Comparison

Dockwa vs Boat Manager

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

Head to head
About

Dockwa

Easily book slips and moorings at marinas nationwide. Discover new locations, view amenities, and manage reservations directly from your device. Boaters use it for free, enjoying a streamlined booking process.

Highlights
  • Reserve slips and moorings
  • Discover new marinas
  • View marina amenities and photos
  • Manage reservations
  • Add boat and payment information
  • Compare rates and services
  • Read marina reviews
Features
Read full description

Spend more time boating, less time booking. Dockwa is the best way to reserve slips or moorings at marinas, yacht clubs, and boatyards all over the country. For Life On The Water! (TM) Discover new marinas, view marina amenities and photos, and request and manage marina reservations right from your iPhone or iPad. There are no additional costs to boaters who use Dockwa – all marina prices and policies on the Dockwa platform reflect those set by the marina for all reservations. Say goodbye to webforms, phone tag, and uncertainty about your itinerary. Download Dockwa today and experience the future of boating! More about why Dockwa is awesome: For Boaters: • Reserve slips and moorings at hundreds of marinas and yacht clubs throughout the East Coast, the Bahamas, Caribbean, Great Lakes and West Coast, with new locations coming aboard daily. • Dockwa is FREE for boaters: Free app, free account, no booking fees, and no price mark-up. • Add your boat (or multiple boats) and credit card to your Dockwa account so you never need cash on hand. With Dockwa your information is encrypted, and you can say goodbye to reciting your boat specs or payment information over the phone of VHF! • Submit your reservation request through Dockwa for faster confirmation directly from the marina staff, with no middleman. Talk about smooth sailing. • Compare rates, amenities, and services, and get quotes in-app, and reserve last-minute or months in advance. • See marina reviews and recommendations from your fellow boaters For Marinas, Yacht Clubs and Boatyards: • Join the future of boating: Dockwa provides back-end marina management software at no cost. Schedule your demo today at dockwa.com/signup • Enable new and existing customers to quickly reserve your transient slips and moorings without manual entry or phone • Hands-down the best technology in the industry, with new features Questions? Comments? Glowing praise? Hit us up: thecrew@dockwa.com Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/Dockwa Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/getdockwa Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/dockwa Explore Dockwa: https://dockwa.com

About

Boat Manager

Features
Read full description

Know what your boat really costs, and keep every detail of every boat you run — logbook, maintenance, safety, documents and crew — in one place, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Built by a USCG-credentialed Master Mariner and ex-Royal Navy officer, over several thousand miles underway. EXPENSES & WHAT THE BOAT COSTS • Every cost an expense of its own: fuel, berths, labour, parts, insurance, subscriptions • What the boat costs over the last 12 months and what's coming: fixed, semi-fixed and discretionary, with capital kept apart • Every figure opens the expenses behind it; tap a year for its spending by category • Recurring bills set up once, then recorded or skipped when due • Refunds and insurance payouts netted against the cost they repay • What you've spent at each marina and with each vendor • Export to PDF or CSV for your taxes or your bookkeeper COMPREHENSIVE LOGBOOK • Captain's daily log, fuel log, pump-out log and optional generator log • Apple Weather conditions and NOAA tides recorded with each entry • GPS position and waypoints on an embedded map • Sea service summaries for USCG CG-719S SAFETY • The USCG Vessel Safety Check and a federal Required Equipment list, ready to run • Each run files a report, a task for every failure, and a PDF on the boat's papers • Tag gear with the requirement it satisfies and see when it was last checked MAINTENANCE & PLANNING • Planned jobs by date or engine hours: log, reschedule or skip, with a reminder that follows • An Outlook of what falls due month by month, budgets included • Projects: gather a refit or yard visit into one job with dates, budget and progress • A library of planned-maintenance tasks and intervals, and checklists you build • Maintenance Dashboard for the equipment you care about EQUIPMENT, TOOLS & SPARES • Every piece of equipment on every boat, with its full service history • Manufacturer, part number, serial number and cost • Link spares to the equipment they fit • Warranty and calibration dates, with reminders • Paint, glue and epoxy tracked from when they're opened DOCUMENTS & EXPIRY DATES • Registration, insurance, certificates, manuals, receipts, photos and videos • Attach files to boats, logs, equipment, spares, tools, crew, waypoints or notes • Expiry dates for documents, equipment and spares, with a reminder ahead and one-tap renewal FLOAT PLANS • USCG-inspired float plans, sent by Messages or Mail in one tap • One-tap arrival message with your position, which drafts the log entry • Emergency message with your position CREW & VENDORS • Crew lists created from, or kept in step with, Apple Contacts • See every log entry each crew member was aboard for • Yards, mechanics and marinas listed by business, with what you've paid them NAVIGATION & THE HELM • Import waypoints by GPX or CSV; see where you've been on a calendar and a map • The Helm: position, tides, weather, engine hours, fuel and what is due • To-do list, shopping list and notes ANALYSIS & REPORTS • Days underway, speeds, distances, fuel and tankage, charted • Data Health reads your logs for what cannot be right and proposes the fix • PDF reports for boats, logs, maintenance, equipment, spares and tools APPLE ECOSYSTEM • iCloud sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac, with full offline use • Apple Reminders, Calendar, Contacts and Weather throughout • Dark Mode for night watches • CSV import and export of everything, with blank templates for your own spreadsheets Everything is free for the first 30 days. After that it is $0.99 per month or $9.99 per year, billed through your Apple Account and cancellable at any time. Note: the emergency and float-plan features are aids, not a substitute for a VHF/DSC radio, an EPIRB, or leaving a float plan with someone ashore. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://boatmanager.app/privacy Support & Feedback: support@boatmanager.app | https://boatmanager.app/help

Screenshots

Dockwa4 screens
Boat Manager4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Dockwa at none against Boat Manager's 2. Boat Manager's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads, device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Boat Manager sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Dockwa asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Dockwa ships an update every 3 weeks, Boat Manager every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Dockwa versus Boat Manager: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDockwaBoat Manager
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (34K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews74.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings34K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.618.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size210 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDockwa, Inc.John Tattersfield

Bugs and requests

Dockwa

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Issues with accepting terms and conditions
  • Reservation cancellation and editing problems

Requested features

4 requests
  • Calendar integration for reservations
  • Filters for specific marina amenities
  • Real-time availability updates
  • Group reservation management

Boat Manager

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Dockwa

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Boat Manager

Subscriptions2
  • Boat Manager Plus Monthly1 Month trial$0.991 Month
  • Boat Manager Plus Annual1 Month trial$9.991 Year

Questions

Is Dockwa free?
Dockwa is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Boat Manager free?
Boat Manager is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Dockwa or Boat Manager have ads?
Neither Dockwa nor Boat Manager shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Dockwa or Boat Manager?
Dockwa ships an update every 3 weeks, and Boat Manager every 10 days. Most recently, Dockwa was updated on October 27, 2026 and Boat Manager on October 21, 2026.

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