MyCarfax is a free mobile app for tracking service reminders, with recall alerts as one feature. RecallNotify is a dedicated recall product with editorial explainers, family monitoring, and no upsell stream to a paid vehicle history report.
MyCarfax is the free Carfax app for owners. It tracks service history, sends oil-change reminders, and surfaces recall alerts as part of its single-vehicle dashboard. The catch is that it's built around the Carfax ecosystem: upsells to paid vehicle history reports, ads on the free tier, and no family-plan structure. RecallNotify is recall-first. We don't sell oil change reminders. We publish plain-English explainers and monitor every car under your roof from one account.
MyCarfax is a service-tracking app with recall alerts attached. The center of the product is your oil change schedule and dealer service history; recalls show up as a notification stream. RecallNotify is the inverse: recalls are the whole product, and the family plan is the monetization. We don't track service intervals, sell history reports, or surface dealer service offers.
A MyCarfax recall alert names the campaign and gives a short blurb. RecallNotify gives each campaign its own page: what the defect is in plain English, who is included, what the safety risk is, and the exact step at the dealer. The repair is free at any franchised dealer for as long as the vehicle exists. We say that on every page, because it's the part owners most often miss.
MyCarfax supports multiple vehicles inside a single user account, but the framing is the individual owner. RecallNotify is structured around the household: one account, up to five cars, framed around the people in them. Your spouse's car, the one the teenager drives, the one your parents own. The family plan is $20 a year, ad-free, with no contextual upsells inside the email.
MyCarfax is owned by Carfax and sits inside the Carfax ecosystem, with surfaced paths into paid Carfax products. RecallNotify is reader-supported: we make money from clearly disclosed affiliate links on the free tier and a $20-a-year family plan. We're not owned by a manufacturer, dealer group, or insurer, and there is no paid history report behind the curtain.
Service tracking and recall coverage are different jobs, monetized differently. MyCarfax bundles them into one free app with ads. RecallNotify keeps them separate, with the family plan as a paid upgrade and no ads inside it.
Enter your email and VIN — we forward you to NHTSA's official lookup and watch your vehicle for new recalls. Free.