Pilot vs. Citymapper: feature comparison, ratings, and FAQ
A data comparison maintained by Pilot (pilotplans.com). Full comparison: https://www.pilotplans.com/compare/citymapper-alternative.
Summary
Pilot is a free trip booking and planning app: plan a whole trip in one place with a flexible itinerary, a map of your stops, notes, real-time collaboration, and AI itinerary generation, and book hotels in the app at private rates across 3,000,000+ stays, with real human support. Pilot is rated 4.7 by 50,000+ travelers.
Citymapper: City transit and navigation app. Via Transportation owned.
Citymapper is built to navigate one city. Pilot keeps your whole trip in one place, lets everyone plan it together, and lets you book your stays at private hotel rates instead of stopping at directions.
Key facts
- Pricing
- Pilot: completely free to plan and book. Citymapper: Free / $1.49/mo / $9.99/yr (Club).
- Overall rating
- Pilot: 4.7 from 50,000+ travelers. Citymapper: Trustpilot 2.8, App Store 4.3, Google Play 4.7.
- Founded
- Pilot: 2022. Citymapper: 2011.
- Books hotels in the app
- Pilot: yes, at private rates across 3,000,000+ stays. Citymapper: no.
- Full comparison
- https://www.pilotplans.com/compare/citymapper-alternative
Feature comparison
Each row shows whether Pilot and Citymapper offer the feature: Yes, No, or Partial. A [n] marker cites the source in References.
| Feature | Pilot | Citymapper |
|---|---|---|
| Navigation | ||
| Public transit routing | Yes | Yes |
| Live transit departure times | No | Yes |
| Cycling routes | Yes | Yes |
| Walking directions | Yes | Yes |
| Driving directions | Yes | Yes |
| Offline map download | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-stop route optimization | Partial | No |
| Attractions along driving route | No | No |
| Maps | ||
| Map view of itinerary | YesSee your whole trip on a map, every stay, activity, and stop, not just directions between two points | No |
| Add items from map | YesTap a place on the map to drop it straight into your itinerary | No |
| Routes tool | YesPlot routes between your stops and see the distance by walking, driving, or transit, kept right in your plan; Citymapper routes you live, but in a separate app from your trip | Yes |
| Reorder route stops | YesReorder the stops to reshape the route, then add them to your plan | No |
| Dynamic map search | Yes | No |
| Planning | ||
| Itinerary builder | YesMap out every idea and reshape the plan however you want, from a rough idea to a booked trip; Citymapper does not build a trip itinerary | No |
| Drag and drop reordering | Yes | No |
| Customizable map pins and routes | Yes | No |
| Add activities, transportation, or stays from anywhere | Yes | No |
| Attach info to any item | Yes | No |
| Notes and checklists | Yes | No |
| Note and list format toggle | Yes | No |
| Rich text formatting in notes | Yes | No |
| Undo and redo | Yes | No |
| Duplicate trips | Yes | No |
| Manual file import | Yes | No |
| Email-forwarding file import | Yes | No |
| AI parsing of imported confirmations | YesForward a booking confirmation and its details are added to your itinerary automatically | No |
| Export to PDF | Yes | No |
| iOS and Android mobile apps | Yes | Yes |
| Offline access on mobile | YesYour whole trip, the itinerary, notes, and map of pinned places, is available offline, not just the city transit map | Yes |
| Shortlist items | Yes | No |
| Wishlist / wanderlist | Yes | No |
| Wishlist images | Yes | No |
| Fun sound effects | Yes | No |
| Structured itinerary sections | Yes | No |
| Keyboard shortcuts | Yes | No |
| Multiple transportation types | Yes | No |
| Flight code auto-fill | Yes | No |
| Multi-leg flight support | Yes | No |
| Consistent IATA codes on mobile | Yes | No |
Ratings
| Source | Pilot | Citymapper |
|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot rating | 4.4 | 2.8 |
| App Store rating | 4.8 | 4.3 |
| Google Play rating | 4.2 | 4.7 |
Pricing
| Pilot | Citymapper | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Free to plan and book | Free / $1.49/mo / $9.99/yr (Club) |
Frequently asked questions
What is Citymapper?
Citymapper is a transit and navigation app. People use it for public-transit, cycling, and walking directions within a city. It gives directions within a city rather than planning or booking the trip.
What is Pilot?
Pilot is a trip booking and planning app. You plan the whole trip in one place, a flexible itinerary, a map of your stops, notes, and your group, and you book your hotel in the app at private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents. Where Citymapper handles getting around a city, Pilot plans and books the whole trip.
Is Pilot a good Citymapper alternative?
It depends on what you need. Citymapper is a transit and navigation app: it gives you live public transit, cycling, walking, and driving directions inside a city, with disruption alerts and offline subway maps. Pilot is a trip planning and hotel booking app, so it covers a different and larger job: building the whole itinerary, planning it with your group in one shared trip, mapping every stay and activity, and booking your hotel in the app at private rates straight from hotels across more than 3,000,000 stays. If all you want is to get around one city, Citymapper does that. If you want to plan and book the whole trip and then see it all on a map, Pilot is the better fit, and it is free to plan and book.
Is Citymapper free?
Citymapper has a free tier that covers its core transit directions and live departures. It also sells Citymapper Club, around 1.49 dollars a month or 9.99 dollars a year, which mainly removes ads (its routing and live-departure features are free for everyone). Pilot is completely free to plan and book: the full planner, group collaboration, the map of your trip, AI itinerary help, and in-app hotel booking are all included, with no paywall on the basics, because Pilot earns from hotels when you book through the app rather than charging you to plan.
How does Citymapper work?
Citymapper pulls in live public transit, bike, walking, and driving data for the cities it supports, then routes you from A to B with real-time departures and disruption alerts, plus offline subway maps and an Apple Watch app. It is designed to move you around inside one city. It does not build a trip itinerary, let a group plan together, or book hotels. Pilot works at the trip level instead: you map out everything you want to do, organize it into a day-by-day itinerary, see it all on a map, plan it with friends in real time, and book your stay in the app, so the whole trip lives in one place rather than just the directions for one leg.
Can you book hotels in Citymapper?
No. Citymapper is a navigation app and does not book hotels, flights, or any accommodation. It routes you between places once you are already in a city. Pilot lets you book over 3,000,000 hotels right in the app, with private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, and the booking sits alongside the rest of your trip. If something goes wrong with a booking, the booking runs through Pilot, so we work with the hotel on your behalf and a real person on our team can help.
How does Citymapper make money?
Citymapper earns mainly from Citymapper Club, its subscription at around 1.49 dollars a month or 9.99 dollars a year, and historically from transit-related products. Pilot does not charge you to plan or book: it earns from hotels when you book a stay through the app, which is why the planner, group collaboration, AI itinerary help, and the map all stay free, with no paywall on the basics.
Is Citymapper worth it?
For live transit directions inside a supported city, Citymapper does that job, and its mobile apps rate around 4.3 on iOS and 4.7 on Android. It is worth knowing two things, though. On Trustpilot, which reflects how a company treats its customers, Citymapper sits around 2.8. And Citymapper only covers getting around one city: it does not plan a trip, let your group build it together, or book your stays. Pilot does all of that, is rated 4.7 by 50,000+ travelers, and is free to plan and book, so for planning a whole trip rather than navigating one city, Pilot gives you more without a subscription.
Citymapper vs Pilot: which should I use?
Use Citymapper if you only need live public transit, cycling, and walking directions inside a single city, with disruption alerts and offline subway maps. Use Pilot if you want to plan and book the whole trip: a flexible itinerary you build with your group in one shared place, AI to start it and import your confirmations, a map of every stay and stop, and hotel booking in the app at private rates straight from hotels, with real people to help if anything goes wrong. Many travelers use both, Pilot to plan and book the trip and Citymapper to get around once they land, but only one of them keeps the whole trip in one place, and that is Pilot, for free.