A useful reef tank app has to hold up over time
The barrier to publishing a basic reef parameter logger is lower than it used to be, but this article is not a directory of every new launch. It maintains the same five products Reef Trak previously chose to compare and does not add newer small apps simply because they exist.
For reefers choosing an app, the useful question is whether the current product fits the tank's real workflow and leaves a durable record. Pricing, export, supported platforms, controller and lab integrations, maintenance tools, and actual update history matter more than a polished first screenshot.
This comparison covers Reef Trak, AquaticLog, ReefBay, Aquarimate, and Reefability. Every positive feature claim below was checked against each app's official website, documentation, or current App Store and Play Store listings. Unverified absences are labeled instead of guessed.
Last fact-checked August 18, 2026. Pricing is shown in US dollars from current US App Store listings where available. Sources reviewed include the official AquaticLog, ReefBay, Aquarimate, and Reefability listings, their official websites, and Reef Trak's current product and store pages. Where an absence could not be proved, the table says “not advertised” instead of “no.”
Quick comparison table
Features and pricing only. Star ratings change daily and newer apps have too few reviews to be meaningful, so they are not included here. The highlighted column is Reef Trak.
| Capability | Reef Trak | AquaticLog | ReefBay | Aquarimate | Reefability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parameters and trends | Yes (55+ parameters incl. trace elements) | Yes (50+ parameters) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Dosing logs | ✓ | Yes, including programs and history | Yes, with dosing analytics New since May | ✓ | Not advertised in reviewed official sources Updated |
| Livestock tracking | Yes, with catalog and care records | Yes, with lifecycle history | Yes, in tank logs | Yes (Aquaribase) | Yes; professional livestock tools advertised |
| Maintenance tracking | Recurring tasks with custom intervals | Recurring reminders with duration tracking | Recurring tasks and reminders | Advanced task scheduling | Equipment-specific recurring tasks |
| Equipment records | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| PAR tools | PAR Map | PAR light readings New since May | Not advertised in reviewed official sources | Not advertised in reviewed official sources | Light analysis; PAR mapping not advertised |
| Expense tracking | Yes + Receipt Scan Assist | Livestock purchase price records New since May | Spending analytics New since May | ✓ | Not advertised in reviewed official sources |
| Home-screen widgets | ✓ | ✓ | Yes New since May | Not advertised in reviewed official sources | Yes New since May |
| Controller integrations | Read-only Apex + HYDROS; Alkatronic, Mastertronic, and AquaWiz where available; plus Home Assistant monitoring Home Assistant | Read-only: Apex, Seneye, AquaWiz, HYDROS New since May | Not advertised in reviewed official sources | Apex, Trident, Trident NP New since May | Not advertised in reviewed official sources |
| ICP test support | 9 external providers: Aquaforest, ATI, Fauna Marin, Modern Reef, Oceamo / Reef Moonshiner, Reef Labs, Reef Zlements, Triton, Tropic Marin 2 providers | Imports: Oceamo, Fauna Marin, Triton, ReefLabs | Not advertised in reviewed official sources | No ICP import advertised; Hanna Marine Master result import supported Tester import | Reefer AI supports questions about ICP results; import scope not documented ICP questions |
| Marketplace / product search | ReefDock multi-retailer product search Marketplace retired | Community product catalog and reviews New since May | Peer-to-peer and vendor marketplace | Not advertised in reviewed official sources | Not advertised in reviewed official sources |
| AI approach | TrakAI: export to the user's chosen AI | AI insights and photo animation New since May | In-app AI insights | No AI feature advertised in reviewed official sources | In-app Reefer AI and photo diagnostics Expanded |
| Data export | PDF, CSV, and TrakAI markdown | ✓ | Not advertised in reviewed official sources | Backup/restore advertised; general export not confirmed | Not advertised in reviewed official sources |
| Web / desktop access | Full Web Portal at reeftrak.com | Full web app | Web community, marketplace, and public tank pages; logging promoted through the app | Aquarimate Live apps for macOS and Windows | No web app advertised |
| Pricing model | Free core + $9.99 lifetime unlock | Free + DeepDive IAP price points of $4.99 / $29.99 / $39.99 | $9.99 app + optional $9.99/yr Live sync App price confirmed | $5.99/mo or $24.99/yr subscription | |
| Free access / trial | Free core; no timed trial needed | Free tier; 30 days unlimited parameter logging for new accounts; 7-day yearly Pro trial Trial documented | Free app; unlimited tanks and DeepDive require subscription; no trial advertised | 100 MB cloud backup included; no Live trial advertised | Free download; no subscription trial advertised |
| Platforms | iOS + iPad + Android + Web Portal | iOS + iPad + Android + Web; Apple-silicon Mac compatibility Mac listed | iOS + iPad + Android; Apple-silicon Mac compatibility | iOS + Android + Mac + Windows | iOS + iPad + Android; Apple-silicon Mac compatibility |
| Latest official update checked | August 2026 | August 2026 | August 2026 on iOS; June 2026 on Google Play | June 24, 2025 on iOS | August 6, 2026 on iOS; April 24, 2026 on Google Play |
Reef Trak: the all-in-one reef manager
Reef Trak Lead pick for serious reefers
Reef Trak combines parameters with trends and stale-data flags, guided and manual dosing, livestock records, PAR Map, expense tracking with Receipt Scan Assist, home-screen widgets, read-only Apex Fusion and HYDROS imports, Alkatronic, Mastertronic, and AquaWiz integrations where available, Home Assistant monitoring, ReefDock multi-retailer product search, a full Web Portal at reeftrak.com, and the TrakAI export workflow. All are connected in one system across iPhone, iPad, Android, and the web.
The pricing model is deliberately built for reef keepers, who tend to keep tanks running for many years: most of the app is free, and a one-time $9.99 unlock turns on premium features for life. No recurring fee. No risk that the app holds five years of reef records hostage to a subscription that might change.
Reef Trak has been in production for years and continues to ship frequent updates. Recent additions include Tank Insights, chart event overlays, TrakShare, and monitoring-only Home Assistant integration. Its differentiator is the way those tools connect with PAR Map, Receipt Scan Assist, multi-vendor controller imports, and the bring-your-own-AI export pattern rather than any claim that competitors have stood still.
Best for: reef keepers who want one app that covers the whole tank lifecycle (testing, dosing, maintenance, livestock, equipment, lighting, expenses, product search, AI) without locking into a particular AI engine or a monthly bill.
TrakAI: why bring-your-own-AI beats every closed in-app chatbot
Most reef apps now ship some kind of closed AI feature. Reefability has Reefer AI. ReefBay has AI-powered insights tied to a paid subscription tier. Various newer entrants have their own scoring chatbots. Closed AI features are easy to market because users only see the chat box, not the trade-offs.
Reef Trak does it differently. TrakAI exports months of your actual tank history. Current parameters with trend deltas. Your full dosing regimen. Livestock with species and ages. A 30-day maintenance log with timestamps and quantities. Measurement statistics with frequency and ranges. Feeding records. The export is one structured markdown document with embedded persona instructions. You paste it into whichever AI engine you trust, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, a local LLM, or whatever next-generation model ships tomorrow.
This is not a marketing claim. Line it up dimension by dimension and the picture is clear:
| Constraint | Closed in-app AI | Reef Trak TrakAI |
|---|---|---|
| LLM choice | The app vendor selects and manages the model | User chooses ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, or a compatible local model |
| Prompt control | The vendor controls the in-app workflow | User can ask follow-up questions and change the prompt in the chosen AI service |
| Data scope | The app decides which stored records reach its AI feature | Structured export includes 90 days of parameters, livestock ages, measurement statistics, maintenance quantities, dosing, and feeding |
| Recurring app cost | Varies by product; Reefability is $5.99/mo or $24.99/yr | No additional Reef Trak AI fee; the chosen AI service may have its own cost |
| Model updates | The vendor must update its integration when it changes models | The user can move the same export to another compatible model |
| Data visibility | Depends on what the vendor exposes about its integration | User can inspect the exact markdown document before sharing it |
The reef-keeper instinct, distrust the black box and own your data, is what TrakAI was built for.
ReefDock: multi-retailer product search, not a peer-to-peer marketplace
ReefDock currently provides reef-product search across retailers including BRS, Amazon, Saltwaterfish, and Petco. It is useful for comparing and finding equipment, additives, food, and livestock from one search surface.
The earlier direct-from-hobbyist marketplace and automatic purchase-import claims are no longer current and have been removed from this comparison. ReefBay remains the app in this article with an active peer-to-peer and vendor marketplace.
ReefDock.com now also serves as the public home for Node 1 hardware updates, while the product-search catalog remains available at reefdock.com/shop.
AquaticLog: the 13-year veteran
AquaticLog
AquaticLog is the long-standing heavyweight in reef tracking. The current feature set includes 50+ water parameters, ICP imports from Oceamo, Fauna Marin, Triton, and ReefLabs, recurring maintenance and dosing programs, livestock lifecycle and equipment records, data export, photo journaling, home-screen widgets, AI insights, and a full web app. It now also advertises read-only controller imports from Apex, Seneye, AquaWiz, and HYDROS, so the earlier claim that it had no controller integration was outdated.
US App Store pricing is now $4.99 per month, $39.99 per year, or $149.99 lifetime. The yearly plan has a 7-day Pro trial, while new accounts receive 30 days of unlimited parameter logging and can continue on a limited free tier. The lifetime option costs fifteen times Reef Trak's $9.99 lifetime unlock, but AquaticLog now offers materially more controller and AI functionality than this article previously credited.
Best for: reefers who want a mature web-and-mobile logger with professional ICP workflows, multiple read-only controller connections, and a choice between subscription and lifetime pricing.
ReefBay: marketplace and community focus
ReefBay
ReefBay's real differentiator is the marketplace and community side. The app combines tank tracking, AI-powered insights, community forums, and a buy-and-sell marketplace for corals, fish, and inverts with both hobbyist sellers and vendor shops. The peer-to-peer side is genuinely strong, with thousands of reefers and dozens of vendor partnerships.
For a reefer who shops actively (buying frags, selling propagations, looking for hard-to-find coral from other hobbyists), ReefBay is purpose-built for that flow. Its tracking tools have also expanded: current official sources show date-filtered parameter charts, tank-log analytics for dosing and spending, recurring maintenance reminders, livestock and equipment histories, and home-screen widgets. Unlimited tank profiles and DeepDive features require a subscription; the US App Store currently lists DeepDive in-app purchase price points of $4.99, $29.99, and $39.99 without clearly labeling each billing period.
Best for: reefers whose primary value is the peer-to-peer marketplace and community discussion, with tank tracking as a useful secondary feature.
Aquarimate: native desktop support plus Apex and Trident imports
Aquarimate
Aquarimate is the long-running reef and aquarium logger with the broadest native platform support: dedicated iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows apps. Solid feature coverage of parameters, tasks, analytics with trend graphs, the Aquaribase species database, livestock and equipment records, dosing logs, expense tracking, and photo galleries.
Aquarimate is a $9.99 one-time app purchase with an optional Aquarimate Live subscription at $9.99 per year for real-time access across devices. The app also includes 100 MB of cloud backup storage without requiring Live. Official sources reviewed in August 2026 do not advertise an AI feature.
Aquarimate added support for multiple Apex, Trident, and Trident NP controllers across aquariums, including nitrate and phosphate from Trident NP. It also imports results from the Hanna Marine Master tester. The latest iOS version listed during this review was 9.1.2 from June 24, 2025.
Best for: hobbyists who want native Mac and Windows apps, detailed manual records, and Apex/Trident data in the same aquarium-management system.
Reefability: AI-first, subscription model
Reefability
Reefability launched in late 2024 with an AI-first pitch. Reefer AI now advertises whole-tank evaluation using parameters, livestock, equipment, lighting, flow, pest control, and bioload context. The app also offers smart photo diagnostics, pest identification, ICP-result questions, chemistry and microbiome analysis, home-screen widgets, and equipment-specific recurring maintenance tasks.
The pricing remains $5.99 per month or $24.99 per year in the US App Store. The official sources reviewed do not advertise a free subscription trial, data export, a web app, or a direct controller connection, so this article does not assume those features are absent; it marks them as not advertised or not independently verified.
Best for: reefers who specifically want a one-shop AI chat experience inside the app and are comfortable with a monthly bill and a single locked-in AI vendor.
What about the wave of new reef apps launching every week?
New reef apps continue to appear, but this article is deliberately not a directory of every launch. The August 2026 maintenance review is limited to the established products already included here.
For a reefer choosing an app, long-term support and data portability still matter because the app may hold years of tank history. Check current update dates, export options, platform support, and whether records remain accessible if the pricing model changes.
What to look for when choosing
Across this comparison, ten criteria separate apps that serve a mature reef from apps that look polished but fall short over the years:
- Parameter coverage and history depth. Not just chartable values, but multi-week views, custom ranges, and the ability to find a single test from eighteen months ago.
- Dosing logs connected to parameter results. Cause and effect visible side by side.
- Livestock records with care information. Sources, dates, photos, notes, per-tank assignment, not just a flat list of names.
- Equipment records with maintenance schedules. When did that probe go in, when was the last bulb change.
- Maintenance scheduling that understands intervals. Weekly water changes, fortnightly socks, monthly probe calibrations, yearly deep cleans.
- Read-only controller imports. Apex, HYDROS, Alkatronic data ingested without ever sending commands back.
- AI workflow that uses your real data. Generic AI advice is useless for a real reef. The AI needs your actual parameters, dosing, livestock, and history.
- Cross-platform with cloud sync. Phone at the tank, computer at the desk, web portal anywhere.
- Long-term pricing model. Subscription is fine if value compounds monthly. Lifetime is better when five years of reef history is on the line.
- Active development. Check the actual date and substance of recent releases, not a general claim about update cadence.
Where Reef Trak fits
Reef Trak is built around all ten criteria above. Parameters with multi-week history and custom ranges. Dosing logs tied to parameter trends. Livestock records with built-in care info for hundreds of species. Equipment tracking. Maintenance schedules with custom intervals up to yearly tasks. Read-only Apex Fusion and HYDROS imports, Alkatronic, Mastertronic, and AquaWiz integrations where available, plus monitoring-only Home Assistant integration. TrakAI exports that work with compatible AI engines. ReefDock multi-retailer product search. iOS, iPad, Android, and a full Web Portal at reeftrak.com with cloud sync. A one-time $9.99 lifetime unlock with no subscription.
If you are picking a reef tank app in 2026, the short version is this. Pick the one that gives you a complete, connected reef record that still makes sense five years from now, and does not hand control of your AI workflow over to the app vendor.