A free alternative to Dashcam Viewer
Dashcam Viewer is a capable desktop app with paid Plus and Pro licences. Tripframe is free, open source and runs in your browser. Here is an honest, feature-by-feature comparison.
Dashcam Viewer, by Earthshine Software, is one of the best-known programs for watching dashcam footage on Windows and Mac. It supports more than 140 camera models and is especially strong on GPS. It comes in three tiers: a free version that opens two files at a time, Plus and Pro. It is a desktop install.
If you want something free that you can use right now, without installing anything, Tripframe is an alternative. Here is how they compare, feature by feature.
Side by side
| Tripframe | Dashcam Viewer | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, open source (MIT) | Free version, paid Plus and Pro |
| Install | None, runs in the browser | Desktop app for Windows and Mac |
| Files open at once | No limit | 2 (free), more with Plus or Pro |
| Sort clips by day and time | Yes | Yes |
| Group clips into trips, with trip statistics | Yes | Yes |
| Front, rear and interior in sync | Yes | Yes |
| Zoom and pan inside the video | Yes | Yes |
| Frame-by-frame stepping | Yes | Yes |
| Save still frames (PNG, JPG, BMP), also at a fixed interval | Yes | Yes |
| Export part of a clip, faster, slower or backwards, with or without sound | Yes | Yes |
| Join clips into one video, with a GPX of the route | Yes, without re-encoding | Yes |
| Record the view as you see it, map and data included | Yes | No equivalent |
| Find loud moments in the sound | Yes, no limit | Yes, limited per tier |
| GPS route on a map, coloured by speed | Viofo (Novatek), BlackVue, GoPro | Many brands |
| Map, satellite and hybrid view | Yes | Yes |
| Graphs: speed, distance, heading | Yes | Yes |
| Graphs: altitude, gradient, G-force, satellites, HDOP | When the camera records them | When the camera records them |
| Driving data on the video | Yes | Yes |
| Weather at the time and place of the drive | Yes, if you switch it on | Yes |
| Markers on the route, with street address, export and import | Yes | Yes |
| GPS export (GPX, KML, CSV, GeoJSON) | Yes | Yes |
| km/h or mph | Yes | Yes |
| Account needed | No | No |
| Footage uploaded | Never | No |
Where Tripframe is the better choice
- You want to look at footage now. Open a web page, choose the card, done.
- You are on a computer you cannot install software on, like a work laptop.
- You want everything free, without a limit on files, markers or loud-moment searches.
- You care about open source. The code is on GitHub.
Where Dashcam Viewer is the better choice
- Your brand's GPS format is not supported by Tripframe yet, such as Thinkware, Nextbase or Garmin. Dashcam Viewer reads GPS from many more models.
- You prefer a desktop program that works without a browser.
Try it
Open your dashcam folder in Tripframe. It takes about ten seconds to see whether it fits how you work, and nothing is uploaded.
More options: the best dashcam software.