie calculation
- Hiker profile creation
- Trip planning tools
- Gear catalog search
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PACKSTACK: GEAR LISTS & PACK WEIGHT TRACKING FOR BACKPACKERS Packstack is the gear list and pack weight app built for backpackers, hikers, and ultralight gram-counters. Build your gear closet once, spin up a packing list for any trip in minutes, and know your base weight before you hit the trail. Looking for a LighterPack alternative with a real mobile app? This is it. GEAR CLOSET All your gear in one searchable place. Log brand, product, weight, price, and category for every item — or skip the typing and pull verified specs from the gear catalog. Wishlist the gear you want but don't own yet. GEAR RESEARCH Browse thousands of outdoor products by category, sorted lightest to heaviest. Compare any product against the category median, dig into full specs, and add it to your gear closet in one tap. PACKING LISTS Build a list for each trip by pulling from your gear closet. Everything stays organized by category — shelter, sleep system, cookware, clothing — with total, base, and worn weight at a glance. Build multiple packs per trip to compare loadouts. CHECKLIST MODE When it's time to pack, flip any list into a checklist and tick items off as they go into the pack. Nothing gets left behind. WEIGHT TRACKING Automatic totals for pack weight, base weight (everything minus consumables), and worn weight. Switch between imperial (oz/lb) and metric (g/kg) anytime — every number updates instantly. SMART TRIP DETAILS Type a trail name and Packstack researches the rest: distance, elevation gain, terrain, and expected temperatures for your dates. It only fills in what you haven't set yourself — your local knowledge always wins. CALORIE CALCULATOR (PACKSTACK PRO) Estimate daily calories from your trip's distance, elevation, terrain, pace, and temperature — combined with your hiker profile. Take the guesswork out of food planning and know exactly how much to carry. HIKER PROFILES Set up profiles with height, weight, age, sex, and body type. Assign a profile to any pack for personalized calorie estimates — perfect for couples, families, or group trips. REUSABLE KITS Group the gear you always pack together — cook kit, first aid, camera setup — and drop the whole bundle into any list in one tap. Your first kit is free; Packstack Pro unlocks unlimited kits. SHARE YOUR SETUP Every packing list gets a public link anyone can view on the web, no account required — perfect for shakedown feedback. Or export a trip summary card with your weight breakdown, sized for Instagram Stories. IMPORT & EXPORT Switching tools? Import from LighterPack or any CSV in seconds. Export your gear back out anytime. Your data is never locked in. CROSS-PLATFORM SYNC Plan on your laptop, pack from your phone. Your gear closet, packing lists, and trips stay in sync across web and iOS. FREE TO START An unlimited gear closet, three packing lists, your first kit, imports, and sharing — free, with no credit card and no ads, ever. Packstack Pro unlocks unlimited packing lists, unlimited kits, and the calorie calculator. Sign up with email, Google, or Apple and start in minutes. Whether you're an ultralight gram-counter or a weekend camper, Packstack is the modern LighterPack alternative. Questions or feedback? Reach me at jerad@packstack.io — I'd love to hear from you. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.packstack.io/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Packstack at 100% against Zwift Companion's 47%. Packstack also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Zwift Companion's advantage is ratings volume (27K vs 7) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). On price, update cadence, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Packstack holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Zwift Companion has 27K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 47% of Zwift Companion's written reviews are positive against 100% of Packstack's.
Zwift Companion ships an update every 3 weeks, Packstack fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Zwift Companion | Packstack |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (27K ratings) | 5.0 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 47.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 27K — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 313 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Zwift, Inc | Jerad Maplethorpe |
Customer experience
Zwift Companion
Packstack
Bugs and requests
Zwift Companion
Reported bugs
5 issues- Text disappearing from iPhone screen
- Companion app not connecting to Zwift app
- Watch app never works or is buggy
- Companion app disconnecting mid-ride
- Profile changes not saving
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to view and change rider avatar/gear
- Integrate with Apple Health for workout sync
- Add profile customization options
- Improve Apple Watch integration and stability
- Add landscape mode support for mobile devices
Packstack
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Zwift Companion
No in-app purchases
Packstack
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Zwift Companion free?
Is Packstack free?
Which has better reviews, Zwift Companion or Packstack?
Do Zwift Companion or Packstack have ads?
Which is updated more often, Zwift Companion or Packstack?
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