GasBuddy
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Technology, Petroleum pricing |
| Founded | January 1, 2000 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States |
| Founder | Dustin Coupal, Jason Toews |
| Headquarters | Dallas , United States |
Area served | United States, Canada |
| Products | Mobile apps and websites for gas station and convenience store location and pricing information; business-to-business solutions for gas stations and convenience stores |
| Parent | PDI Technologies |
GasBuddy is a technology firm based in Dallas that offers mobile apps and websites designed to track crowd-sourced information on gas stations and convenience store locations and pricing throughout the United States and Canada. Its platforms compile data contributed by users, gas station operators, and affiliated partners, while also providing business-to-business solutions tailored for gas station and convenience store proprietors.
History
Established in Minneapolis in 2000 by Dustin Coupal and Jason Toews, GasBuddy began as a community-driven website for sharing information on fuel prices.
The company was officially incorporated as GasBuddy Organization Inc. in Minnesota in 2004.
In 2009, GasBuddy introduced OpenStore, a service that allowed convenience stores to develop and manage their own mobile applications.
By 2010, the company had launched its proprietary mobile apps enabling users to report gas prices directly from their smartphones.
GasBuddy was acquired in 2013 by Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), a division of United Communications Group (UCG) known for its expertise in petroleum pricing and industry news.
Although IHS Markit purchased OPIS in 2016, GasBuddy remained under UCG ownership as a subsidiary. That same year marked GasBuddy's expansion into the Australian market, the release of its first significant app redesign since 2010, the unveiling of a new logo, and the introduction of GasBuddy Business Pages. The Australian version of the app was discontinued in 2022.
In 2017, GasBuddy launched "Pay with GasBuddy," a U.S.-based program that provides fuel discounts at select participating stations.
Also in 2017, the company encountered legal challenges after it was revealed that user location data had been sold to Reveal Mobile at a rate of $9.50 per 1,000 users monthly, involving information from more than 4.5 million users. This situation triggered privacy concerns among both users and media outlets.
Following the Colonial Pipeline ransomware incident in 2021, the GasBuddy app surged in popularity on both Android and iPhone platforms due to increased demand for fuel price updates.
Later that year, ownership of GasBuddy transferred to PDI Technologies.