We respect what Hilton’s Realtime-Navigator does well. Here is exactly where we're different and where we're not.
Hilton’s is the established offshore imagery service: sea temp, chlorophyll, true colour, surface currents and altimetry — salinity too in some areas — with a trip planner on top, priced per region. Fishare’s wedge is the model on top of the data — a per-species habitat score — plus a free forecast app and global, single-price coverage. If you want the trusted US imagery library, Hilton’s. If you want a model to tell you where the species habitat is today, that is us.
Hilton’s is the decades-old US offshore satellite-charts standard, priced ~US$200/yr per region. Fishare does not out-imagery it; it adds the layer Hilton’s lacks — a per-species habitat model — wrapped in a free, global forecast app.
Hilton’s Realtime-Navigator has been the offshore tournament planner for a long time: by their own pages, sea temp, chlorophyll, true colour, surface currents and altimetry imagery, plus salinity where it is available, sold per region across the US coasts and tropics, with a web Trip Planner that routes up to 12 waypoints and a companion nav app that will run a route to a saved spot. (From 31 August to 19 October 2026 this page labelled their salinity imagery and trip planning unverified; both are described on their own “Why Use Hilton’s?” page, so they are stated as fact again.) The imagery is genuinely strong and we do not claim parity. What Hilton’s does not do is decide for you — like the other imagery tools, it shows the ocean and leaves the per-species read to the angler. Fishare’s HSI is exactly that missing layer: it scores SST + thermal front + shelf-break slope per species into one suitability map, with eddy influence folded in across AU East Coast, AU West Coast, New Zealand, US East + Gulf, US West Coast, Hawaii and South Australia & West Vic, and it comes inside a free forecast app rather than behind a per-region annual wall.
A factual head-to-head across the features that matter for the fishing-decision use case.
| Feature | Hilton’s Realtime-Navigator | Fishare |
|---|---|---|
| SST / chlorophyll imagery | Yes — established, deep history | Yes, since September 2026 — every VIIRS and AVHRR pass of the last 72 hours drawn as observed, clouds left as holes, with 24 h and 72 h composites, chlorophyll by satellite day and the daily gap-filled field; 30 days of passes and daily composites kept per region (their archive runs deeper) |
| Altimetry (SSH) | Yes | Yes — the height field coloured over the range in view, with labelled contours in cm, across AU East Coast, AU West Coast, New Zealand, US East + Gulf, US West Coast, Hawaii, Baja & Sea of Cortez, South Australia & West Vic, Top End & Gulf of Carpentaria, Caribbean & southern Gulf, Eastern Tropical Pacific, South-west Pacific and Canadian Maritimes |
| Salinity | Yes — “not available in all areas”, by their own feature page | Yes — modelled surface salinity, daily, every region |
| Integrated trip / fuel planning | Yes — a web Trip Planner (up to 12 waypoints, distance and bearing per leg) that their own page says helps work out the time and fuel a run takes; the nav app runs a “Go To” route to a saved spot | No |
| Per-species habitat model | No | Yes — HSI scores SST + front + shelf-break per species everywhere it runs; the eddy term adds where eddies are baked (AU East Coast, AU West Coast, New Zealand, US East + Gulf, US West Coast, Hawaii and South Australia & West Vic) |
| Per-species bite score | No | Yes — multi-input model, 200+ species profiled |
| Full forecast app (wind/swell/tide/AIS) | Weather + imagery focus | Yes — one canvas, 14-day slider |
| Coverage model | Per-region (buy each region) | One price for every covered region: the daily SST field, the 5-day SST forecast, daily chlorophyll, temperature at depth, surface salinity, satellite passes and composites and chlorophyll by satellite day across AU East Coast, AU West Coast, New Zealand, US East + Gulf, US West Coast, Hawaii, Baja & Sea of Cortez, South Australia & West Vic, Top End & Gulf of Carpentaria, Caribbean & southern Gulf, Eastern Tropical Pacific, South-west Pacific, Canadian Maritimes, UK & Ireland and Japan & Kuroshio; SSH and surface currents across AU East Coast, AU West Coast, New Zealand, US East + Gulf, US West Coast, Hawaii, Baja & Sea of Cortez, South Australia & West Vic, Top End & Gulf of Carpentaria, Caribbean & southern Gulf, Eastern Tropical Pacific, South-west Pacific and Canadian Maritimes; the per-species habitat score across AU East Coast, AU West Coast, New Zealand, US East + Gulf, US West Coast, Hawaii, South Australia & West Vic, UK & Ireland and Japan & Kuroshio; eddies in the habitat score across AU East Coast, AU West Coast, New Zealand, US East + Gulf, US West Coast, Hawaii and South Australia & West Vic |
| Tide stations | Some | Thousands of harmonic stations worldwide |
| Closures / reserves | No | Yes — NSW DPIRD polygons rendered |
| Free tier | No — paid per region | Forever-free forecast; HSI is the paid layer |
| Price | US$200/yr, +US$30 per extra region | Free + a single HSI subscription |
Hilton’s Realtime-Navigator's pricing structure against Fishare's. The forecast app is free; the ocean-intelligence layers (SST, HSI and friends) are the single paid tier.
Pricing re-verified 2026-10-19, unchanged since 2026-07-31, against their own order form at realtime-navigator.com/signup/, which offers "1 Year ($200.00 + $30/ea. add’l region)", "1 Month ($74.99 + $30/ea. add’l region)" and "1 Week ($49.99 + $30/ea. add’l region)". A day pass and a six-month option are present in the page but commented out, so they are not currently on sale. The first region sets the base price and every extra region adds US$30.
Live since July 2026. Users who signed up before the paid flip keep the layers free for life (founding members).
Limitations of Hilton’s Realtime-Navigator that come up in our own use and in public reviews. We don't list these to attack the product — they're context for the routing below.
At ~US$200/yr per region, an angler who fishes more than one stretch of coast pays multiples. Fishare’s offshore intelligence is one subscription across all covered waters.
Like the other imagery tools, Hilton’s shows the water and leaves the per-species decision to you. There is no catch-trained scoring and no per-species suitability — the model is in the angler’s head.
The strength is US offshore; coverage and relevance thin out elsewhere, and the interface reflects its long history rather than a modern app.
Use-case routing — diplomatic, not flippant. Each row names a specific angler profile and the better tool for that profile.
Brand trust, altimetry and decades of per-region imagery history are the moat for a serious US tournament operation.
That is the HSI’s job — the synthesis Hilton’s leaves to you.
One global subscription vs ~US$200/yr per region; the model works wherever we have coverage.
Hilton’s is imagery + planning; Fishare is the whole trip on one canvas.
Hilton’s optimises for the established US offshore planner — deep imagery, sold per region. Fishare optimises for the per-species answer and a free, global forecast app. The category split is the same as with RipCharts: raw imagery vs a habitat model. Fishare’s bet is that most anglers want the answer, not another imagery toolbox to read.
No direct migration — Hilton’s is an imagery library, Fishare is a forecast + habitat model. A US offshore angler could run Hilton’s for the raw imagery and Fishare for the per-species HSI read; the honest pitch is that the model is the part Hilton’s has never offered.
Pricing re-verified 2026-10-19 first-party against realtime-navigator.com/signup/ (US$200/yr, +US$30 per additional region; week and month passes at US$49.99 and US$74.99 — unchanged since 2026-07-31), which replaced the third-party In The Spread / Sport Fishing figures this page previously leaned on. Feature comparison re-read 2026-10-19 against hiltonsoffshore.com, their “Why Use Hilton’s?” page (realtime-navigator.com/info.php) and their nav-app page: we credit their imagery depth, their salinity imagery where it is available and their Trip Planner explicitly.
The forecast side is free forever — live map, bite score, 7-day forecast and spot pages, no account needed to browse. The ocean-intelligence layers (SST with isotherms and labelled break lines, HSI habitat heatmap, chlorophyll, subsurface temperatures, altimetry) are the single paid tier: US$8.99/mo or US$79/yr across every covered region, with a free look over a window of your own local water.
Hilton’s is the established offshore imagery service: sea temp, chlorophyll, true colour, surface currents and altimetry — salinity too in some areas — with a trip planner on top, priced per region. Fishare’s wedge is the model on top of the data — a per-species habitat score — plus a free forecast app and global, single-price coverage. If you want the trusted US imagery library, Hilton’s. If you want a model to tell you where the species habitat is today, that is us.
A multi-input neural network scored per species, per hour — not a Solunar lookup. Inputs include wind, swell, tide stage, barometric pressure and trend, where the warm-cold water edges are, what the current is doing, moon phase, and a couple of dozen other features per hour. It is decision support built from live conditions, not a guarantee — we publish no accuracy figure, and some days the score is high and the water is dead.
Yes — the native iOS app has been live on the App Store since July 2026 (search "Fishare", or use the direct link apps.apple.com/app/fishare/id6783726939), and it is free for everyone: there is no paid-tier gate on the app itself. A native Android app is on its way to Google Play. Until it lands, Fishare runs on Android as a Progressive Web App: open fishare.app in Chrome, then 'Add to Home Screen' — offline support and push notifications included.
October 2026. We re-verify pricing, feature parity and known limitations each time a major version of Hilton’s Realtime-Navigator ships or pricing tiers change. The reviewed date at the top of the page is the source of truth.
They reflect the version of Hilton’s Realtime-Navigator we checked at the last review date. Software changes; if you spot something that no longer matches the live product, let us know via the feedback link in the app and we'll update.
The hourly bite forecast, the catch log and saved spots are free, forever — no subscription needed. The only paid upgrade is the offshore ocean-intelligence set (SST fronts, currents, chlorophyll, the HSI heatmap): Fishare Pro at US$79/yr (A$119/yr in Australia, NZ$129/yr in New Zealand, billed in your own currency at checkout), with a 7-day free trial and no card required to start.
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