Glidr vs Ski Tracks: Which Is the Better Ski Tracker in 2026?

At a glance: what each app actually is

Glidr is built around navigation. Its defining feature is voice turn-by-turn routing: you tell it where you want to go on the mountain, and it calculates a path across pistes and lifts, then guides you there with spoken instructions that announce piste names, turn directions, and distance to the next junction. It also builds full-day ski itineraries through its AI Ski Day Planner — a feature that takes your skill level, available time, preferred goals, and generates a step-by-step schedule for the entire day, including lunch breaks and lift connections. Once a route or plan is downloaded, the whole thing runs offline. For skiers and snowboarders who have ever ended up on the wrong side of a resort, or who visit large interconnected ski areas infrequently, Glidr is designed specifically around that problem.

Ski Tracks is built around GPS logging. It is one of the original ski tracking apps and has accumulated a strong following by doing one thing extremely well: recording your runs with accurate GPS data and presenting the results cleanly. After a day on the mountain, Ski Tracks shows you how many runs you completed, your top speed, total distance, vertical meters descended, and a map trace of your day. The app is notably battery-efficient — a persistent criticism of GPS tracking apps is that they drain the phone quickly, and Ski Tracks has always been careful about this. It also works entirely offline. There is no routing, no navigation, no social feed. It is a clean, focused GPS logger with a long track record and a one-time purchase model that has stayed competitive in an industry moving toward subscriptions.

Where Glidr wins

Voice turn-by-turn navigation. Ski Tracks has no navigation capability at all — it records where you have been, but it will not tell you where to go. Glidr announces piste names, turn directions, and distance to the next junction in real time as you ski or snowboard. The audio system integrates with native text-to-speech, ducks music apps when speaking, and resumes them afterward. If you are at a new resort and relying on a paper trail map folded in your jacket pocket, Glidr replaces that entirely.

AI Ski Day Planner. Glidr's planner generates a full itinerary for the day based on your inputs — skill level, goals like maximizing vertical or covering as many pistes as possible, preferred lunch time and duration, and whether you are bringing your own food or stopping at a mountain restaurant. The result is a step-by-step navigable schedule. Ski Tracks has no equivalent. The planner is particularly valuable at large interconnected resorts where the sheer number of options is overwhelming on first or second visit.

Smartwatch navigation. Glidr has a Garmin Connect IQ data field showing the current piste, next turn direction, distance to junction, and current speed — with haptic vibration at each turn. It also has Apple Watch support for the same navigation data. Ski Tracks does not appear to offer any smartwatch support. For riders who use a Garmin Fenix or Epix or Apple Watch as their daily device, Glidr is the only option for wrist-based navigation on the mountain.

Friends location sharing. Glidr shows your group's real-time positions on the mountain map, which is useful for meeting up at specific lifts or piste junctions. Ski Tracks does not have any location-sharing or social features — it is entirely a solo recording tool.

Where Ski Tracks wins

GPS run tracking and history. Glidr does not track individual runs, record your top speed, or build a history of your vertical over a season. Ski Tracks does all of this and has a decade of refinement behind the algorithms. For riders who care about their performance metrics — how fast they were on a specific piste, how their vertical on this trip compares to last year — Ski Tracks is the right tool. The run log persists across seasons and is exportable in standard GPX format.

One-time pricing, no subscription. Ski Tracks has historically offered a one-time purchase at a very low price point — around $0.99 to $4.99 depending on platform and version (check the App Store for current pricing). For a rider who skis ten weekends a season for five years, paying once and never again is genuinely compelling in an era of increasing app subscription fatigue. Glidr's navigation and offline maps are free, but the AI Ski Day Planner requires a Day Pass (€1.49) or Weekly Pass (€4.99). For a skier who never uses the planner, Glidr is also effectively free — but Ski Tracks' clarity of pricing has long been a differentiator.

Battery efficiency. Ski Tracks has been specifically optimized over many years to minimize battery drain during GPS logging. This is non-trivial for a full day on the mountain. Glidr's navigation mode, with the screen active and voice guidance running, will consume more battery. If you are doing a long day and running your phone without a power bank, Ski Tracks' logging impact is lighter. The practical difference depends heavily on your phone model and how cold the mountain is.

Who should pick what

If the main thing you want from a ski app is to know where you are going and be guided there without stopping to interpret a trail map — particularly at a large resort you visit infrequently, or when navigating a complex lift system with a group at different skill levels — Glidr is the more useful app. The AI planner adds a layer of value if you want a structured day rather than freeform exploration. These are things Ski Tracks cannot do at all; they serve genuinely different use cases.

If you want to build a personal log of every run you have ever made — speeds, vertical, distances, GPS traces — and you want it to run in the background quietly on a single purchase, Ski Tracks earns its place. It is particularly well-suited for riders who already know their resorts well, have no need for navigation guidance, and just want an accurate record of how they performed. Many experienced local skiers and snowboarders fall into this category: they know exactly where they are going, they just want the numbers. For them, Ski Tracks is a better fit than Glidr. The good news is that there is no real conflict between the two — they can run together, with Glidr handling navigation and Ski Tracks logging in the background.

Pricing comparison

Pricing note: Ski Tracks' exact pricing and free tier scope varies by platform and has changed over time. The figures above are based on publicly available information and should be verified against current App Store or Google Play listings. The key difference is Ski Tracks' one-time model versus Glidr's free navigation core with optional per-day or per-week planner access.

Frequently asked questions

Is Glidr better than Ski Tracks?

For navigation, Glidr is clearly ahead — it is the only app that offers voice turn-by-turn directions across pistes and lifts, plus an AI day planner. For pure GPS run tracking, Ski Tracks is a proven, battery-efficient choice that has been refined over many years. If you want to be guided around the mountain, pick Glidr. If you want to log your runs quietly in the background while focusing on skiing, Ski Tracks is a solid option — especially at its one-time price.

Does Ski Tracks have voice turn-by-turn navigation?

Ski Tracks does not offer voice turn-by-turn navigation. The app records where you ski but does not plan a route or guide you along one. Glidr is the only major ski app that announces piste names, turn directions, and distance to the next junction as you ski or snowboard — comparable to how Google Maps narrates a driving route.

Can I use Ski Tracks offline?

Yes, Ski Tracks works fully offline for GPS run tracking — it logs your position using the phone's GPS without needing mobile data. Glidr also works fully offline after the initial map download: route calculation, voice navigation, and map display all run on-device. Both apps function without signal; they just serve different purposes once offline.

Which is cheaper, Glidr or Ski Tracks?

Ski Tracks has historically used a one-time purchase model at a low price (around $0.99–$4.99 depending on platform and version — check the App Store for current pricing). Glidr is free for core navigation and charges €1.49 for a Day Pass or €4.99 for a Weekly Pass to unlock the AI Ski Day Planner; there is no subscription. For frequent skiers, Ski Tracks' one-time price could be cheaper over multiple seasons. For occasional visitors who want navigation on a specific trip, Glidr's Day Pass is very competitive.

Can I use both Glidr and Ski Tracks together?

Yes. Glidr handles navigation — route planning, voice directions, day itinerary — while Ski Tracks runs quietly in the background logging your GPS track, speed, and vertical. Because they serve completely different functions, running both simultaneously is a reasonable setup for riders who want voice-guided navigation and a clean run log without any overlap or conflict between the two apps.