ForeFlight flies the plane. FileFlo proves the certificate.
ForeFlight is a superb Electronic Flight Bag: preflight planning, IFR/VFR charts, weather, in-flight moving-map navigation, performance and weight-and-balance, plus a personal pilot logbook and a cockpit document library. FileFlo does a different job: it reads the Google Drive, SharePoint, or OneDrive your operation already uses, tracks every compliance-document expiration across crew, operations, and airworthiness, maps each one to its 14 CFR section, flags what's missing, and ships the FAA POI / ramp-check binder in one click. Keep ForeFlight for the cockpit; add FileFlo to prove the whole certificate is audit-ready.
No migration · Live the same afternoon · Operation-based pricing
Flying the flight is not proving the certificate.
ForeFlight: the flight-ops EFB
A best-in-class Electronic Flight Bag and flight-operations app: preflight planning, IFR/VFR charts, weather, in-flight moving-map navigation, performance and weight-and-balance, a personal pilot logbook, and a cockpit document library that distributes operational PDFs to crew iPads and flags outdated revisions. Excellent and purpose-built for paperless flight ops. But its job is to plan and fly the trip; it isn't a tracker for whether your medicals, competency checks, OpSpecs, and manuals across the certificate are current for an FAA audit.
FileFlo: the compliance proof
Built for one job: proving the whole operation is audit-ready across the entire certificate. It reads the storage you already have, classifies each document to its 14 CFR section (pilot currency §135.293 / §135.297, crew training, OpSpecs, GOM/GMM manuals, airworthiness evidence), tracks every expiration, flags what's missing, and exports the FAA POI / ramp-check binder. No migration, no integration, no cockpit. It does not replace ForeFlight, the maintenance tracker, or dispatch.
The honest version: ForeFlight flies the plane and FileFlo proves the certificate is compliant. ForeFlight's two closest-sounding features still belong to flight ops: its Documents library distributes the latest manual to iPads (revision currency on a device), and its Logbook records one pilot's flight hours. Neither tracks the certificate's fleet compliance documents or their expirations for an audit. They're complementary, and most Part 135 operators run both.
An honest split.
ForeFlight owns the cockpit: planning, charts, weather, navigation, performance, the flight-ops document library, and personal logbooks. FileFlo owns compliance proof across the whole certificate (expiration tracking, CFR classification, and the audit binder) without a migration. The verdict is complementary, not competitive.
| Capability | ForeFlight | FileFlo |
|---|---|---|
Preflight planning, IFR/VFR charts & weather ForeFlight's core; FileFlo does no flight planning | ||
In-flight moving-map navigation (EFB) ForeFlight is the cockpit EFB; FileFlo never touches the cockpit | ||
Performance & weight-and-balance FileFlo doesn't compute performance or W&B | ||
Personal pilot flight-time logbook ForeFlight logs an individual pilot's hours, which isn't certificate compliance | ||
Cockpit-document distribution to crew iPads ForeFlight distributes the latest manual + flags outdated revisions on the device; FileFlo proves the manual is current for the audit | Partial | |
Tracks compliance-document EXPIRATIONS (medicals, checks, training) ForeFlight is not an expiration / currency tracker for the certificate | ||
Classifies docs to a 14 CFR citation across crew + ops + airworthiness §135.293 / §135.297, OpSpecs, GOM/GMM, airworthiness evidence | ||
Regulatory expiration alerts at 90/60/30/7 days Across the whole document set, not flight-ops PDFs | ||
Required-document gap report for the certificate | ||
One-click FAA POI / ramp-check audit binder | ||
Per-pilot / per-crew compliance status board Currency across the certificate, not one pilot's logbook | ||
Works on the Drive / SharePoint you already use No migration, no integration | ||
Built for the job ForeFlight = flight ops / EFB · FileFlo = operator compliance proof; complementary, run both | Partial | Partial |
ForeFlight is a trademark of its owner (Jeppesen ForeFlight, a Thoma Bravo company). This comparison is for clarity on tool scope and is not affiliated with or endorsed by ForeFlight.
What an EFB doesn't prove.
Certificate-wide compliance currency
Pilot currency under §135.293 / §135.297, crew training, OpSpecs, GOM/GMM manuals, and airworthiness evidence: every document mapped to its exact 14 CFR section and tracked as a compliance requirement, not just a file.
Regulatory expiration alerts
Medicals, competency and instrument-proficiency checks, recurrent training, manual revisions, and certificates of insurance, all tracked to the regulatory interval and surfaced at 90/60/30/7 days, automatically, across the whole operation.
POI / ramp-check audit binder
Inspector-format, indexed binder generated in 60 seconds from the files already in your storage: the exact compliance evidence an FAA POI or ramp inspector asks for, across crew, ops, and airworthiness.
Live the same afternoon
No migration and no integration project. Connect your existing cloud storage read-only and get a baseline compliance gap report within 24 hours.
No migration means no IT project.
ForeFlight earns its keep in the cockpit, and it does that job well. FileFlo adds no integration project on top: it reads the cloud storage your team already runs, classifies the compliance documents in place, tracks their expirations, and never touches your flight-planning data or your EFB.
Platform definition.
ForeFlight is an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) and flight-operations application used by individual pilots, flight departments, and Part 135 operators for paperless flight ops. Its capabilities span preflight planning, IFR and VFR charts, weather, in-flight moving-map navigation, aircraft performance and weight-and-balance, a personal pilot flight-time logbook, and a document library that distributes operational PDFs to crew iPads and flags when a pilot is carrying an outdated revision. It integrates with maintenance trackers such as Flightdocs and Veryon rather than performing maintenance itself, and as of November 3, 2025 it is owned by Thoma Bravo (marketed as Jeppesen ForeFlight following Boeing's sale of ForeFlight and Jeppesen). Its job is to help crews plan and fly the trip.
FileFlo is not an EFB, a flight-planning tool, or a navigation app. It is the operator compliance-proof layer for Part 135. It connects read-only to the cloud storage an operation already uses (Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive, or Dropbox) and proves the operation is audit-ready across the whole certificate: pilot currency under 14 CFR §135.293 and §135.297, crew training records, the operations specifications, the General Operations Manual and General Maintenance Manual, and airworthiness evidence. It classifies each document to its exact regulatory citation, tracks every compliance expiration at 90/60/30/7 days, flags what is missing, and exports an inspector-format binder for an FAA POI visit or a ramp check.
The two are not the same product category, and neither replaces the other. ForeFlight answers "how do I plan, brief, and fly this trip, and is the right manual on the iPad?" FileFlo answers "which regulation does each document satisfy, what is expiring, what is missing, and can I hand an FAA inspector the right binder for the whole certificate?" The simplest way to keep them straight: storing your records (or distributing them to crew iPads) isn't the same as proving you're compliant. That proof is the surface FileFlo owns, on top of existing storage, with no migration, in an afternoon.
Why the EFB can't prove the certificate.
For a Part 135 operator, an FAA inspection (whether a scheduled visit from the Principal Operations Inspector or an unannounced ramp check) reaches across the entire certificate. Pilots in command must remain current on competency checks under 14 CFR §135.293 and, where applicable, instrument-proficiency checks under §135.297; crews must complete recurrent and ground training; the operation is bounded by its operations specifications; and the General Operations Manual and General Maintenance Manual must be current and at the correct revision. An EFB manages and distributes the flight-ops documents superbly (it puts the latest manual on the iPad and tells a pilot when their copy is stale) but it does not interpret a medical's expiry date, a missing recurrent-training record, an OpSpec amendment, or an expiring certificate of insurance, because tracking the certificate's compliance currency is a different job from running the cockpit.
That is the gap FileFlo fills. Rather than asking a flight-ops app to track compliance it was never built for (or assembling audit evidence by hand from scattered folders), FileFlo leaves the storage exactly where it is and adds the regulatory layer across every document type: 14 CFR-cited classification, 90/60/30/7-day expiration tracking, required-document gap detection for the certificate, and inspector-format binder export. It does not replace the EFB, the maintenance tracker, the Safety Management System, or dispatch; it proves the records are current and producible. (Note: the FAA's 2024 SMS final rule extends Safety Management System requirements to all Part 135 operators with a single compliance deadline of May 28, 2027; the SMS itself is a separate program FileFlo does not provide, though FileFlo can keep its supporting records audit-ready.)
For operators already running ForeFlight, the two coexist cleanly: keep ForeFlight as the flight-ops EFB, and add FileFlo as the compliance-proof layer over the day-to-day cloud storage your team actually uses. ForeFlight keeps the flight legal and efficient in the cockpit; FileFlo proves the whole certificate's compliance documents are audit-ready on the ground.
Built by an operator, against the rules themselves.
Chad Griffith, Founder & CEO of FileFlo, built FileFlo's rule packs against the actual FAA inspector and POI protocols, not against a generic "compliance" abstraction. That regulatory specificity across pilot currency, crew training, OpSpecs, and manuals is a different job from running the cockpit, which is exactly why FileFlo proves audit-readiness on top of the storage a team already has, without a migration, alongside the ForeFlight you keep for flight ops.
Quick answers.
Last reviewed June 19, 2026.
Is ForeFlight a compliance tool?
Not in the certificate-compliance sense, and it doesn't claim to be. ForeFlight is an excellent Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) and flight-operations app: preflight planning, IFR/VFR charts, weather, in-flight moving-map navigation, performance and weight-and-balance, a personal pilot flight-time logbook, and a cockpit-document library that distributes operational PDFs to crew iPads and flags when a pilot has an outdated revision. Two of its features sound compliance-adjacent but are not certificate compliance: its Documents feature is flight-ops PDF distribution and revision-currency (is the latest manual on the iPad), and its Logbook tracks one individual pilot's flight hours. Neither tracks a Part 135 certificate's fleet compliance documents or their expirations for an FAA audit. That certificate-wide proof (pilot currency under §135.293 / §135.297, crew training, OpSpecs, GOM/GMM manuals, and airworthiness evidence) is what FileFlo does.
Do I need both ForeFlight and FileFlo?
Most Part 135 operators run both, because they do different jobs. ForeFlight flies the plane: it plans the flight, charts the route, briefs the weather, and runs the cockpit as the EFB. FileFlo proves the certificate is compliant: it tracks document expirations and compliance currency across crew, operations, and airworthiness, and builds the FAA POI / ramp-check binder. ForeFlight keeps the flight legal and efficient in the cockpit; FileFlo keeps the operation audit-ready on the ground. They complement each other. FileFlo is not a replacement for ForeFlight, and ForeFlight is not a replacement for FileFlo.
ForeFlight already has a Documents feature and a Logbook, isn't that compliance?
It's close-sounding, but no, and the distinction is the whole point. ForeFlight's Documents feature is a flight-ops distribution library: it pushes the latest operational manuals and charts to crew iPads and flags which pilot is carrying an outdated revision, so the right paperwork is in the cockpit. That's revision currency on a device, not expiration tracking for the certificate. ForeFlight's Logbook records an individual pilot's flight hours, useful for that pilot, but it isn't a roster-wide view of which medicals, competency checks, recurrent-training records, OpSpecs, or manuals across the operation are current or expiring. FileFlo tracks exactly that: it classifies every compliance document to its 14 CFR section, monitors each expiration at 90/60/30/7 days, flags what's missing, and exports the inspector's binder. Storing your records (or distributing them to iPads) isn't the same as proving you're compliant.
Does FileFlo replace ForeFlight for flight planning or navigation?
No, and it never tries to. FileFlo does no flight planning, no charts, no weather, no navigation, no performance or weight-and-balance, none of the cockpit work ForeFlight is built for and excellent at. FileFlo does one thing deeply: prove the operation is audit-ready across the whole certificate. If you need to plan and fly the trip, that's ForeFlight's lane. If you need to prove the certificate's compliance documents are current and producible for an FAA POI or ramp check, that's FileFlo's.
What does FileFlo cost compared to ForeFlight?
ForeFlight is sold as flight-ops software, typically per pilot or per seat. FileFlo uses operation-based pricing (it's priced for the operation, not per aircraft and not per pilot), so adding a tail or a crew member doesn't change the math. See the pricing page for current tiers. FileFlo also offers a 5-day free trial with no credit card, and because there's no migration and no integration project, the deployment cost is effectively the 60 seconds it takes to connect your existing cloud storage read-only.
Can I keep ForeFlight and add FileFlo?
Yes, that's the intended setup, and it's how most operators run. Keep ForeFlight as your flight-ops and EFB system: planning, charts, weather, navigation, performance, the cockpit document library, and personal logbooks. Add FileFlo as the operator compliance-proof layer over the cloud storage your team already uses (Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive, or Dropbox). FileFlo classifies each compliance document to its 14 CFR section, tracks every expiration across crew, ops, and airworthiness, flags what's missing, and exports the FAA binder. FileFlo does not replace ForeFlight, the maintenance tracker, or dispatch; it proves the certificate's records are audit-ready on top of the tools you already run.
Keep ForeFlight. Prove the certificate.
Keep ForeFlight running the cockpit and add FileFlo to prove every compliance document across the certificate is audit-ready. Connect read-only to the Drive or SharePoint you already use and get a baseline gap report within 24 hours, no migration required. Or run the free FAA readiness score first. 5-day free trial.
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