Let's get the honest part out of the way first: Arccos is extraordinary. Sensors in the grips, automatic shot detection, strokes gained against a real benchmark, club recommendations. If you are working on your game and you will actually read the data, there is nothing on this page that should talk you out of it.
This page is for the other person. The one who bought in, stopped opening the analytics after the third month, and is now paying a recurring fee for what has quietly become an expensive scorecard.
The subscription question
Arccos pricing is the loudest single grievance in amateur golf. Golfers talk openly about cancelling it and replacing the whole system with one-time-purchase hardware, and they do it knowing they're taking a downgrade — that is how much the recurring charge grates.
Worth being precise about what you're weighing: sensors and bundles typically run $180–$300 up front, and membership lands somewhere around $100–$200 a year depending on plan and renewal. Prices move; check Arccos for the current numbers before you quote us.
SimplyStroke is free. There is no tier, and no renewal.
Side by side
| SimplyStroke | Arccos Caddie | |
|---|---|---|
| What it's for | Counting strokes. Nothing else | Shot tracking & strokes gained |
| Cost | Free | ~$100–$200/yr + hardware |
| Hardware | None | Sensors, ~$180–$300 |
| Taps to log a stroke | 1 | 0 — the sensors do it |
| Strokes gained analytics | No | Yes, best in class |
| Lost balls & penalties | Just tap. It counts | A known weak spot |
| Works fully offline | Yes | No, needs sync |
| Account to start | No | Yes |
If you read the data, keep Arccos. It is the best shot-tracking system in golf and SimplyStroke is not an alternative to it in any meaningful sense.
If you stopped reading the data and kept paying the invoice — you're renting an analytics platform to do a job a free app does in one tap. That's the whole pitch, and it only applies to you if you already know it does.
The one thing Arccos genuinely can't do
Automatic shot detection works by sensing the swing. Which means the shots it struggles with are the ones where things go wrong: a ball out of bounds, a ball in the water, a provisional, a re-tee. Arccos users raise this constantly, and it is not a small complaint, because those are exactly the shots that decide your score.
A stroke counter has no opinion about where the ball went. You swung, so it counts. That is a stupid advantage, and it is a real one.
Common questions
Is there an Arccos alternative without a subscription?
It depends what you were using Arccos for. If you want strokes gained analytics without a recurring fee, the usual answer is Shot Scope, which is a one-time hardware purchase. If what you actually want is an accurate score without the sensors, the subscription or the analytics, a free one-tap stroke counter like SimplyStroke does that and costs nothing.
How much does Arccos cost?
Arccos combines a hardware purchase with an ongoing membership. Sensors and bundles typically run $180 to $300 up front, and the membership runs roughly $100 to $200 a year depending on plan and renewal terms. Check Arccos directly for current pricing. SimplyStroke is free with no hardware and no subscription.
Is Arccos worth it?
If you are genuinely working on your game and you will look at the data, yes. Arccos is the most complete automatic shot-tracking and strokes gained system available, and nothing in the free tier of the market comes close to it. If you bought it and now mostly use it as an expensive scorecard, that is a different question, and it is the question this page is about.
Can Arccos track a lost ball or a penalty?
This is a well-documented frustration among Arccos users: shots that go out of bounds, into a hazard or are lost are exactly the ones the sensors handle worst, and they are also the ones that matter most to your score. A stroke counter has no such problem, because it does not care where the ball went. You swung; it counts.
Which is better for just keeping score?
SimplyStroke, and it is not close. Arccos is an analytics platform: it needs sensors screwed into your grips, a phone in your pocket, a synced round and an account. SimplyStroke needs one tap. If the score is the only output you care about, everything else in the Arccos stack is machinery you are paying for and not using.