GasBuddy

GasBuddy started as a simple idea back in 2000 when Dustin Coupal and Jason Toews built a community website where drivers could share gas prices. What began as a niche hobby project in Minneapolis has since grown into the go-to app for over 60 million users across the US and Canada. The core pitch is straightforward: open the app, see which stations near you have the lowest prices, and drive there instead of overpaying. But underneath that simple utility lies a sprawling data operation that tracks prices at more than 140,000 stations, processes 900 million price searches, and has pumped 110 million gallons through its payment system.

GasBuddy makes its money through a mix of advertising, data licensing, and its own payment card. The Pay with GasBuddy+ card lets you earn GasBack rewards on every fill-up, and the company says users have saved $11.7 million total through the card. There is also a premium membership tier, though specific pricing is not widely advertised. For station owners, GasBuddy offers Business Pages where they can update their own prices, run promotions, and see analytics. The fuelinsights.gasbuddy.com portal gives journalists and analysts a live ticker of average prices, and Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis, is a regular talking head on national news whenever gas prices spike.

The app has evolved significantly from its early web-only days. A major redesign in the 2010s introduced a tab bar navigation, clearer price-reporting buttons, and surfaced features like Challenges that had been buried. The company also expanded into Australia and now offers vehicle recall checks and a trip cost calculator. But for all its growth, GasBuddy still relies on the same crowd-sourced model that launched it. Users report prices manually or confirm suggested prices, and the system works best in areas with an active community. When nobody reports, prices can go stale, which is the most common complaint you will see in reviews. [edit]