Best Arccos Alternatives in 2026: Strokes Gained Without Sensors

The best Arccos alternative for most golfers is a golf app that calculates strokes gained from details you enter during the round, with no sensors on your clubs. SwingU Pro ($99.99 a year) does this and adds a relative handicap for each part of your game plus a drill after every round. Golf Pad Premium and 18Birdies Premium also offer strokes gained. Arccos's real advantage is fully automatic shot tracking, which costs $249.99 or more for hardware plus a $199.99 yearly membership after the first year.

Arccos is the Official Game Tracker of the PGA TOUR, and it's genuinely good at what it does. But a lot of golfers just want to know where they're losing strokes without buying hardware. Here's how the main alternatives compare, and the one tradeoff that matters most: automatic tracking versus entering your own data.

What Does Arccos Do, and What Does It Cost?

Arccos tracks your shots automatically. You either twist Smart Sensors into each club and keep your phone or Apple Watch with you, or you wear Arccos Air, a single wearable that tracks shots without sensors on your clubs or a phone in your pocket. You can also use both.

From that data, Arccos gives you strokes gained analytics against a target handicap, Smart Club Distances, AI Strategy with club recommendations, green maps, and a GPS rangefinder with yardages adjusted for wind, elevation, temperature, humidity and altitude.

Here's what Arccos lists on its site as of October 28, 2026:

• Smart Sensors: $249.99, with the first year of the Game Tracking membership included

• Arccos Air: $349.99, with the first year included

• Game Tracking membership: $199.99 a year after the first year ($16.67 a month, billed annually)

So the first year starts at $249.99, and each year after that is $199.99.

Why Look for an Arccos Alternative?

The most common reasons golfers give are cost and hardware. The ongoing membership is $199.99 a year, and you have to buy sensors or a wearable first. Some golfers also don't want anything screwed into their grips, or they switch clubs often.

The good news is that strokes gained doesn't need sensors. It's a calculation. It compares each part of your round with what a benchmark golfer would do from the same spot. (Here's our plain-English guide to what strokes gained is.) If an app knows roughly where your tee shot finished, how far your approach was, and how long your first putt was, it can do the math.

Automatic vs. Manual Tracking: The Tradeoff

This is the honest difference between Arccos and the apps below.

• Automatic tracking (Arccos): you play, and the hardware records your shots. Arccos says you get a strokes gained breakdown after your first round. The cost is the hardware plus the membership.

• Manual or in-app tracking (SwingU, Golf Pad and others): you spend a few seconds per hole entering details like where your drive finished and how long your first putt was. It costs less, and nothing goes on your clubs. The quality of your stats depends on how consistently and honestly you enter them.

If you know you'll never tap a few buttons between holes, Arccos is worth the money. If you will, an app gets you most of the insight for much less.

The Best Arccos Alternatives at a Glance

Competitor details are from each company's website and help pages, checked October 28, 2026. Prices can change.

SwingU Pro: Best for Knowing What to Practice

SwingU Pro is built around one question: what should you work on next?

When you start a round, you turn on SwingU Strokes Gained in the round settings. On each hole, you enter a few details: where your tee shot finished (fairway, good lie, bad lie, penalty and so on), how far your approach was and what lie you hit it from, whether you needed a chip, pitch or sand shot inside 50 yards, your putts, and the length of your first putt. Most holes only need a few of those taps.

After the round, SwingU Pro gives you:

• Strokes gained for each part of your game, compared with a target handicap you choose, from +6 to 30

• A relative handicap for driving, approach, chip/pitch, sand and putting, so you can see that you might drive it like a 5 but chip like a 20

• Your #1 improvement priority, with a drill from a Top-100 teacher

• SwingU TV, with 600+ lessons and drills

SwingU's strokes gained is used by 50+ active tour players and 100+ college golfers. Pro also includes everything in SwingU Plus, like "Plays Like" yardages for wind and elevation, club recommendations and StrackaLine Green Maps for 20,000+ courses. It's $99.99 a year ($8.33 a month, billed annually). For more on how the numbers work, see how strokes gained works in golf.

The tradeoff: SwingU doesn't track your shots automatically the way Arccos does. You get the insight by entering your data.

Golf Pad Premium: Lowest Price for Strokes Gained

Golf Pad Premium includes strokes gained using PGA Tour data, and it lets you compare yourself with scratch, 10-handicap or 20-handicap golfers. It splits your game into five areas: off the tee, layups, approach, around the green and putting, and it can break strokes gained down by club. Premium also adds Plays Like distances, club recommendations and green contour maps. Golf Pad lists Premium at $29.99 to $49.99 a year.

You can track shots in the app, or add Golf Pad Tags (sold separately) for tap-to-track club data. If you want the lowest yearly price for strokes gained, Golf Pad is hard to beat.

18Birdies Premium: Closest to Automatic Without Sensors

18Birdies offers strokes gained to Premium members through a scoring mode called Smart Tracking. Smart Tracking uses your phone or Apple Watch to detect your shots in the background, and you confirm your score and a few details after each hole. Premium also includes Plays Like distances, club recommendations and an AI Swing Analyzer. 18Birdies lists Premium at $99.99 a year or $19.99 a month, with a 7-day free trial.

If you want something closer to hands-off tracking without buying hardware, 18Birdies is worth a look.

TheGrint Pro: Good Stats, but No Strokes Gained

TheGrint Pro ($59.99 a year) unlocks 50+ performance stats and Insights that compare you with golfers at your level, and its Shot Tracker is free. TheGrint says on its own site that it doesn't offer strokes gained or automatic shot tracking, so it isn't a direct Arccos replacement. It's a strong choice if an official handicap is your priority. Here's our full SwingU vs. TheGrint comparison.

Which Arccos Alternative Should You Choose?

Stick with Arccos if:

• You want every shot tracked automatically and won't enter data during a round

• You want automatic club identification for every shot

Choose SwingU Pro if:

• You want strokes gained with a relative handicap for each part of your game

• You want the app to tell you your #1 thing to practice, with a drill from a Top-100 teacher

• You don't want sensors on your clubs or a $199.99 yearly membership

Choose Golf Pad if you want the lowest yearly price for strokes gained. Choose 18Birdies if you want background shot detection from your phone or watch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you get strokes gained without Arccos sensors?

Yes. Strokes gained is a calculation, not a sensor feature. Apps like SwingU Pro, Golf Pad Premium and 18Birdies Premium calculate it from details tracked during the round. SwingU Pro needs no hardware at all.

How much does Arccos cost per year?

Arccos Smart Sensors are $249.99 and Arccos Air is $349.99, each with the first year of membership included. After that, the Game Tracking membership is $199.99 a year.

Is there a free alternative to Arccos?

SwingU is free for GPS, scoring, shot tracking for your club distances and a SwingU Handicap Estimate after 9 holes. Strokes gained analysis is part of SwingU Pro, which is $99.99 a year.

How accurate is strokes gained without sensors?

It's as accurate as the details you enter. Sensors and wearables record shots automatically. With an app like SwingU, the stats come from what you log, so consistent entry matters. SwingU recommends looking at 3 to 5 rounds before drawing big conclusions, since one bad day can skew a single round.

Is SwingU better than Arccos?

They're built differently. Arccos is the better choice if you want fully automatic shot tracking and don't mind the hardware and membership. SwingU Pro is the better value if you want strokes gained, relative handicaps and personalized drills without sensors, for $99.99 a year.

The Bottom Line

Arccos is the best option for golfers who want every shot tracked automatically. For everyone else, strokes gained doesn't require sensors. If you want to know exactly where you're losing strokes and what to practice next, download SwingU free and upgrade to Pro when you're ready. For a breakdown of the two paid plans, see SwingU Plus vs. Pro.