Tripadvisor vs Polarsteps
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tripadvisor
Discover destinations, plan trips, and book hotels and tours with recommendations from millions of travelers. Earn rewards on bookings and activities, and organize your itineraries all in one place.
- Millions of traveler reviews
- Book hotels and experiences
- Earn Trip Cash rewards
- AI trip builder
- Organize itineraries
- Nearby recommendations
- Free cancellation options
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One app, so many places to discover. Get guidance from millions of travelers and earn rewards for more trips by doing what you love: planning, booking, and sharing. The best part? It’s free to join. Score last-minute tour tickets in a few quick taps. Book a hotel your entire family will love at a great rate. Create an itinerary in seconds with top recs from travelers like you. All while earning Trip Cash to fuel even more vacays. You bring the fun, the Tripadvisor app brings the rewards. Tripadvisor Rewards: Plan, book, share, earn rewards - Book from over 400,000 experiences and 600,000 hotels, and get 5% back in Trip Cash to save on future trips - Earn beyond booking: Planning and sharing can net you Trip Cash too - Join for free in the app! Plan all in one place - Save your favorite hotels, restaurants, and experiences - Get custom recs based on your saves with AI trip builder - Keep all your itineraries, trip ideas, and bookings organized in one place Go with the flow - Discover top-rated recs nearby, wherever you are - Stay flexible with free cancellation on most experiences - Never miss a thing with notifications tailored to your trip Get traveler recs - Browse reviews to get the inside scoop from travelers who’ve been there - Tap into the world’s largest travel community for tips and advice wherever, whenever - Save time with AI summaries, which gives you a quick overview of what travelers are saying
Polarsteps
Plan, track, and relive your adventures with this app. It helps you create personalized itineraries, automatically logs your routes, and allows you to share your journey with friends and family. Capture memories with photos and videos, and even create shareable video reels or printed travel books.
- AI itinerary planner
- Automatic route tracking
- Photo and video capture
- Trip sharing with updates
- Trip Reels video creation
- Printable Travel Books
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Plan, track and relive your adventures with Polarsteps. Keep your friends and family up to date. Whether it’s a six-month trip or a weekend canoeing close to home, Polarsteps is here to capture and share your journeys as they unfold. Awards ■ Top 26 Apps — Apple App Store (2026) ■ Top 3 Travel Apps — Apple App Store (2026) ■ App of the Day — Apple App Store (2025) PLAN ■ AI itinerary planner: Create a personalized adventure based on past trips or current goals. ■ Destination snapshots: Get a quick overview of each place, why it fits your travel style, and which friends have already been there. ■ Trip details: Add notes, accommodation details, and must-see spots and activities. ■ Transport planner: Choose how you'll get from A to B for every leg of the trip. ■ Inspiration: Follow other explorers, see where they went, and get ideas for your own trips. TRACK ■ Automatic route tracking: Accurately track the route you took on a beautiful digital world map. ■ Travel Buddies: Invite friends to track trips together. ■ Capture the adventure: Add photos, videos, and stories to each step to bring your journey to life. ■ Travel stats: See how much of the world you’ve traveled, with your total of countries visited, distances covered, and more. ■ Top spots: Add your favorite places and activities so they’re part of your story. ■ Transport mode: Select how you got from place to place, whether by plane, train, or even tuk tuk. SHARE ■ Trip updates: Share your journey so friends and family can follow along from anywhere, seeing where you are and what you’ve been up to. ■ Traveler tips: Leave suggestions for other travelers on what to see and do. ■ Privacy controls: Decide who sees your adventures: everyone, followers only, or you only. RELIVE ■ Digital memories: Scroll through the places, photos, stories, and stats you’ve captured across all your trips. ■ Trip Reels: With the press of a button, transform your trip into a memorable video (also perfect to share on socials). ■ Travel Books: Turn your trip into a beautifully printed Travel Book that showcases your route and memories. WHAT OUR USERS SAY: “Love this app! It tracks me on my vacation and provides real-time notifications to friends and family of my trip. At the end, I ordered a Travel Book of my photos which is very high quality.” “The Polarsteps app is great. I am totally addicted. It is so nice to keep up with all your travels. And friends and family can follow you wherever you go. The Travel Book, which you can order afterwards, is of very good quality.” “I’ve been using this app for years now. It’s always been good and it keeps getting better.” WHAT THE PRESS ARE SAYING ABOUT POLARSTEPS “The Polarsteps app replaces your travel journal, making it easier and more beautiful.” - National Geographic “Polarsteps helps you track and share your journeys in an easy and visually appealing way” - The Next Web “Polarsteps’ resulting travel log is impressive, and is the source of a severe case of itchy feet in your correspondent.” - TechCrunch
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Tripadvisor at none against Polarsteps's 2. Tripadvisor also leads on ratings volume (480K vs 9.5K) and device support (3 vs 1). Polarsteps's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (90% vs 78%). On price, rating, update cadence and chart position there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Polarsteps sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Tripadvisor asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Tripadvisor against 4.9 for Polarsteps. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tripadvisor has 480K ratings behind it against 9.5K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 78% of Tripadvisor's written reviews are positive against 90% of Polarsteps's.
Tripadvisor ships an update weekly, Polarsteps every 4 days. Both last shipped on September 26, 2026.
| Parameter | Tripadvisor | Polarsteps |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (480K ratings) | 4.9 (9.5K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.3% of reviews | 89.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 480K — better | 9.5K |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #106 | #52 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 347 MB | 218 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Tripadvisor | Polarsteps B.V. |
Customer experience
Tripadvisor
Polarsteps
User reviews
Tripadvisor
From 480K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Helpful app for travel planning
- 🚀 Comprehensive database of reviews
- 💡 Useful for finding hidden gems
- 👍 Reliable and trustworthy information
Room to improve
- 🐛 Outdated or inaccurate listings
- 🔍 Difficulty finding specific information
- 🤖 Concerns about fake or biased reviews
- 🔒 Privacy issues with data collection
Polarsteps
From 9.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💻 Excellent app for travel blogging
- 👍 Easy to use and share with family/friends
- 🗺️ Great GPS tracking and map features
- 📷 Seamless photo/video integration
- 📚 Ability to create high-quality travel books
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
- 🔄 Difficulty editing/rearranging photos and steps
- 🔋 Can be battery-intensive
- 🗺️ Inaccurate GPS tracking in some cases
- 🤖 Struggles with importing past trips and photos
Bugs and requests
Tripadvisor
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes or freezes when using the app
- Issues with uploading photos or attachments
- Inconsistent or unreliable offline functionality
Requested features
4 requests- Improved search and filtering options
- More detailed information on accessibility
- Ability to easily manage and update own reviews
- Integration with other travel planning tools
Polarsteps
Reported bugs
4 issues- Trouble uploading videos
- Incorrect time zone and location tracking
- Steps and photos randomly disappearing
- Crashes and freezes during usage
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to collaborate on trips with others
- Option to customize page layouts for travel books
- Improved video support and integration
- More flexible map and route editing tools
- Synchronization across multiple devices
In-app purchases
Tripadvisor
No in-app purchases
Polarsteps
- Plus Monthly$9.991 Month
- Plus Yearly$34.991 Year









