ForeFlight subscription prices increased by 20 percent today. The company posted the new prices on the subscription page of its website late last month. New-purchase plans and renewals will be subject to the new pricing as of March 22.
The cost of the Basic Plus level is now $120 per year (up from $99.99), Pro Plus is now $240 (up from $199.99), and Performance Plus is now $360 (up from $299.99). There will be no impact on the cost of ongoing subscriptions until renewal time, except for legacy (pre-Plus) Basic and Performance plans, which will be discontinued at their renewal date, and subscribers must then go to the ForeFlight website to upgrade to a Plus plan (no autorenewal).
ForeFlight, which was acquired by Boeing in March 2019, explained, “In the more than five years since we introduced the Plus plans, we’ve worked hard to continually add value for all customers while keeping prices unchanged. We’re making this adjustment now to reflect our ever-growing investments to give you the most advanced integrated flight app available. We remain as committed as ever to our mission of making your flight planning easier and your flying safer and more enjoyable, and we sincerely appreciate your business.”
ForeFlight Basic Plus includes VFR and IFR charts, flight planning, aviation weather and traffic, and logbook (with online sync/backup); Pro Plus adds geo-referenced plates, profile view, turbulence and icing layers, and synthetic vision; Performance Plus adds advanced flight planning, pre-departure clearance, and Airport 3D view.
If they posted the price increase a month ago then it might have been nice to have a headsup from avweb. I could of renewed early and locked in the lower rate for a few months longer.
Sorry, Steve. We just got the word today…from an AVweb reader.
Boeing spends big bucks to buy Foreflight, prices go up. I’m shocked. (Sarcasm)
I’m sure that the ForeFlight division is a money-maker for Boeing. They are probably boosting subscription prices to shore up other divisions that are losing money (737-MAX?, 777?). Before Boeing purchased ForeFlight, the company was doing well financially. The price increase might push some users to switch to Garmin Pilot or FlyQ. FlyQ supports the same devices that ForeFlight supports but the top subscription is $169/year vs. $240/year for ForeFlight Pro Plus. There isn’t that much difference in features between the two services. ForeFlight is a great service and I’ve used it for years but if the price continues to go up, I’ll seriously consider switching to FlyQ. I can’t consider switching to Garmin Pilot because I have an Appareo ESG/Stratus 2i ADS-B Out/In system in my airplane, which is not supported by Garmin Pilot. If I had it to do over again, I’d install a Garmin GTX 345 ADS-B In/Out transponder, which is supported by Garmin Pilot and ForeFlight.
Supposedly Garmin Pilot just added Stratus support, though not having one I didn’t look into the specific details. And I always forget about FlyQ.
Better yet, switch to FltPlan Go which is free!
Since Garmin owns FltplanGO wonder how long it will be free?
I switched to Garmin Pilot long ago. It does everything I need, cost less money, and allows me to download charts automatically to my Garmin 650 – something that Foreflight can’t do! The Foreflight was not owned by a large company I was loyal. Now they are all the same. Don’t complain about $50 if you are in aviation that is 1/2 the price of a hamburger!
Not to forget the excellent WingX, my opinion. It’s still reasonably priced, I hope. And I really appreciate the very reasonable price of “free” that they have provided me for some years because of me being a CFI. Yes, if you didn’t know, it is free to CFIs and active military pilots.
I have been using iFly GPS for years and continue to do so. I have used Foreflight when flying Corporate, but for the money I like iFly. I also have FltplanGO too and do like some of those features.
It was only a matter of time. Boeing bought Foreflight to make lots of money off of the pilot group. I use WingX – which is FREE to CFIs and military!!!!!
Another reason why I don’t use Garmin – they have always taken advantage of the pilot group with outlandish subscription fees.
And I will be out.
I’m just finishing testing the iFlyGPS app for VFR flying. It is a little rougher around the edges but is intuitive enough to pick up quickly and much more importantly – it is cross platform. Win/MAC/Android. It synchs your data and settings cross platform. It is not full of bloat code I do not need and GeoReferencing is built in. Not an upcharge.
I will be able to dump the iPad next time it wears out and get a cheap android tablet.
Switch to Avare. VFR charts, IFR high and low, TAC, WAC, terrain, georeferenced plates, georeferenced airport diagrams, ADS-B in traffic display and weather, flight plan filing, weight & balance, nearest airport, checklists and more, and it’s all free for everyone, not just CFI’s.
As an instructor I get Wing X for free. Fly Q for instructors is $20. I subscribed to Foreflight to help students. Now is the time to pull the plug on Foreflight and recommend other apps to students instead. Foreflight has a great platform but has become way too expensive.
In today’s micro-dollars, $240 is just a rounding error for the aviation world.
After many years of flying I am unable to pass a medical. I’ve kept my subscription to ForeFlight because I still like to check TAFS, review airport information and still have access to VFR and IFR charts. When I fly commercially I even update the flight’s route from Flight Aware to ForeFlight and track where we are and where we are going using the Sentry I purchased right before I had to stop flying. I hope Boeing doesn’t price me out of ForeFlight, it’s hard enough already getting use to being a permanent NFP (non- flying pilot).
Good luck and goodbye to ForeFlight. Other sources suffice.
I downgraded from Peformance Plus to Pro Plus when ForeFlight recently told me renewal was going to be $399.99 (not $360). I learned just now that pricing is different if you renew on their website than if you renew in the app. It probably wouldn’t have changed my decision but I wish they’d told me this when I made the decision.
I had iFly and ForeFlight for years and dropped ForeFlight when Boeing bought them. I have iFly running on IOS, ANDROID, and the iFly540b(Windows). I have the iFly connectedto the EFIS and it is just awesome. It is too bad that ForeFlight sold out and now uAvionics.
When Fore Flight first came out, it was Apple based, and still is. I asked about when and or if they were going to offer a Windows / Android version. I was told that they were looking into it. Never happened. Sorry. I have no need or want of Apple and their products.
Yea, that is it for me. Wish I would have bought the life subscription from the other provider.
The extras were interesting to play with. But I really don’t need them that bad.
ForeFlight is a class product. It gets us where we want to go and keeps us from bumping into things (planes, earth, etc) along the way. Their customer service is excellent and they keep adding features – some of which are even useful.
Thought experiment: If 100,000 pilots pay $300 a year, that’s $30 mil. ONE 737 Max is over $100 mil. Boeing is not quite raking it in on the backs of FF users.
Personally I’m glad Boeing is not just letting it die.