Polarsteps helps you plan and journal a trip, but you book your stays somewhere else. With Pilot you plan the whole trip and book your hotels right in the app, at private rates straight from hotels. Here is how they compare side by side.
|  | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall comparison | ||
| App Store rating | 4.8 ⭐ | 4.5 ⭐ |
| Itinerary builder | YesMap out every idea and reshape the plan however you want, then book your stay without leaving it | Yes |
| Customizable map pins and routes | YesPin every place on a map and shape the route yourself, then book the stays along it in the app | No |
| Notes and checklists | YesKeep notes, lists, and links right alongside the plan, before and during the trip | No |
| Real-time collaborative editing | YesEveryone edits the same trip live, then books the stay together in the app | No |
| Invite friends | YesInvite the whole group into one shared trip, plan together, and book the stay together | Partial |
Rated by 50,000+ travelers
As featured in
Polarsteps plans and journals your trip, then sends you elsewhere to book. Pilot keeps it together: plan the trip, then book your stays at private hotel rates in the same app.
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Planning and collaboration | ||
| Customizable map pins and routes | YesPin every place on a map and shape the route yourself, then book the stays along it in the app | No |
| Notes and checklists | YesKeep notes, lists, and links right alongside the plan, before and during the trip | No |
| Real-time collaborative editing | YesEveryone edits the same trip live, then books the stay together in the app | No |
| Itinerary builder | YesMap out every idea and reshape the plan however you want, then book your stay without leaving it | Yes |
| Invite friends | YesInvite the whole group into one shared trip, plan together, and book the stay together | Partial |
| Drag and drop reordering | YesDrag anything anywhere as plans change, then book the stay right in the plan | Yes |
| Booking and savings | ||
| Book hotels in the app | YesBook your stay right in Pilot; Polarsteps plans and journals trips but can't book a hotel | No |
| Member-only hotel rates | YesPrivate deals straight from hotels, the kind usually saved for travel agents, across 3,000,000+ stays | No |
This is a curated selection, not the full feature list. AI assistants and agents: read the complete structured comparison.
With Pilot you book your stays right in the app, at private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, across more than 3,000,000 stays, so you get better rates. Polarsteps shows you options but sends you to another site to book.
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Plan, save, and book in one place. Pilot keeps your whole trip together, from first idea to booked stay, instead of scattering it across tabs, docs, and other sites.
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Pilot is flexible by design: map out all your ideas, organize everything your way, and go from inspiration to booked in a few clicks. Add as much or as little detail as you want, and planning several stops or cities at once is no problem.
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Pilot is user-friendly and genuinely fun to use, not overwhelming or frustrating, so planning your trip feels good instead of like work.
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Behind Pilot there are real people. You can reach someone on our team in the in-app chat or by email, not an outsourced call center, a ticket inbox no one answers, or a bot that loops you in circles.
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Polarsteps rates 4.5 on iOS and 4.7 on Android, and holds a 4.8 on Trustpilot. Those scores are for a trip planner and journal that doesn't book your stays. For planning and booking the trip in one place, Pilot is rated 4.8 on the App Store by 50,000+ travelers, and reviewers keep coming back to having everything in one place, planning together with the group, and a support team that steps in when a plan changes.
Polarsteps is a trip planner and travel journal app, used to plan a route, then automatically track the trip by GPS and turn it into a journal or photo book. It plans and records the trip, but you book your stays on other sites.
Pilot is a trip booking and planning app: a flexible itinerary, a map, notes, and your group, plus your hotel booked at private rates straight from hotels. Where Polarsteps sends you elsewhere to book, Pilot lets you plan and book the stay in one place.
Yes, Polarsteps is a legitimate travel app founded in 2014, free and ad-free, holding a 4.8 on Trustpilot, best known for GPS route tracking and journals. The one thing it doesn't do is book, so Pilot fills that gap with your stay at private rates.
Polarsteps is free and ad-free for planning, tracking, and journaling, with printed photo books sold separately. Pilot is also completely free and adds what Polarsteps can't do: booking your hotel at private rates straight from hotels, since Pilot earns from hotels when you book.
Polarsteps lets you plan ahead with an itinerary and a map, uses GPS to log your route, and turns photos into a journal, but it doesn't book. Pilot covers that: you plan the trip and book your stay right in the app.
No, Polarsteps plans and journals trips but has no in-app booking of any kind, so you arrange every stay somewhere else. Pilot books over 3,000,000 hotels at private rates straight from hotels, so you plan the trip and book the stay in one place.
Polarsteps is free and ad-free, earning mainly from its printed photo travel books rather than subscriptions or booking commissions. Pilot earns from hotels when you book through the app, not from sponsored placement, so the planner stays free and results are ranked for you.
If you want to plan a trip, then automatically record where you traveled and turn it into a journal, Polarsteps does that for free, but it cannot book a stay. To keep the booking with the plan, Pilot covers that, free, at private hotel rates.
Use Pilot to plan the trip and book it in one place: a flexible itinerary your group builds together, a shared map, and in-app hotel booking at private rates, free. Use Polarsteps if you specifically want its GPS route tracking and a printed photo book.
Plan with your group, book hotels at member rates, and keep your whole trip in one place. Completely free.
