The best Polarsteps alternatives
Polarsteps tracks your route by GPS while you travel and turns the trip into a map, stats and an optional printed Travel Book. Its core app is free; Polarsteps Plus is €29.99 a year or €8.99 a month on its website, with prices varying by region.
People look for alternatives when they want a free printed book, a journal built from photos instead of GPS, a planner in the same app, or a record that fills in from their bookings without tracking their phone. Facts were checked on each company's own site, UK App Store or Google Play listing. TripStow made this page and is one of the apps listed, so every description is factual and cited.
Last updated 22 October 2026
The short answer
- TripStow: best for a travel record built from your bookings, with no GPS tracking, plus flight stats.
- FindPenguins: best for free automatic route tracking with posts, photos and a printed book.
- Journi: best for turning trip photos into a private story and a photo book.
- Stippl: best for planning a multi-stop trip and keeping a journal of it in one app.
Side by side
| App | Best for | Price | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| TripStow | a travel record built from your bookings, with no GPS tracking, plus flight stats | Free; Pro £3.99 a month or £29.99 a year, 30-day trial | Web app that installs on iPhone and Android home screens (no App Store or Google Play app yet) |
| FindPenguins | free automatic route tracking with posts, photos and a printed book | Free (UK App Store); its site says it is entirely free[1][2] | iPhone, Android |
| Journi | turning trip photos into a private story and a photo book | Free; Premium €53.99 a year or €9.99 a month (UK App Store description)[3][4] | iPhone, iPad, Android |
| Stippl | planning a multi-stop trip and keeping a journal of it in one app | Free; Stippl Pro from £3.99 (UK App Store)[5][6][7] | iPhone, Android, web |
Prices and features are as each company published them on 22 October 2026. TripStow made this page; the other apps are trademarks of their owners and are not affiliated with TripStow.
TripStow
Best for a travel record built from your bookings, with no GPS tracking, plus flight stats.
TripStow fills in your trips and your scratch-off map from the booking emails you forward, so nothing tracks your phone and every past trip can be added, not just ones you recorded at the time. Each country is coloured by how you got there (air, sea or overland), and every flight feeds a lifetime log with distance, hours, airlines and the planes you flew on. It keeps itineraries for upcoming trips too. It has no printed books.
FindPenguins
Best for free automatic route tracking with posts, photos and a printed book.
FindPenguins' Travel Tracker records your route automatically, battery-friendly and offline, and you add posts, photos and videos along the way. Trips can become a hardcover travel book, and travel documents can be uploaded.[1][2]
Journi
Best for turning trip photos into a private story and a photo book.
Journi groups your photos into a trip story by their time and location, with text, maps, weather and flights. It builds the journal from photos rather than live GPS tracking, and sells printed photo books.[3][4]
Stippl
Best for planning a multi-stop trip and keeping a journal of it in one app.
Stippl is a route planner with transport between stops, a budget with bill splitting and planning with friends, plus a travel journal, a scratch map and world tracker, and auto-generated reels and photobooks. It does not describe automatic GPS tracking.[5][6][7]
How we chose
We included active apps that, like Polarsteps, keep a record or journal of your trips with a map. Facts come from each company's own website, UK App Store or Google Play listing on 22 October 2026, cited below. Polarsteps' own app is listed for iPhone on the UK App Store and on Google Play.
Questions people ask
- Is there a free alternative to Polarsteps?
- Yes. FindPenguins says it is entirely free, with automatic route tracking. TripStow's travel record, map and stats are free and fill in from your booking emails instead of GPS.
- Is there a travel tracker that does not use GPS?
- Yes. TripStow builds your trips and map from the bookings you forward, and Journi builds a journal from your photos' time and location. Neither needs to track your phone.
- Can I add trips I took before I had the app?
- With TripStow, yes: forward old booking emails or import a flight log, and they count on your map and stats. GPS trackers only record trips while the app is running.
- Which Polarsteps alternatives make printed books?
- FindPenguins makes hardcover travel books and Journi sells photo books. TripStow does not print books.
Sources
- FindPenguins (https://findpenguins.com), checked 22 October 2026.
- FindPenguins on the UK App Store (https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id721334305), checked 22 October 2026.
- Journi on the UK App Store (https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id884030844), checked 22 October 2026.
- Journi on Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.journiapp.journi), checked 22 October 2026.
- Stippl on the UK App Store (https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id6443617088), checked 22 October 2026.
- Stippl (https://www.stippl.io), checked 22 October 2026.
- Stippl on Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stippl.stippl), checked 22 October 2026.
- Polarsteps Plus (https://www.polarsteps.com/plus), checked 22 October 2026.
- Polarsteps on the UK App Store (https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/polarsteps/id947925763), checked 22 October 2026.
- Polarsteps on Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.polarsteps), checked 22 October 2026.
TripStow facts are from the product itself. Spotted something out of date? Email hello@tripstow.com and we will correct it.
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