What Road Trip does

Road Trip is a native iOS/macOS application suite that enables individual vehicle owners to log fuel fill-ups, maintenance events, and expenses, then derive fuel economy statistics, cost-per-mile metrics, depreciation, and CO2 emissions from that data. The suite comprises three Apple App Store SKUs — Road Trip for iPhone/iPod touch, Road Trip HD for iPad and Mac, and a free Road Trip Lite — developed and maintained since December 2008 by individual developer Darren Stone (darrensoft.ca, Canada). The technology stack is built on Apple-native iOS frameworks with cloud synchronization via iCloud and Dropbox, optional GPS-tagged entries, Siri Shortcuts and x-callback-url automation, multi-currency conversion, electric vehicle and motor boat (hours-metered) support, and a native .roadtrip file format with CSV import/export compatible with seven competing apps (Fuelly, ACar, MPG, Gas Cubby, TankPro, AccuFuel, Car Care).

The business model is a one-time paid download on the Apple App Store with a freemium Lite version as the top-of-funnel acquisition vehicle. Pricing is not publicly disclosed on the company website but falls in an estimated $0.99–$4.99 range per SKU. Distribution is exclusively through Apple's App Store globally, with localization in 14+ languages. The company is a sole proprietorship with no disclosed headcount, no institutional capital, no board, and no formal management team. Go-to-market is product-led via App Store discovery, organic search through the darrensoft.ca website, and a standalone CSV Importer web tool that doubles as an SEO acquisition surface for users migrating from competing apps.

The customer base is a long-tail of individual consumers — primarily car owners, with secondary use cases for Tesla/EV drivers, motor boat owners with hour-metered engines, and homeowners tracking heating oil. There are no enterprise contracts, named B2B logos, or disclosed revenue figures. The product has shipped 20+ major versions over 17 years, with version v20.0 released May 31, 2026, indicating active single-developer maintenance rather than active user acquisition or market expansion.

Name

Road Trip

Legal name

Darren Stone

Website

https://darrensoft.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Road Trip is a 17-year-old native iOS/macOS app suite (Road Trip, Road Trip HD, Road Trip Lite) by sole developer Darren Stone in Canada that helps individual vehicle owners track fuel economy, maintenance, expenses, and depreciation via App Store one-time purchases.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Not specified

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. App Store Purchases: One-time purchase model with three app variants: Road Trip for iPhone ($0.99-$4.99 estimated range), Road Trip HD for iPad and Mac, and Road Trip Lite free version. Users pay once to own the app; no subscription mentioned.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Road Trip is a native iOS, iPadOS, and macOS application that lets individual vehicle owners log fuel fill-ups, maintenance events, and vehicle expenses to compute fuel economy (MPG, L/100km, kWh/mi), service reminders, and total cost of ownership. It is sold as a one-time paid App Store download across three SKUs (Road Trip for iPhone, Road Trip HD for iPad/Mac, and a free Road Trip Lite) and supports multi-vehicle tracking, multiple fuel types including electric kWh, hour-metered boat engines, and home heating oil, with cloud sync via iCloud or Dropbox and import/export via CSV.

Product overview

Road Trip is a suite of three iOS/macOS applications for tracking vehicle fuel economy, maintenance, and expenses. The core products are Road Trip (iPhone/iPod touch), Road Trip HD (iPad/Mac), and Road Trip Lite (free version). These apps work as a unified product line with shared data formats, allowing sync between devices via iCloud or Dropbox. The product ecosystem also includes a web-based CSV Importer tool for migrating data from competing apps, and comprehensive user documentation. The apps support tracking multiple vehicles, various fuel types including electric, machinery metered by hours, and home heating oil, with features spanning fuel economy calculation, maintenance reminders, trip/reports, tire management, currency conversion, and data export to CSV.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Road Trip (iPhone) Native iOS application for iPhone and iPod touch that lets individual vehicle owners log fuel fill-ups, maintenance events, and vehicle expenses, then compute fuel economy (MPG, L/100km, kWh/mi), cost per mile/day, CO2 emissions, and depreciation. Features a custom touch keypad for fast at-the-pump data entry, GPS/location awareness, multiple currency support, tire log tracking, and sync via iCloud or Dropbox.
• Road Trip HD (iPad and Mac) Dedicated iPadOS and macOS version of Road Trip with an interface optimized for larger screens, including fully-resizable windows, a drill-down Statistics view, and the full Road Trip feature set for tablet and desktop use.
• Road Trip Lite (Free Version) Free version of the Road Trip app on the App Store that lets prospective users try the core vehicle-tracking experience before upgrading to the full paid version, with the ability to transfer data to the full app.

Quantifiable outcome

• Tracks fuel economy, maintenance, and expenses for multiple vehicles including support for electric vehicles, boats with hour meters, and home heating oil

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration18 records

Feature19 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• ApplecoreTechnology or IntegrationRoad Trip is a native iOS application distributed exclusively on Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac). Integrates with iOS Shortcuts (Siri voice commands), iOS Shortcuts app, home screen actions, and uses iOS location services for GPS tracking. App icon updated for iOS 18 Dark Mode.
• iCloud (Apple)coreTechnology or IntegrationiCloud sync for online backups and multi-device synchronization. Built into iOS with no separate account setup required. Automatic background syncing when exiting app and on launch.
• DropboxcoreTechnology or IntegrationDropbox sync for online backups and multi-device synchronization with additional features: syncing between multiple people with different accounts, automatic CSV backups to computer, one-month change history for data recovery. Does not require Dropbox app installation and does not count toward 3-device limit.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Fuelly: Fuelly is a web and mobile fuel economy tracking service used by consumers to log fill-ups and monitor MPG across vehicles. It is a direct competitor to Road Trip in the consumer fuel/expense tracking category and is explicitly listed as a source Road Trip supports for CSV data import.
• aCar: aCar is a vehicle maintenance and fuel economy tracking app available on Android and iOS. It directly competes with Road Trip on fuel logging, maintenance reminders, and expense tracking, and is named as a supported import source.
• Fuelio: Fuelio is a popular consumer fuel tracking app on Android and iOS for logging fill-ups, costs, and consumption statistics. It directly competes with Road Trip on fuel economy tracking and shares overlapping features such as GPS tagging and consumption analytics.
• Drivvo: Drivvo is a vehicle management and fuel consumption tracking app for Android and iOS covering fuel, expenses, and services. It directly competes with Road Trip in the consumer vehicle management category with broadly overlapping functionality.
• TankPro: TankPro is a fuel and tank tracking application that helps users monitor fuel usage and refills. It is a direct competitor that Road Trip explicitly supports for CSV data import.
• Gas Cubby: Gas Cubby is a consumer iOS app for tracking vehicle fuel, maintenance, and expenses with cloud sync. It directly competes with Road Trip in the consumer vehicle management category and is named as a supported import source.
• Simply Auto: Simply Auto is a consumer vehicle management app for iOS and Android that tracks fuel, maintenance, and expenses. It directly competes with Road Trip in the consumer vehicle management category with substantially overlapping functionality.

Emerging players

• MileIQ: MileIQ is an automatic mileage tracking app from Microsoft that focuses on business mileage logging via automatic drive detection. While more business-mileage focused than Road Trip's fuel/maintenance breadth, it competes for the same iOS driver mindshare and App Store visibility.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Road Trip