Arccos Alternatives Without Sensors (2026)

The main Arccos alternatives without sensors are phone-based apps: golfity, Golf Pad, UpGame, 18Birdies and The Grint. You give up automatic shot detection, and in return there’s no $250 sensor kit to buy and no post-round session fixing missed or phantom shots.

That’s the whole trade. Everything below is about which of those five apps fits the way you play, and how much strokes gained each one really gives you.

What Arccos Costs, for Reference

Arccos sells its smart sensor set for $249.99 on arccosgolf.com. The first year of membership is included, then it renews at $199.99 a year. The sensors screw into your grips and record full swings automatically, and the app turns that into strokes gained by category.

It works well for golfers who want data with almost no effort during the round. But a set of sensors and a yearly bill is a lot to pay before you know whether you’ll keep tracking. Automatic detection also means checking the shot log after the round for anything the sensors missed or added. If that cost or that cleanup is why you’re searching for an Arccos alternative, the apps below skip both.

If you want automation but not the subscription, Shot Scope is the hardware alternative: a GPS watch with club tags, sold as a one-time purchase. It’s still hardware, though, so it isn’t covered here. Our Arccos vs Shot Scope vs golfity comparison goes through it in detail.

Arccos Alternatives Without Sensors, Compared

Prices checked October 2026 on each vendor’s site or App Store listing. Prices vary by region.

golfity: Strokes Gained First, No Sensors

I build golfity, so weigh this section accordingly. The app exists for one job: giving amateurs real strokes gained, the framework Mark Broadie built from PGA Tour ShotLink data. It’s professional-grade analytics, now on your phone, no sensors needed.

golfity is free to start. The free core covers round tracking, core stats, round history, CSV export, and your total strokes gained against the PGA Tour. Pro costs $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year, with a 7-day trial. It adds the breakdown by shot type and by club, handicap benchmarks so you can compare yourself with golfers at your level, putting by distance, and a coach’s note after each round.

The trade-off is manual entry. You log each shot on your phone, which takes a few minutes across a round. If you won’t do that, golfity isn’t the right app. If you will, you get strokes gained without buying any hardware. You can see what one round looks like in the strokes gained calculator before installing anything.

Golf Pad: GPS Plus Strokes Gained, Optional Tags

Golf Pad is a GPS rangefinder with shot tracking, a scorecard and stats in the free version. Strokes gained sits in Premium, which Golf Pad lists at $29.99 to $49.99 a year with a 14-day trial. Its strokes gained breaks your round down hole by hole, shot by shot and club by club, against PGA Tour, scratch, 10 or 20 handicap baselines.

Golf Pad also sells optional TAGS ($99 one-time, including a year of Premium) for tap-to-track club logging. You don’t need them, so Golf Pad belongs on this list, but they’re there if you later want something closer to automatic. It has the widest platform coverage of the group, including Wear OS watches.

UpGame: Tour-Level Detail, Tour-Level Pricing

UpGame, now part of Trackman, logs shots with drag-and-drop on a course map and measures you against PGA and LPGA strokes gained averages. Trackman says no Trackman hardware is required, though the app can link a Trackman account so simulator rounds sit next to on-course ones.

On the US App Store it lists Basic at $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year and Pro at $29.99 a month or $299 a year. That’s the most expensive option here by a distance. Trackman pitches UpGame at tour players, college teams and national federations, and the price reflects who it’s for.

18Birdies: GPS, Social Features and Premium Strokes Gained

18Birdies gives you GPS, a scorecard and social features for free. Strokes gained is a Premium feature, listed at $19.99 a month or $99.99 a year with a 7-day trial. Its Premium page also lists club recommendations, 3D green maps and an AI swing analyzer.

If you mostly want a GPS app for rounds with your regular group, and strokes gained is an extra, 18Birdies fits. Its pricing page doesn’t say which strokes gained categories you get, so check that in the trial before paying for a year.

The Grint: Handicaps and Group Play

The Grint is built around scorekeeping and handicap tracking with friends. The free plan covers scores, GPS and playing with friends. Pro adds advanced stats, community performance benchmarks and green maps. The US App Store listing doesn’t describe a strokes gained feature by that name, and it shows several Pro prices without saying which plan each one is, so check the price in the app.

If handicap and group games matter more to you than shot-level analysis, The Grint fits. If strokes gained is the reason you looked at Arccos, one of the apps above will get you closer.

How to Pick an Arccos Alternative

Start with the question that made you look at Arccos in the first place.

• You want strokes gained and don’t want to buy hardware: golfity or Golf Pad. golfity shows total strokes gained before you pay anything; Golf Pad puts it all in Premium but bundles a full GPS app.
• You’re a competitive player or coach and the budget is there: UpGame.
• GPS and your weekly group come first, stats second: 18Birdies or The Grint.
• You want automatic tracking after all: Arccos, or Shot Scope if you’d rather pay once.

Our honest comparison of the best golf stats apps in 2026 covers the wider field, including GPS-first apps.

If you want to see where your strokes go without buying sensors, download golfity and log your next round. Total strokes gained is free, and the features page shows what Pro adds.