Cars, trucks, trailers, and campers are expensive investments. Adding a GPS tracker to your vehicle is a great way to get peace of mind, keep tabs on usage, and most importantly, prevent loss when it comes to theft. Modern GPS trackers are relatively affordable, small and easy to stash, and even keep connected in case of emergency. There are a variety of reasonsyou might want to add a GPS tracker to a vehicle. Whatever the reason and whatever the use case, we’ve tested the most popular GPS Trackers on the market to help find the perfect one to fit your needs. 

In this guide, we cover GPS trackers that use cell service, satellite networks, and phone Bluetooth to track items from anywhere in the world. We’ll go over the different price points for both the units themselves and monthly service charges, key features of each tracker, what network they operate on, weights, and sizes of all trackers. 

We searched the world wide web to find the most popular GPS trackers available and put them to the test side by side across a variety of cars, trailers, snowmobiles, and more. All in search of the best GPS tracker for any vehicle. To learn more about the details ofGPS trackers and a more in-depth analysis of how these can vary, be sure to check out our comprehensive buying guide, FAQ, and comparison chart below.

Otherwise, scroll through to see all of our recommended buys for 2024.

The GPS Trackers of 2024

GPS Tracker Comparison Chart

Scroll right to view all of the columns: Price, Base Monthly Subscription, Battery Life, GPS Network, Weight, Size.

How We Tested GPS Trackers

Our team tested a pool of GPS trackers head-to-head across multiple vehicles and a range of cell service in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Our primary test vehicles included a 2017 Toyota Tacoma, a 2014 Ford F-150, and a Triton Snowmobile Trailer, plus more than a few drivers.

Lead tester Eric Phillips has been an outdoor professional for the last 10 years along with being an extreme automotive enthusiast. At age 18, he built a truck from the ground up alongside his dad and, while living in Chicago, raced cars. Not one to take a vehicle to a mechanic, Phillips picks up a wrench to complete the maintenance and upgrades his own rigs. Phillips has spent a lot of time using GPS to track himself and his belongings, from working search and rescue, split boarding from huts, and hunting in the remote high alpine to living full-time at 9,000 feet in Colorado. He loves playing with apps and tracking data across phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. 

We tested these units side-by-side by placing them all in the same vehicle and setting the same set of alerts, including the trip start/stop, speed, geofencing, and more. Then we sent off a driver to trigger as many alerts as possible while frantically monitoring each app for notifications, alerts, and data points.

Throughout our field tests and personal experience, we determined the best GPS trackers based on various metrics, including subscription costs, GPS coverage, battery life, ease of use, alerts, tracking data, features, reliability of information, and tracking intervals. 

Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose a GPS Tracker

Plenty of applications of GPS Trackers come to mind including monitoring an everyday vehicle, trailer, motorcycle, or bike for wear and tear, tax or workplace purposes, or security.

GPS Trackers are also helpful for safety, as they ensure that you know where loved ones are located in case of an emergency.

Battery Life

Battery life is a super important factor when choosing a GPS tracker. A dead battery won’t help if your vehicle gets stolen. If you park your camper in storage all winter and want it tracked, using a tracker that requires charging every 10 days won’t make sense. Thats’s why considering the battery life is important when picking out your GPS tracker. 

All of our trackers except for the Bouncie run off battery power. The Bouncie uses the vehicle to power the tracker but that only works if the vehicle is turned on or the car battery is charged. Some models of tracker include power or energy-saving modes that preserve battery life by only tracking at certain intervals. Of these, the LandAirSea 54 stands out with its 4 to 6 month battery life in power-saving mode. 

The Apple AirTag is unique in that it uses a nonrechargeable battery that offers one year of battery life, which is great for hiding in places you don’t need frequent access. 

For the LandAirSea 54, Spytec GL300 Mini, and Tracki, options are available for extending the battery life. That menu includes extended batteries, which are a great alternative when the vehicle or item you want to track does not provide its own power. If the item you want to track does have its own battery, like a car or truck, hardware kits are available, which let you wire the tracker to the vehicle battery so it’s always powered. The downside is wires coming off the battery are easy to find and disconnect in the case of theft. 

Monthly Subscription

While you might think that GPS trackers are cheap, the real cost of using a tracker comes in the form of a monthly subscription needed to use the product. These monthly subscriptions are why these physical trackers are priced so low. The subscriptions cover connecting the trackers to satellites and cell towers and unlocking functions within the paired apps. 

The stand-out product in this category is the Apple AirTag, which doesn’t require a monthly subscription to track — just an Apple account. Though its tracking is limited to Bluetooth and there is no ability to set alerts, the one-time price of the AirTag is very enticing. 

Second, in the standout aisle is the Bouncie, as its monthly subscription is the cheapest available at only $10 a month. Also, there is no tiered price structure where you pay more per month to track the device in faster intervals.

As you compare the prices of each tracker, be sure to note the monthly subscription prices to get a realistic idea of how much each tracker will cost to operate yearly. 

Specific Design Components

While the main feature of a GPS Tracker is in its name — being able to keep track of the item — there are a lot of details available that make using certain trackers easier and more enjoyable.

One primary aspect is waterproofing. Storing a tracking device outside means it’s going to get wet eventually. The LandAirSea 54 is the only tracker that comes fully waterproof while the other trackers offer some form of a waterproof case. Additional factors that help with outdoor mounting are magnets: The LandAirSea 54 and the Tracki both come with integrated magnets for mounting while the Spytec GL300 Mini includes a magnet-tapped and waterproof case. 

Some other manufacturing specs we like include battery-saver modes, which prolong the life of the battery, and SOS buttons, which let you send custom messages or an SOS alert. Another design detail is vehicle health monitoring, which lets you monitor a vehicle’s engine health, battery health, and fuel levels.

A range of components exist across our tested GPS trackers from the nearly featureless Apple AirTag to the jam-packed Bouncie. 

Real-Time Tracking

Real-time tracking refers to tracking an item or seeing where your tracker is in real-time as it’s moving. This is extremely helpful if you’re looking for a stolen vehicle that’s on the move, or monitoring a family member while they drive. Being able to see in real-time where the tracker is, what speed it’s going, and where it’s headed are huge pluses. Our testers were most impressed with the Bouncie when comparing real-time tracking as it gave the most frequent and also information-heavy updates. 

While some trackers work in real-time, other trackers only update once every one to three minutes or during battery saver modes as spaced out as once every 24 hours. This type of tracking uses less battery and resources but isn’t as helpful if you’re looking for real-time updates. If you’re tracking a family member on a road trip and want to see their progress, a 24-hour update might not be quick enough compared to real-time updates. Most trackers can be switched from real-time tracking into a battery-saver interval tracking mode. 

Alerts

Alerts come in various forms. They can be notifications from a web or phone app, an email message, or an SMS text message. Alerts can be set to one, or multiple people or formats for each alert.

GPS trackers can send alerts when certain parameters are triggered. These can include movement, trip start/stop, fuel levels, hard acceleration/braking, speeding, idle time, geo-fencing, trip fuel economy, distance driven, impact detection, curfews, SOS, and more. We’ve analyzed the three most important ones below. 

Geo-Fencing

Geo-fencing refers to creating an area on a map in the shape of a square or a circle. The tracker will monitor this area and send alerts whenever the tracker leaves the set boundary or geo fence, and again when it enters a geo fence. These can be very helpful when tracking a family member or young driver to ensure they don’t leave the local neighborhood, county, or even state. A good tracker should be able to easily set and create alerts for geo fences and then receive the alerts immediately when they are triggered. 

Speed

Speed refers to setting a max speed, like a speed limit on the tracker. Whenever the tracker moves faster than the set limit, an alert will be sent. So whenever you toss the keys to your ride over to a friend or family member, you can say keep it below X miles an hour and get a real-time alert if it’s broken. 

Trip Start / Stop

Probably the most important feature you would want to know from a tracked vehicle is if it starts or stops moving. If your car starts moving without your permission, an alert from a tracker can quickly alert the owner that a theft may be happening and to call the authorities. An alert like this can really help in cases of theft. Trip alerts can also be helpful when tracking family members so you know when they have started, and ended vehicle trips. The Tracki has the most sensitive trip start sensor as climbing into a vehicle where the tracker was in the center counsel was enough to trigger a trip start alert. 

FAQ