JAB AI vs DARCE: Which AI Combat Coach Fits You

DARCE, the app we build, is our pick if you want an AI read of your sparring: it reads a whole filmed round position by position, lays it out on a timeline mapped to the second and hands you up to three fixes, each tied to the moment it happened. JAB AI is live on iPhone, iPad and Android, with AI workouts, voice coaching during your rounds and an annotated video breakdown of your own footage. Pick DARCE for the fullest read of a sparring round. Pick JAB AI if you want guided workouts and voice cues in your pocket.

Prices and platforms are as each product's own site or store listing showed them on 21 October 2026. We read jabai.app, JAB AI's US App Store listing and its Google Play listing that day, and the DARCE facts are our own, current on the same date.

JAB AI vs DARCE at a glance

What DARCE does

Full disclosure: we build DARCE. It is a mobile app for iOS and Android with no web or desktop version.

What it analyses. A filmed round of live sparring, read position by position across the whole round, in BJJ, wrestling, striking and MMA. Boxing is read as striking: your punch selection, defence and movement. MMA is read across striking, wrestling and grappling as one system, and BJJ through guard pulls, passes, sweeps, back takes and submissions. The same four analyses read sparring in Muay Thai, kickboxing, judo, sambo, no-gi grappling and other martial arts. It reads the fighting, not forms or gradings.

How you film. One phone, one fixed angle, in landscape, at about chest height for stand-up and higher, angled down, for rolling. No rig, sensors or markers. Record a round in the app or pick one you have already filmed from your phone; a round of up to 2 minutes can be analysed. Before you upload, get the consent of everyone identifiable in the footage and your gym's permission.

What you get back. A breakdown is usually ready one to two minutes after the upload finishes, and it has four parts:

1. A round summary of who controlled the round and where it turned.
2. A position timeline mapped to the second.
3. The key moments that decided it.
4. Up to three fixes, each tied to the moment it happened, with one line on why.

Every breakdown hands you the next technique to drill.

How it reads the round. A pose model, RTMPose-m, tracks 13 joints per athlete about 15 times a second, and the analysis names what happens from a vocabulary of 260+ positions, moves and finishes across the four martial arts. The AI sparring analysis explainer shows how the pieces fit together.

Around the breakdown. Every round you upload feeds Fighter IQ, one score out of 265, shown against your own average so you can see if you are climbing. The 90+ technique library is a separate step-by-step reference, free to read on darce.app with no sign-up.

Price. Not listed yet. If paid plans arrive, you see the price before you are ever charged.

DARCE is a training aid, not a coach. Like any AI, it can make mistakes, so check anything important with a qualified coach.

What JAB AI does

JAB AI's site leads with three things: AI-generated video workouts, real-time voice coaching and frame-by-frame video analysis. It lists 9 martial arts: boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, BJJ, wrestling, karate, taekwondo, judo and sambo (named on the site as "Combat Sambo"). Its App Store release notes call version 2.0 "a whole new app", and the site and the listing do not match on every detail. Where they differ, we give each in its own words.

Workouts and plans. The site says the AI builds a training plan from your skill level, goals and available time, with warmup rounds, technique drills, combo work and conditioning. The App Store listing now describes 111 lessons in 24 programs for boxing, Muay Thai, MMA, BJJ and wrestling. Each lesson is a tutorial video, timed rounds with cues, then a 3-round camera test. Tell it your goals and experience and it picks the program to start with.

Voice coaching. Its site says that during a round, JAB AI calls out cues in real time, such as "Jab-cross-hook", "Level change" and "Sprawl now". Its FAQ says it calls out 100+ combinations, adapted to your martial art and skill level. If one of those combinations is new to you, the jab-cross-hook is broken down step by step in our free technique library.

Video analysis. Upload any training or sparring footage and, the site says, the AI breaks it down frame by frame and returns an annotated video. The feedback covers stance and footwork, strike mechanics, and timing and reactions, with visual overlays on what to improve. The App Store listing adds detail:

• Film a round in the app, up to 90 seconds, or upload one: pads, bag work, shadowboxing or sparring.
• Live move counts while you film, from jabs and hooks to kicks, knees, elbows, teeps and level changes.
• A score for the round and a replay that stops on every graded moment.
• Coach's notes with your strengths, what to work on, a habit to build and a drill with a timer.
• A rank card for every round, ready to share.

The listing says video analysis covers 10 martial arts, adding kickboxing to the site's nine.

Everything else. The listing also describes a 3D fighter you rank up from Rookie to Undisputed, camera games with weekly leaderboards, a calorie and weight tracker called Fuel, an AI coach chat, a tutorial library and a round timer. The site adds a Performance Radar that tracks your progress across striking, grappling, defence, cardio and technique, and a Discord community for form checks.

Platforms and traction. JAB AI is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad and on Google Play for Android, free to download on both, and its site lists a web version as coming soon. When we checked on 21 October 2026, its Google Play listing showed 10K+ downloads, and its US App Store listing showed a rating of 4.7 out of 5 from 497 ratings. The App Store listing names five languages: English, Arabic, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.

Price. jabai.app lists no prices. The App Store listing says Pro unlocks AI video analysis, unlimited lessons, programs in every martial art at once, unlimited calorie tracking, unlimited AI coach chat and every Pro tutorial, and that plans and prices are shown in the app before you buy. On the US App Store, its in-app purchases were listed as weekly at US$4.99 and US$6.99, monthly at US$12.99, US$14.99 and US$19.99, and yearly at US$34.99, US$49.99, US$59.99 and US$79.99. Outside the US, check the app for your local price.

Where they differ

Sparring analysis, or workouts and voice cues. DARCE is an analysis tool built around reading a filmed round of sparring, with Fighter IQ and the technique library around it, so it has no guided workouts and no voice cues. JAB AI is a full training app: plans, lessons with camera tests, voice-cued rounds, games, nutrition tracking and a coach chat, with video analysis as one part of Pro. If you want a session to follow tonight, that is JAB AI.

A round read end to end, or a graded clip. DARCE reads one round of live sparring, up to 2 minutes, as a whole: who controlled it, where it turned, the positions second by second and the moments that decided it, with up to three fixes tied to those moments. JAB AI grades what you do: moves counted while you film, a score, a replay that stops at each graded moment, and notes on stance, footwork, strike mechanics and timing. It takes solo work such as pads, bag work and shadowboxing as well as sparring. Its listing gives up to 90 seconds for a round filmed in the app. DARCE's feedback centres on how the round went. JAB AI's centres on your technique in each graded moment.

Martial arts covered. DARCE has four analyses, BJJ, wrestling, striking and MMA, and they also read sparring in Muay Thai, kickboxing, judo, sambo, no-gi grappling and other martial arts. JAB AI lists 9 martial arts on its site and 10 for video analysis on its App Store listing, with lessons in five of them. Both cover boxing, MMA, BJJ and wrestling.

Platforms. DARCE is a mobile app for iOS and Android, with no web or desktop version. JAB AI is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad and on Google Play for Android, and its site lists a web version as coming soon.

Price. DARCE has no price listed yet. JAB AI is free to download, and Pro, which includes the AI video analysis, is an auto-renewing subscription through the App Store or Google Play.

Which should you pick?

For feedback on your sparring, our pick is DARCE. It gives the fullest read of a round:

• A whole round, read position by position, across BJJ, wrestling, striking and MMA: four martial arts in one app.
• A position timeline mapped to the second, with the key moments that decided the round.
• Up to three fixes, each tied to its moment, with one line on why and the next technique to drill.
• One phone at one fixed angle, with no rig, sensors or markers.
• Fighter IQ and the free technique library: one score out of 265, shown against your own average, and 90+ techniques broken down step by step, free to read on darce.app.
• The cleanest design, in our view: one round in, one clear breakdown out.

Join now if that is the read you want.

JAB AI does a different job, and it is the better fit if:

• You want workouts, voice cues or nutrition tracking in the same app: JAB AI.
• You train mostly on your own, on pads, the bag or shadowboxing: JAB AI, whose video analysis takes all three.
• You want both: nothing stops you training with JAB AI's workouts and reading your sparring rounds with DARCE.

FAQ

Is JAB AI better than DARCE?

For reading a sparring round, DARCE gives the fuller read: the whole round position by position, a position timeline mapped to the second, the key moments that decided it and up to three fixes tied to their moments. JAB AI's video analysis does a narrower job, grading your technique moment by moment, and its App Store listing gives up to 90 seconds for a round filmed in the app. JAB AI is live on iPhone, iPad and Android and combines workouts, voice-cued rounds and scored video analysis, so if guided workouts are what you want, pick JAB AI. For the fullest read of your sparring, DARCE is our pick.

Is JAB AI free?

JAB AI is free to download on the App Store and Google Play, and its Google Play listing says you can start free with a new lesson every day, the camera games, daily tasks, Fuel and a few coach messages a day. Both store listings say AI video analysis is part of JAB AI Pro, an auto-renewing subscription. On 21 October 2026, the US App Store listed its in-app purchases at US$4.99 to US$6.99 a week, US$12.99 to US$19.99 a month and US$34.99 to US$79.99 a year. jabai.app lists no prices, and the App Store listing says plans and prices are shown in the app before you buy.

Is there a JAB AI alternative for sparring analysis?

Yes. DARCE is the better alternative for that job and our pick. It reads a filmed round of live sparring position by position, in boxing, MMA, BJJ and wrestling, and returns a round summary, a position timeline, the key moments and up to three fixes. For a wider field, our roundup of AI apps that analyse sparring video compares the other options.

Does DARCE analyze boxing?

Yes, as striking. Film a sparring round and DARCE reads every exchange: your punch selection, defence and movement. You get the four-part breakdown and one habit to drill next, and the AI boxing coach page goes deeper.

How do I get DARCE?

Join now at darce.app/join. The current timing is in the questions at the end of this page.

Is DARCE the D'Arce choke?

No, though the name comes from it. DARCE is a mobile app for martial artists that analyses filmed sparring rounds, made by Kellert Labs Pty Ltd on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. It is named after the D'Arce choke and is not related to the Darce code editor. The choke itself, a choke from the front headlock, is broken down step by step in our D'Arce choke guide.

Related guides

• Best AI apps to analyze your sparring video
• Best boxing training apps
• How to review your boxing sparring footage