Search for a pet tracker and you'll find two prices for what looks like the same product: around $30 with no ongoing cost, or around $50 plus $5-15 every month forever. The gap isn't marketing. They are different technologies that fail in different situations, and picking the wrong one is the kind of mistake you only discover when your dog is already gone.
The three technologies
Bluetooth network trackers (no monthly fee)
These are the AirTag-style devices, including anything that works with Apple's Find My network. The tracker itself has no GPS chip and no cellular connection. It broadcasts a low-energy Bluetooth signal, and any passing iPhone picks that signal up and anonymously reports the location back to you.
The tracker is not finding itself. Other people's phones are finding it.
Where this works well: cities, suburbs, apartment buildings, parks, anywhere with foot traffic. An indoor cat that slipped out and is three gardens away. A dog that bolted at a busy trailhead.
Where it fails: genuinely remote areas. A dog lost in farmland or forest with nobody around may not be located for hours or days, because there is no phone nearby to relay the signal. It also gives you position updates only when someone passes, not a continuous live track.
Cost: the device, and nothing else, ever. Our Find My compatible tracker is this type.
Cellular GPS trackers (subscription)
These carry a real GPS receiver and a SIM card. The device works out its own position from satellites and sends it over the mobile network. That SIM is why there's a monthly fee - you are paying for a data plan.
Where this works well: live tracking anywhere with mobile coverage, including empty countryside. Continuous updates every few seconds while you're actively searching. Geofence alerts the moment a pet leaves a set area.
Where it fails: mobile dead zones, and battery life. Constant GPS plus cellular is power-hungry, so expect to charge every 2-7 days rather than every few months.
Radio-frequency trackers
A handheld receiver and a collar transmitter, no network involved. Popular with hunting and working dogs. Excellent range in open terrain, no fees, but you need to carry the receiver and there's no map or phone app.
How to choose in one question
Where would your pet actually go if they got out?
If the honest answer is "somewhere with people around" - a residential street, a park, a neighbour's garden - a subscription-free Bluetooth tracker will very likely find them, and paying $120 a year for a data plan is money you don't need to spend.
If the answer is "into open country where there's nobody for miles", the subscription is not optional. Pay it.
For most cats and most suburban dogs, the no-fee option is the right one. That is not a compromise - it is matching the tool to the situation.
The specs that actually matter
- Weight. The most-ignored spec and the most important one for cats. A tracker should sit under roughly 5% of body weight including the collar. For a 4kg cat that's a hard ceiling of about 200g, and comfortably under 30g is better. Anything bulky will be rejected, scratched at, or will snag.
- Water rating. IP67 survives rain and puddles. IP68 survives submersion. Dogs swim; assume the tracker will go underwater at some point.
- Attachment. A tracker is worthless if it detaches. Look for a holder that fully encloses the device rather than a keyring loop, and check it against the collar width you actually use.
- Breakaway collars for cats. Safety collars are designed to release under pressure, which means the tracker goes with it. This is a real trade-off and there's no clean answer - a snag-proof collar risks strangulation, a breakaway collar risks losing the tracker exactly when you need it. Most vets side with the breakaway.
- Battery. Bluetooth trackers typically run 6-12 months on a coin cell. Cellular units need charging every few days. Whichever you choose, a dead tracker is not a tracker.
What a tracker doesn't do
It doesn't prevent your pet getting out, and it isn't a substitute for a microchip. A microchip is permanent identification that any vet or shelter can scan - it can't be removed, and it works when a stranger finds your pet rather than when you're actively searching. A tracker helps you search. A microchip helps someone else return them. Sensible owners have both.
See our full range of GPS trackers and smart collars, including a leather collar with a built-in tracker holder and a lightweight nylon collar sized for cats.