Comparison

Drone Buddy vs Drone Start

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

Head to head
About

Drone Buddy

This app provides drone pilots with essential flight data, including weather radar, wind maps, and no-fly zone information. It helps users plan safe flights, discover new flying locations, and stay updated on drone news. An optional subscription offers advanced features.

Highlights
  • Weather radar and wind maps
  • No-fly zone data
  • Best flying window forecasts
  • Crowd-sourced flying spot discovery
  • Drone news updates
  • Drone flying hub for jobs and business
Features
Read full description

Don’t waste a trip. Check wind, weather, and airspace before you take off — then find nearby flying sites shared by other pilots. Trusted by over 1 million pilots. 4.7 stars from 8.4K App Store ratings. WHAT YOU GET • Go / no-go — a clear fly check for your pin from weather, TFRs, and U.S. Class B/C/D/E • Wind and weather — live wind, gusts, rain radar, and visibility so you know if it’s actually flyable • Best flying windows — the calmest daylight slots, scored for wind, rain, cloud, visibility, and daylight • No-fly reference maps — global airports, U.S. Class B/C/D/E, US / UK / Canada national parks, TFRs, stadium events, and FAA UAS restricted areas. Adjust airport circle range for your certification. These are planning tools, not official clearance, and not a LAANC filing. • Where to fly — crowd-sourced sites with photos and notes from other pilots • Flying Hub — save favorite spots; businesses can post jobs, inspections, surveys, and training • Drone news — regulations, gear, and industry updates DRONE BUDDY PRO Check any pin first: go / no-go on a searched site, hourly wind, calm flying windows for 10 days, and TFR alerts on the pin you care about. 3-day free trial on the annual plan, then the yearly price shown in-app. Cancel anytime in Apple ID settings. Also available as a 3-month plan or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions auto-renew unless you turn off auto-renew at least 24 hours before the period ends. Payment is charged to your Apple ID. Manage or cancel in Account Settings. Please cross-check local laws and airspace before every flight. Drone Buddy is not affiliated with the FAA and does not replace B4UFLY or an FAA-listed LAANC app. Maps and community sites can be incomplete — you are responsible for a legal, safe flight. Privacy: https://dronebuddy.io/privacy Terms: https://dronebuddy.io/terms Support: sayhi@dronebuddy.io Web: https://dronebuddy.io

About

Drone Start

This app provides advanced flight checks and planning for drones, ensuring safe takeoffs and operations. It analyzes weather, GPS, battery health, and local airspace conditions, while also offering detailed flight route planning with elevation and wind data.

Highlights
  • Comprehensive pre-flight safety checks
  • Detailed flight route planning
  • Real-time drone battery and sensor monitoring
  • Weather, GPS, and airspace analysis
  • No-fly zone and wind map visualization
  • Daily FlyCast notifications
  • Intelligent Return To Home height calculation
Read full description

Drone Start is an advanced flight check & planning tool for drones. Drone Start is packed full of features that will help you plan a safe drone flight every time! You simply turn on your drone, plug your device into the drone controller, open the app & tap Start! Drone Start will then do a comprehensive set of advanced checks to see if its safe to fly in your current area & it will even check your drones battery and sensors in real time to check your drone is in perfect condition to take off! When your not out flying you can use Drone Start to create comprehensive flight plans, just type in where you want to fly and Drone Start will get Weather, GPS, Light Levels, Terrain Elevation, No Fly Zones and more! You can also plan your flight route and find out the elevation change & how much battery you'll have left! You can view the area map and see No Fly Zones, Terrain Elevations, Sunrise/Sunset Times & Positions plus you can also see an animated Wind Map, showing the wind direction with colour coded arrows so you can immediately see if its too windy to fly or not. Drone Starts calculation are also based on your drone model*, so things such as winds speeds and battery range are calculated using your actual drone! Drone Start also has some great advanced features too such as: Daily FlyCast Daily FlyCast is a daily notification sent at sunrise every morning outlining the days flying conditions. You'll also have access to the FlyCast Widget, so you can always quickly check if its good to fly without even opening the app! Solar Storm Warnings Solar Storm Warnings are notifications informing you incoming solar storms which can cause high levels of magnetic interference which can affect GPS signals and impact the accuracy of your RTH point. Intelligent RTH If enabled Drone Start will automatically calculate and set your Return To Home Height based on surround terrain elevation and building heights, making sure your doesn't fly into a mountain side or building when it returns to you! Fly Zone Alert When enabled you will receive a notification informing you have entered a No Fly Zone, we will also let you know when you leave one too! Battery Manager Drone Start records battery data before each flight so you easily check battery health, including deviations. It also recommends battery rotation order if you have multiple batteries. You can also perform a battery test to check it's heath & efficiency, plus create pdf reports from the results. Intelligent VPS If there are large bodies of water in the area, Drone Start will automatically disable your VPS for you and automatically enable it next time you fly in an area with low amounts of water. Active Drone Alerts Get notified when theres a another drone flying near your location. Drone Start Features Include**: Start Checks - Weather, GPS, KP Index, Terrain Elevation & Airspace Checks - Light Checks - Aircraft Checks - Aircraft Warming - Building Height Check - Drone Battery Health Check - Drone Sensor Health Check - Wind Altitude Checks - RTH Height Check - Wind Map - No Fly Zone Map - Terrain Elevation Map - Ephemeris - Dedicated Drone Model Checks - Golden Hour Times - Water Area Check - Active Drone Check - RTH Reminder Flight Plans - 7 Day Weather Forecast - 7 Day GPS Forecast - 7 Day KP Index Forecast - No Fly Zone Check - Terrain Elevation Check - Weather Check - Wind Map - 3D Building Map - No Fly Zone Map - Terrain Elevation Map - Ephemeris - Best Time To Fly - Flight Route Planner - Dedicated Drone Model Checks - Weekly Summary - Light Check - Golden Hour Times *DJI Drone Models are only currently supported. **Some Feature May Require An Active Monthly or Yearly Auto Renewing Subscription. See our Terms of Use here: www.faulknerlabs.io/drone-start-terms

Screenshots

Drone Buddy4 screens
Drone Start4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Drone Buddy at 4.7 against Drone Start's 4.1. Drone Buddy also leads on ratings volume (8.4K vs 48) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). Drone Start's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Drone Buddy sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Drone Start sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Drone Buddy holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Drone Buddy has 8.4K ratings behind it against 48, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 55% of Drone Buddy's written reviews are positive against 41% of Drone Start's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drone Buddy ships an update weekly, Drone Start every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Drone Buddy versus Drone Start: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrone BuddyDrone Start
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (8.4K ratings) — better4.1 (48 ratings)
Positive reviews54.8% of reviews — better41.4% of reviews
Number of ratings8.4K — better48
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS1513.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size127 MB120 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKirway LLCNeil Faulkner

Customer experience

Drone Buddy

All ratings8,419 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral3.1%
Negative2.2%
Written reviews241 reviews
Positive54.8%
Neutral10.0%
Negative35.3%

Drone Start

All ratings47 ratings
Positive76.6%
Neutral8.5%
Negative14.9%
Written reviews29 reviews
Positive41.4%
Neutral13.8%
Negative44.8%

Bugs and requests

Drone Buddy

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Map crashes after populating airports
  • Profile settings not saving
  • Inconsistent wind speed data

Requested features

4 requests
  • Color-coded wind speed indicators
  • Ability to report and verify no-fly zones
  • Integration with air traffic control
  • Metric units support

Drone Start

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Drone Buddy

Subscriptions8
  • Upgrade to Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Unlock Drone Buddy Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Drone Buddy Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Drone Buddy Pro 3 months$12.993 Months
  • Unlock Drone Buddy Pro$17.996 Months
  • Unlock Drone Buddy Pro Yearly3 Days trial$34.991 Year
  • Unlock Drone Buddy Pro Yearly$39.991 Year
  • Unlock Drone Buddy Pro Yearly3 Days trial$59.991 Year
One-time2
  • Unlock Pro Access Lifetime$79.99
  • Unlock Pro Lifetime$99.99
2 purchases

Drone Start

Subscriptions2
  • Professional Monthly7 Days trial$1.491 Month
  • Professional Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year

Questions

Is Drone Buddy free?
Drone Buddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Drone Start free?
Drone Start is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Drone Buddy or Drone Start?
Drone Buddy is rated higher. Drone Buddy averages 4.7 out of 5 from 8.4K ratings, while Drone Start averages 4.1 from 48 ratings.
Do Drone Buddy or Drone Start have ads?
Neither Drone Buddy nor Drone Start shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Drone Buddy or Drone Start?
Drone Buddy ships an update weekly, and Drone Start every 3 weeks. Most recently, Drone Buddy was updated on November 11, 2026 and Drone Start on November 2, 2026.

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