Fishbrain Alternatives: 6 Apps Worth Switching To (2026)

Why you want a Fishbrain alternative

If you have started looking for a Fishbrain alternative, it is almost always for one reason: the paywall. Fishbrain is still free to download, but the features that made it useful, exact catch locations, fishing forecasts and depth contours, now sit behind Fishbrain Pro at $9.99 a month or $74.99 a year. There is even a Reddit thread titled, almost word for word, "anything like fishbrain without the paywalls." That is the whole market in one sentence.

So this is not a list of clones. Fishbrain does several jobs at once, social feed, catch log, map, forecast, and no single app replaces all of it cleanly. What most anglers actually want is the core, logging catches, seeing a map, being part of a community, without paying a subscription to do the basics. Below are six apps that cover those jobs, with an honest note on where each one is strong and where it is not.

Quick verdict

Short on time? Here is the one-line pick for each need.

• Want the closest free replacement (log, map, community, marketplace)? GilledIt.
• Want a genuinely free all-rounder with a big US community? FishAngler.
• Want the best marine charts and bathymetry? Navionics (paid, but that is its whole job).
• Want deep trip analytics and gear tracking? ANGLR.
• Want Midwest US lake maps? onX Fish.
• Want tournament-style catch verification? MyCatch.

Why anglers are leaving Fishbrain

Two things changed the mood around Fishbrain.

First, the paywall crept. Fishbrain Pro now holds the features people relied on: exact catch positions, the BiteTime forecast, depth contours and species predictions. Free users still get a feed and basic logging, but the parts that help you actually catch fish are the parts you now pay for. That is a normal freemium move, and for some anglers it is worth it, but it is why "free alternative to fishbrain" is a search people type on purpose.

Second, Fishbrain stepped back from running its own tackle marketplace. The trade magazine Fishing Tackle Retailer reported the company dissolving its direct e-commerce operation and pivoting toward retailer partnerships and in-app points of interest rather than selling gear itself. If buying and selling tackle inside the app mattered to you, that door has effectively closed on Fishbrain.

Neither of these makes Fishbrain a bad app. It says it has more than 15 million registered members, and it has a genuinely large catch database in the US. But if you are here, you have probably decided the subscription is not for you. Fair enough. Here is where to go.

Fishbrain alternatives compared

Prices and tiers change. Check each app's current store listing before you commit, especially the difference between "free to download" and "free to use," because that is exactly the gap that sends people looking for a Fishbrain alternative in the first place.

1. GilledIt: the closest free replacement

GilledIt is the app we build, so treat this section with the appropriate pinch of salt and check the claims yourself. Here is the honest version.

GilledIt keeps the core free to use, not just free to download. That means catch logging with photos, species, weight, bait and GPS, an interactive map of catches and venues, the community feed, weekly challenges and messaging, with no ads, and no "upgrade to see your own catch location" moment. It also runs an escrow-backed marketplace for buying and selling tackle, the feature Fishbrain walked away from.

There is a paid tier, GilledIt Pro, at $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year with a 7-day free trial. It unlocks unlimited catch logging and a Pro angler badge. That is it. The map, the venue directory, the marketplace and the community stay free. Worth noting the annual price undercuts Fishbrain Pro's $74.99.

Where GilledIt is weaker: our US catch database is younger than Fishbrain's. If your whole reason for opening a fishing app is crowd-sourced spots on a lake in Texas, Fishbrain's reported fifteen million members still hold more historical pins than we do today. We are honest about that. If your reason is logging your own catches, keeping a map, buying and selling gear and being part of a community without a subscription, GilledIt does that job now.

Best for: anglers who want the Fishbrain feature set, minus the paywall on the basics. You can see how GilledIt compares to Fishbrain feature by feature or download the app and log your first catch free.

2. FishAngler: the free all-rounder

FishAngler makes the strongest "genuinely free" claim of the big US apps, and it backs it up with a full feature set: catch logging, maps, forecasts and a social feed at no cost. If you want something close to Fishbrain's shape but without the Pro tier, this is the obvious first stop alongside GilledIt.

The trade-off is polish. Some anglers find the interface dated compared with newer apps, and the forecast and map layers, while free, are not as slick as a paid product like Navionics. But "free and a bit dated" beats "polished but paywalled" for a lot of people, and FishAngler has a real US community behind it.

Best for: anglers who want a free Fishbrain-style all-rounder and do not mind older styling.

3. Navionics: if maps are the whole point

Be clear-eyed about what Navionics is. It is not a catch log or a social app. It is marine charting and navigation, the depth contours, bathymetry and routing you need on the water. If the specific thing you paid Fishbrain Pro for was depth data, Navionics does that job properly, and it is what serious boat anglers use.

It is a subscription, roughly $50 a year depending on region and chart coverage. So you are not escaping a paywall here. You are paying for the best-in-class version of one specific feature, rather than a bundle. Pair it with a free logging app like GilledIt or FishAngler and you have covered both jobs.

Best for: boat and saltwater anglers who mainly want charts.

4. ANGLR: for the data-driven angler

ANGLR leans into logging and trip analytics harder than Fishbrain ever did. It tracks your trips, your gear, your conditions and your patterns, and it is built for the angler who wants to review data and find what actually works, rather than scroll a feed. The app itself is free. The optional Bullseye tracker, a Bluetooth button that logs a catch and its conditions with one press, is a $29.99 accessory, not a subscription.

What you give up is community. ANGLR is more of a personal logbook than a social network. If half of what you liked about Fishbrain was seeing other people's catches, ANGLR will feel quiet. If half of what you liked was your own history and stats, it will feel like an upgrade.

Best for: anglers who treat fishing like a data problem.

5. onX Fish: Midwest lake maps

onX built its name on hunting maps and brought the same approach to fishing: detailed lake maps, depth data and boat ramps. There is a free tier (lake finder, GPS, offline maps), with species filters, regulations and fishery insights on a paid membership at $34.99 a year, and the mapping is genuinely good.

The catch is coverage. onX Fish is currently Midwest US only, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and neighbouring states, with more coming. So it is no help to a UK, European or coastal angler yet, and it is a mapping app, not a catch-logging social one. Buy the membership for the maps, log your catches somewhere else.

Best for: Midwest US freshwater anglers who prioritise map detail.

6. MyCatch: tournaments and verified catches

MyCatch, from Angler's Atlas, is built around events and verified catches, photo and measurement verification for online tournaments and research. If the competitive side of Fishbrain appealed to you, or you want your catches verified rather than just posted, MyCatch fills a niche the others do not.

It is less suited to everyday, casual logging. You can use it that way, but its centre of gravity is tournaments and citizen-science data. Know that going in.

Best for: anglers who fish online tournaments or want verified catches.

How to choose

Stop looking for a single Fishbrain replacement. You will not find one, because Fishbrain was doing four jobs and charging for the best parts. Instead, decide which job matters most:

• If you want the whole bundle without a paywall, start with GilledIt or FishAngler. Both keep the core free.
• If you want the best version of one feature (marine charts, lake maps, analytics), buy the specialist, Navionics, onX or ANGLR, and log your catches in a free app alongside it.
• If community is the point, GilledIt and FishAngler have active feeds. ANGLR and the map specialists do not.

The honest summary

Fishbrain is a good app that decided its best features were worth a subscription. If you agree, keep paying. If you do not, you have real options that keep catch logging, maps and community free, which is all most anglers wanted in the first place.

Fishing in the UK? We have written a UK-specific rundown of Fishbrain alternatives, with UK venues and species in mind. Ready to switch now? Browse the free catch log and marketplace, or download the app and log your first catch free.