MobileMeter vs Ventra
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MobileMeter
Easily pay for on-street parking directly from your iPhone or iPad. Access your parking history, charges, and profile information through a secure website, and print reports.
- Pay for on-street parking
- Use iPhone or iPad
- Access secure website
- View parking charges
- Access parking history
- Print reports
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MobileMeter provides an easy way to pay for on-street parking using your iPhone or iPad. You can also login to our secure website to access parking charges, history, profile information and print reports. Registration with us is free and you are never under an obligation to use our system once you join. If there are ways we can help make your life easier as you're taking the key from the ignition, please let us know!
Ventra
Manage your public transit fares and tickets for Chicago's CTA, Metra, and Pace services. Load value, buy Metra mobile tickets, and access real-time arrival information all in one place. Add your Ventra Card to your iPhone for seamless travel.
- Manage Ventra Card balance and passes
- Load value and passes to Ventra Card
- Buy Metra mobile tickets
- Real-time CTA, Metra, Pace arrivals
- Add Ventra Card to Apple Wallet
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Ride CTA, Metra & Pace with Ventra: Manage your fares, buy Metra mobile tickets, get arrivals and add your Ventra Card for riding CTA and Pace to iPhone and Apple Wallet. Use transit in and around all of Chicago: It's easy to manage and pay your fare on CTA, Metra and Pace buses and trains with the Ventra app. Find all the features you're used to on the Ventra website and more, including mobile ticketing for Metra trains! With the Ventra app, you can: • Check your balance and available passes in your Ventra Card's transit account. • Instantly load value or passes to your Ventra Card's transit account. • Switch autoload for transit value or passes on and off. • Buy and use Metra mobile tickets to ride any Metra train. • Use transit value you've loaded to buy a Metra ticket. • Get real-time account notifications so you know when it's time to load more fare or buy more tickets. • Get real-time arrival/departure information from CTA, Metra and Pace all in one app—by picking a stop, using favorites or looking at service near where you're standing.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: MobileMeter at 4.5 against Ventra's 1.8. MobileMeter also leads on review sentiment (33% vs 8%). Ventra's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 30 months) and chart position (#95 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
MobileMeter holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 1.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 702 and 3.4K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 33% of MobileMeter's written reviews are positive against 8% of Ventra's.
MobileMeter ships an update every 30 months, Ventra every 3 months. Both last shipped on October 15, 2026.
| Parameter | MobileMeter | Ventra |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (702 ratings) — better | 1.8 (3.4K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 33.3% of reviews — better | 7.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 702 | 3.4K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 30 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | — | #95 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 61 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | City of Champaign | Chicago Transit Authority |
Customer experience
MobileMeter
Ventra
User reviews
MobileMeter
From 702 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Convenient
- 💡 Useful app
- 🚀 Excellent parking app
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive convenience fee
- 🐛 Doesn't work with latest iOS
- 🐛 Crashes and issues opening app
- 💰 Inflexible and possibly malicious
- 🐛 Faulty app
Ventra
From 3.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 🚀 Convenient for transit
- 🚀 Helpful for visitors
- 🚀 Reliable payment processing
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🐛 Inaccurate arrival/departure times
- 🐛 Confusing user interface
- 🐛 Unreliable login and account management
- 🐛 Payment issues and declined transactions
Bugs and requests
MobileMeter
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes on launch
- Doesn't work on latest iOS
- Parking time not reflected on meter
Requested features
4 requests- Add Apple Watch app
- Allow early parking session end
- Improve UI and UX
- Add QR code scanning for parking spots
Ventra
Reported bugs
5 issues- Purchase button not working on iPhones
- Favorites list glitches and resets
- Inconsistent and unreliable ticket display
- Frequent app crashes and login issues
- Payment processing failures and lost funds
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to manage Ventra cards and balances
- Improve real-time transit tracking and notifications
- Allow saving of favorite routes and stations
- Integrate with Apple Wallet for easier access
- Provide more transparent and user-friendly payment options
In-app purchases
MobileMeter
No in-app purchases
Ventra
No in-app purchases
