Cobia vs Fishbrain
Fishbrain charges $79.99 a year for the tools that actually find fish. Cobia gives them to you free, adds an AI guide you can talk to, and has no subscription that shows anybody your pins.
Android coming soon
Prices and features checked October 17, 2026. Sources at the bottom of the page.
Fishbrain is the biggest fishing social network, and the tools that actually help you catch fish, BiteTime forecasts, spot prediction on the map, the seven day forecast, depth maps, lure picks and exact catch locations, are part of Fishbrain Pro at $79.99 a year. Cobia gives you a scored daily briefing, Strike Zones on the map, an AI guide you can talk to, depth contours, habitat layers and lure picks from your own tackle box for free, only ranks catches shot live in the app, and has no paid tier that lets anybody see your pins.
$0 against $79.99 a year
Here is what Fishbrain Pro puts behind the paywall, next to what you get in Cobia for nothing.
Cobia
$0every feature, today
- Daily briefing with a bite score and the reasoning
- Strike Zones, where fish should be on the map
- AI fishing guide, no message limit
- Depth contours and habitat layers
- Lure picks from the tackle you own
- Verified catches, crowns, Slams and leaderboards
- No paid tier that can see your pins
Fishbrain Pro
$79.99a year for the paid tier
- BiteTime best times to fish
- The seven day weather forecast
- Navionics depth maps
- Lure recommendations
- Local catch reports with exact catch positions
- Spot prediction on the map
- Private waypoints and private catch notes
- An ad free experience
Fishbrain Pro is $12.99 a month or $79.99 a year after a three day trial, and the App Store also lists a $14.99 monthly plan. Checked October 17, 2026 on Fishbrain’s own pricing page and App Store listing.
Cobia and Fishbrain, feature by feature
Read off each app’s own pricing page, App Store listing and help center. Where we could not confirm a feature, the row is left out rather than guessed.
| Feature | Cobia | Fishbrain |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | Free. Every feature, no subscription | Free tier with ads. Pro is $12.99 a month or $79.99 a year |
| AI fishing guide you can talk to | Free and unlimited, grounded in live conditions and your tackle | No chat assistant found. AI powers Pro forecasts and spot prediction |
| When to go forecast | Free. Daily bite score with the reasoning, plus solunar windows | Pro only, BiteTime |
| Where fish should be, on the map | Free today. Strike Zones shades the water in four tiers, fair to hot | Pro only, AI spot prediction on the map |
| Multi day outlook | Free. Seven day lookahead | Pro only, seven day forecast |
| Depth contours on the fishing map | Free. NOAA BlueTopo and CRM soundings | Pro only, Navionics depth maps |
| Lure recommendations | Free. Ranked from the lures you already own | Pro only |
| Species ID | Free. With your state size and bag limit on the same screen | AI fish ID |
| Catch verification | Shot live in the Cobia Camera is Authentic. Only Authentic ranks | Camera roll photos accepted. Implausible catches are flagged |
| Leaderboards and challenges | Free. Crowns at every water, species top tens, weekly boards, Slams | Monthly catch count per species |
| Who can see exact catch pins | Only what the angler chose to share. No paid tier shows more | Pro members see exact pins for public catches |
| Location privacy per catch | Exact, general area, or water body only | Exact spot, water name only, or secret |
| Ads | None in the feed | Ads on the free tier. Removing them is Pro |
| Platforms | iPhone. Android in development | iPhone, Android and the web |
Where Cobia pulls ahead of Fishbrain
Nothing to subscribe to
All twenty one features are free today. No trial timer, no credit card, no feature that used to be free and now is not.
A forecast map, free
Strike Zones shades the water in four tiers, fair, good, great and hot, by running live conditions, depth, habitat and real catch history through a model. Free today, and the one layer we may price later, so you would hear it here first.
Your pin is not the product
No paid tier shows anyone more of your catch than a free account sees. Share an exact pin, a general area, or just the water, catch by catch.
An AI guide you can actually talk to
Ask it anything. It reads your tide station, the wind, the water temperature, your catch history and your tackle box before it answers, with no credits and no cap.
The data others charge for
Depth contours from NOAA BlueTopo, FWC seagrass and oyster layers, named NOAA tide stations and water temperature from more than 6,400 stations, all free.
Leaderboards that mean something
Only catches shot live in the Cobia Camera rank. A three year old photo from another state cannot take your crown.
A game, not just a log
Crowns at every named water, a top ten for each of 605 species, weekly boards, and Slams you build for your own crew.
It knows what is in your box
Snap a tackle shop receipt and every lure is added. Recommendations come from what you own, not from what somebody is selling.
Nobody pays to see where you fish
On Fishbrain, exact catch positions are part of what Pro sells. Fishbrain’s own help center says public catches appear on the map as green pins visible to all Fishbrain Pro members, and local catch reports go down to a one mile radius. You can hide a catch, but the default incentive runs the other way: other anglers’ public spots are the product. Cobia sells nothing of the kind. A free account and every other account see exactly the same thing, which is only what the angler chose to share.
- Three choices on every catch, exact location, general area, or water body only
- A point that cannot be reversed, made once on our server from a random seed
- The same view for everyone, because there is no paid tier to see more
- Under 18 accounts cannot share an exact pin at all
Where Fishbrain is ahead
A comparison that only lists our strengths is an ad. So here is where we would point you at the other app.
- A much bigger community. Fishbrain says it has more than 15 million anglers, and that is years of logged catches behind every map.
- Android and the web today. Cobia is iPhone only while the Android build is finished.
- Licensed Navionics depth maps for Pro subscribers.
Cobia and Fishbrain, answered
The download and a free tier are. Catch logging, the feed and groups are free, with ads. BiteTime, the seven day forecast, depth maps, lure recommendations and exact catch positions are Fishbrain Pro, which is $12.99 a month or $79.99 a year on Fishbrain’s site.
If you log a catch as public with the exact spot, Fishbrain’s help center says it appears as a pin visible to every Pro member. You can share only the water name or keep it secret instead. On Cobia there is no paid tier that sees more than a free account does.
Yes. The things Fishbrain sells as Pro have a free equivalent in Cobia: a daily bite score and solunar windows instead of BiteTime, Strike Zones instead of spot prediction on the map, a seven day lookahead, depth contours, and lure recommendations ranked from your own tackle box. Cobia adds an AI guide you can talk to, habitat layers and a receipt scanning tackle box.
You can bring catch photos in from your camera roll and they fill in your log and your Fishdex™. They are labeled Imported rather than Authentic, because Cobia cannot verify a photo it did not take, so they count for you but do not rank on leaderboards.
Yes. All twenty one features are free to use today, including the AI fishing guide, depth contours, habitat layers and Strike Zones, with no trial timer and no credit card. Strike Zones is the one layer that may be priced later, and no decision has been made.
Not yet. Cobia is on iPhone with iOS 17 or later, and an Android build is in development.
How Cobia stacks up against the rest
Cobia vs FishAngler
A free tier with ads, and its FINN AI, bite windows, depth maps and other anglers’ exact catch GPS on VIP.
CompareCobia vs Fishidy
A spot and map app whose depth contours, structure layers, hot spots and forecasts are Premium.
CompareCobia vs Fishing Points
A private logbook and forecast app that shows today free and everything further out on Premium.
CompareCobia vs onWater
A freshwater and river app whose Angler Intelligence Chat and photo ID are on onWater+, and depth maps on Pro.
CompareSources
Every claim about Fishbrain on this page was checked on October 17, 2026. Prices change, so check the current price before you buy anything. Fishbrain is a trademark of its owner and is named here only to identify the app being compared. Cobia is not affiliated with it.
Try it on your own water
Download Cobia, set your home water, and see whether tomorrow morning’s briefing beats what you are paying Fishbrain for.
Android coming soon
iPhone, iOS 17 or later. Setup takes about a minute.