Honest comparison
A Polarsteps alternative that plans the trip, not only remembers it
Polarsteps is a diary that fills itself in. That is a lovely thing to have on the flight home and no help at all in the six weeks before you leave.
Where Polarsteps is better than us
The travel books are the best physical product any travel app makes, and the automatic tracking is close to magic: you carry your phone and a map of your trip draws itself. If what you want is a record of where you have been, stay.
- Automatic GPS tracking. You do nothing and the route appears.
- Printed travel books that people actually keep on a shelf.
- A long personal archive of past trips, presented well.
- A following-and-followers layer that works if your friends are already on it.
Side by side
| What | Polarsteps | TripSake |
|---|---|---|
| Before the trip | A planner exists, but the app is built around what already happened. | The plan is the product: days, times, opening hours, walking distance, bookings as anchors. |
Before the trip Polarsteps A planner exists, but the app is built around what already happened. TripSake The plan is the product: days, times, opening hours, walking distance, bookings as anchors. | ||
| Automatic route tracking | Records your movement in the background and draws it. Very good. | Not a feature. We hold the plan and what you added to it, not a GPS trail. |
Automatic route tracking Polarsteps Records your movement in the background and draws it. Very good. TripSake Not a feature. We hold the plan and what you added to it, not a GPS trail. | ||
| Printed book | Photo books printed and shipped, and they look expensive because they are good. | A shareable recap and a map, on a screen. No print product. |
Printed book Polarsteps Photo books printed and shipped, and they look expensive because they are good. TripSake A shareable recap and a map, on a screen. No print product. | ||
| Group decisions | You follow each other. There is nothing to vote on. | Polls, yes or no per spot, and one shared plan everyone edits. |
Group decisions Polarsteps You follow each other. There is nothing to vote on. TripSake Polls, yes or no per spot, and one shared plan everyone edits. | ||
| Money | A budget tracker for one traveller. | Shared expenses with balances per person and receipt scanning. |
Money Polarsteps A budget tracker for one traveller. TripSake Shared expenses with balances per person and receipt scanning. | ||
| Saved reels into places | Not supported. | Paste the link, get pins with photos, hours and ratings. |
Saved reels into places Polarsteps Not supported. TripSake Paste the link, get pins with photos, hours and ratings. | ||
| Getting friends in | Everyone installs the app and makes an account. | One link. Guests are in the trip without signing up. |
Getting friends in Polarsteps Everyone installs the app and makes an account. TripSake One link. Guests are in the trip without signing up. | ||
| After the trip | The archive is the whole point and it is done properly. | A recap deck with photos, stats and a map you can send to the group. |
After the trip Polarsteps The archive is the whole point and it is done properly. TripSake A recap deck with photos, stats and a map you can send to the group. |
What each one costs
Polarsteps Plus
€8.99 / month or €29.99 / year
The core tracking is free. Plus adds the extras, and yearly members get a discount on the printed travel books, which are charged separately.
TripSake
Free
TripSake is free to use. There is no subscription, no per-trip charge and no feature behind a paywall today. Core planning features stay free.
Competitor prices and tier limits verified on . Plans change; check the vendor’s own pricing page before you decide.
Using both, which is what we would do
- Plan the trip in TripSake: dates, places, the vote on where to stay.
- Leave Polarsteps running while you travel if you want the GPS trail and the book.
- Keep expenses and the day plan in TripSake, because Polarsteps does not hold either.
- Order the book afterwards. The two do not fight over anything.
Polarsteps answers "where did I go". TripSake answers "where are the six of us going, on which day, and who paid for the boat". Different halves of the same trip, and only one of them has to happen before you book flights.
Common questions
Before you switch
Does TripSake track my route automatically like Polarsteps?
No. There is no background GPS trail. TripSake holds the plan, the places, the money and the photos you add, and it does not follow you around.
Can I get a printed book of my trip?
Not from us. Polarsteps prints genuinely good books and that is a fair reason to keep it installed alongside.
Is Polarsteps free?
The tracking is free. Polarsteps Plus costs €8.99 a month or €29.99 a year, verified on August 12, 2026, and the books are a separate purchase.
What does TripSake do that Polarsteps does not?
Everything before departure: a day by day plan built from opening hours and walking distance, group voting, shared expenses, packing lists and turning saved reels into map pins.
Do my friends need accounts?
No. They open the invite link and are in the trip as guests, and they can claim a real account later if they want to keep it.
Other comparisons
- A Splitwise alternative with no expense cap — and the rest of the trip in it
- A Wanderlog alternative where offline and dark mode are not the paid tier
- A TripIt alternative for trips with other people in them
- A Roadtrippers alternative for trips that are not only driving
- A Notion travel planner alternative for people tired of maintaining a database
- A Google Maps alternative for the part after the pins