Comparison

Binnacle AI vs
Helm CONNECT

Flat fleet pricing, US-first compliance, zero sales calls.

Helm CONNECT is a Canadian maritime ops platform built for large enterprise fleets — strong in BC/Alberta, popular with passenger ferries and offshore support. If your compliance universe is 46 CFR and you're running 1–50 vessels, Binnacle was built specifically for you.

Start free 7-day trialSee the live demo

No demo call required · No sales rep · No contract

Pricing at a glance

Binnacle AI

Helm CONNECT

Starting price (USD/mo)

from $49/mo
$199–399 per vessel

Pricing model

Flat rate, up to 200 crew
Per-vessel + per-user tiers

Implementation fee

$0
$5k–25k onboarding

Free trial

Charter: self-serve signup. Commercial: demo walkthrough.
Sales call required

Contract length

Month-to-month
Annual minimum

Time to first vessel

Under 5 minutes
1–3 weeks

Feature by feature

Every row we lose is marked honestly.

Feature

Binnacle AI

Helm CONNECT

US Federal Compliance

46 CFR Part 10/11 (MMC + STCW)

Helm tracks credentials generically; Part 10/11 rule logic is not built in

46 CFR Part 12/13/15 (watchstanding rules)

49 CFR Part 40 drug testing workflow

US MIS drug reports built in to Binnacle

46 CFR 101 Subpart F cyber compliance

USCG MMC live verification

USCG inspection simulator

CG-2692 incident report PDF

Crew Management

Credential expiry tracking

Work/rest hour tracking (Sub M + STCW)

Payroll time tracking

Drill log (46 CFR 199)

OFAC SDN crew screening

Multi-language crew UI (EN / ES / TL)

Critical for Pacific Island and Latin American crew

AI Features

AI document classification (Claude Vision)

Auto-classify MMC, TWIC, STCW, drug test, sea-service from a photo

AI sea-service record parsing

AI port captain advisory

Voyage & Operations

Voyage planning & P&L

Passenger manifests (Subch T / K)

Engine PMS library (OEM schedules)

Bunker / fuel operations log

Drydock + survey scheduler

Platform & Pricing

Self-serve sign-up (no sales call)

Published pricing

Public REST API (entry tier)

Enterprise only

Slack / Teams alerts

PWA (installable web app)

Native iOS / Android app

Helm has a more polished native mobile app

Full supportPartial / limitedNot supported

Get started

Start your free 7-day trial —
no demo call required.

Set up in under 5 minutes. Add your first vessel, upload a credential, and see your compliance dashboard before the next coffee refill.

Start free trial →See the live demo

7-day trial · Cancel anytime · US commercial fleet focus

Comparison based on public sources, Helm CONNECT demos, and sales conversations as of 2026. Pricing estimates are approximate — verify with Helm before signing. If something's wrong, email us: hello@binnacleai.com.

Built for evaluation-grade trust