Garmin Pilot vs ForeFlight: Which EFB App to Buy in 2026

Pick Garmin Pilot if you fly behind Garmin avionics, use an Android tablet, or want geo-referenced approach plates and synthetic vision for the least money. Its Premium plan costs $209.99 a year, against $260 for ForeFlight Essential, the cheapest ForeFlight plan with the same core features.

Pick ForeFlight if you want takeoff, landing and fuel-load planning in the app, file IFR flight plans outside North America and Europe, or your flight school or club already runs it. Over three years, the like-for-like gap is about $150 in Garmin’s favor.

Below, the two apps are compared on price, devices, approach charts, flight planning, Garmin avionics, the logbook and the free trial. Every figure comes from ForeFlight’s and Garmin’s own pages and their App Store and Google Play listings as of October 2026.

Price and plans

ForeFlight sells three individual plans, billed yearly. Starter is $130, Essential is $260 and Premium is $390. These are the plans once called Basic Plus, Pro Plus and Performance Plus; ForeFlight says only the names changed, not the prices or features.

Garmin Pilot has two U.S. tiers. Apple’s App Store lists U.S. Standard at $109.99 a year and U.S. Premium at $209.99. Garmin also sells regional Standard plans for Canada, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Australia, plus a Worldwide Premium at $599.99.

The fair match is ForeFlight Essential against Garmin Pilot Premium, because neither entry plan shows your airplane on an approach plate. That pairing costs $260 against $209.99, about $21.67 a month against $17.50. Over three years it is $780 against $629.97.

At the top end the gap widens to $180.01 a year, because Garmin has no third U.S. tier. ForeFlight Premium does buy more for that money, which the planning section below covers.

Edge: Garmin Pilot. It is cheaper at every rung, and its top U.S. plan costs less than ForeFlight’s middle one.

iPad, iPhone or Android

This is the first fork for many pilots. ForeFlight’s support center says ForeFlight Mobile runs only on Apple devices such as the iPad and iPhone, and that there are no plans for an Android version. It also runs on Apple Watch, and every plan includes ForeFlight on the Web for planning at a desk.

Garmin Pilot runs on iPad, iPhone and Android. The Google Play version shows more than 500,000 downloads and was last updated on October 3, 2026, so it is a live product, not an afterthought.

Reviews tell a split story, though. On Apple’s App Store in October 2026, Garmin Pilot rated 4.7 from 4,143 ratings and ForeFlight 4.4 from 3,263. On Google Play, Garmin Pilot sat at 2.7 stars, so test it on your exact Android tablet during the trial.

Device limits are a wash. ForeFlight’s license covers one pilot on two iPads and one iPhone, or one iPad and two iPhones, and Garmin says one subscription works on three devices. If you are kitting out a tablet for the cockpit, our guide to iPad kneeboards for pilots covers the mounting side.

Edge: Garmin Pilot. It is the only one of the two you can run on Android, and the device count is the same.

Approach charts: SmartCharts vs Dynamic Procedures

Both apps include the FAA’s VFR and IFR charts on every plan. What the paid tiers add is geo-referencing, which puts your airplane on the approach plate and taxi diagram.

ForeFlight starts it at Essential, along with Plates on Maps and Dynamic Procedures, which ForeFlight pitches as a way to brief and fly the whole approach without wading through the notes.

Garmin Pilot puts geo-referenced FliteCharts and SafeTaxi diagrams in Premium, along with SmartCharts.

Launched in May 2025, SmartCharts redraw an approach for your aircraft: one set of minimums for your category, only the transition you expect, and a profile view with terrain and obstacles. Garmin’s September 29, 2026 update brought them to Premium users in Canada and Mexico.

“This is a game changer. It’s a complete rethink of how we view procedures.”

Jim McClay, AOPA director of airspace, air traffic and security, to AOPA in May 2025

Jeppesen users get a simpler path in ForeFlight, which sells Jeppesen IFR charts as an add-on in coverages from the continental U.S. to Australasia. Garmin Pilot can display Jeppesen terminal charts only if you hold a separate Jeppesen eChart subscription.

Edge: Even. SmartCharts is the bolder redesign, ForeFlight’s Dynamic Procedures and Jeppesen option answer it, and both sit in the like-for-like tier.

Flight planning, filing and performance

Day-to-day planning is close. Both apps plan on the map, brief the weather, show TFRs and file flight plans. Garmin Pilot pulls aircraft data from its own library for weight and balance and estimates fuel burn and arrival times; its trips also sync with FltPlan.com.

ForeFlight Premium goes further for faster airplanes. It adds pre-built aircraft performance profiles, optimized autorouting, takeoff and landing performance, fuel-load planning with limit checks, pre-departure clearance with D-ATIS, and JetFuelX fuel prices. That is the main thing the extra $180 a year buys.

Filing reach differs too. ForeFlight files IFR plans in the U.S. and its territories, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia and all EUROCONTROL member states. Garmin lists VFR filing worldwide and IFR filing in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

One 2026 change applies to both. Each app now takes part in the FAA’s Mobile Clearance trial, which sends IFR departure clearances to the app as text at a handful of test airports, ahead of a nationwide rollout the FAA hopes to start in 2027.

Edge: ForeFlight. Its Premium plan is the more complete planning tool, and it files IFR in more of the world.

Flying behind Garmin avionics

Garmin glass is everywhere in training and touring airplanes: a new Cessna 172 Skyhawk comes with the G1000 NXi as standard. If that is your panel, the app made by the same company has real advantages. Our glass cockpit explainer covers what those screens do.

Through Garmin’s Connext link, both apps can send a flight plan to select Garmin avionics; Garmin names Garmin Pilot, ForeFlight Mobile and FltPlan Go. Garmin Pilot goes further. Its Database Concierge downloads avionics databases on the tablet and loads them into the panel wirelessly, and equipped avionics stream engine data to the app in flight.

ForeFlight is not locked out of Garmin panels. Its avionics partners include Garmin, Stratus, uAvionix, Avidyne and Dynon, and it shows ADS-B weather, traffic, backup attitude and GPS position from compatible devices.

Edge: Garmin Pilot. With a Garmin panel, it adds database updates and engine data to the flight plan transfer both apps share.

Logbook, free trial and switching

Both apps carry a logbook in every plan. Garmin Pilot builds entries automatically from GPS data, tracks currency and endorsements and syncs to flyGarmin.com. ForeFlight’s logbook imports and exports in bulk, and its instructor tools let a CFI send remote endorsements to students.

Both offer a 30-day free trial on first download, and ForeFlight’s trial unlocks its top plan. Run the same real flight in each app during that month, including a planned diversion, before you pay for either.

Moving years of flight time is the usual worry. Garmin’s April 2026 guide has you drop an existing logbook file into flyGarmin.com and import it into Garmin Pilot.

Both companies keep adding tools here. ForeFlight’s October 6, 2026 release added Debrief, an opt-in ForeFlight Labs feature that splits a recorded flight into phases and scores some maneuvers.

Edge: Even. The trials are the same length and both logbooks travel, so the choice rests on the sections above.

Who should pick which

One background change is worth knowing. ForeFlight left Boeing in November 2025, when Thoma Bravo closed its $10.55 billion, all-cash purchase of Boeing’s digital aviation business, including Jeppesen and ForeFlight. The two now operate as a standalone company called Jeppesen ForeFlight. Garmin Pilot remains part of Garmin.

If you are still working toward the certificate that makes either app useful, our breakdown of what a pilot license really costs shows where an EFB subscription fits in the budget.