Wanderlog offers versatile trip planning for any destination. Roadtrippers specializes in organizing epic road trips. Which app is right for you?
"Great app! It was quite handy to use to plan our trip and to share our trip itinerary and travel notes with friends / co-travelers in the group. The app also proactively gives helpful suggestions like travel tips and even tells you when certain restaurants or attractions in your travel list might be closed. I've used the free version and it was still very helpful."
"I was so excited to find this for an upcoming trip with lots of stops. I began adding all my hotels and others places I wanted to check out to discover I have to pay for the map usage. 50 bucks for a once in a lifetime trip is so not worth it. Maybe if you travel multiple times a year, it would be worth it. You really should consider a monthly rate with options to put the account on hold."
Wanderlog offers a robust itinerary creation system that allows you to build detailed day-by-day travel plans. The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to organize flights, accommodations, activities, and transportation in a visual timeline format. Unlike basic planning tools, Wanderlog automatically populates location details including descriptions, photos, ratings, hours of operation, and contact information when you add destinations.
The platform integrates seamlessly with Google Maps, showing travel times and distances between locations to help you plan realistic daily schedules.
One of Wanderlog's standout features is its Google Docs-style collaborative editing. Multiple travelers can simultaneously edit the same itinerary, making it perfect for group trips where everyone wants input on the plans. Team members can add suggestions, vote on activities, and contribute to different aspects of the trip planning process.
The collaboration extends to expense splitting, where group members can track shared costs and settle bills at the end of the trip, similar to apps like Splitwise.
Every destination you add is automatically plotted on an interactive map powered by Google Maps. The visual representation helps you understand the geographic relationship between locations and optimize your daily routes. For road trips, Wanderlog connects your destinations with route lines, giving you a clear view of your travel path.
The Pro version includes a route optimization feature that automatically rearranges your daily activities in the most efficient order based on location and travel times.
Wanderlog can automatically import your travel reservations by forwarding confirmation emails to a unique trip-specific email address or by connecting your Gmail account. The system recognizes booking confirmations for flights, hotels, rental cars, and activities, automatically adding them to your itinerary with all relevant details.
This eliminates manual data entry and ensures all your important travel information is centralized in one place.
The platform provides personalized recommendations for attractions, restaurants, and activities based on your destination and preferences. These suggestions come from travel guides, user-generated content, and integrations with services like TripAdvisor. You can add recommended places to your itinerary with a single click.
The Pro version includes an AI assistant that provides local tips and suggestions as you plan your trip.
Wanderlog includes comprehensive budgeting tools that let you set trip budgets and track expenses by category (flights, accommodation, food, activities). The expense tracker supports multiple currencies and provides visual breakdowns of your spending patterns.
For group travel, the bill-splitting feature allows you to specify who paid for what and how costs should be divided among travelers, with automatic calculations for settling up.
The mobile app stores your itineraries locally, allowing you to access your plans even without internet connectivity. This is particularly valuable for international travel or when visiting areas with poor cellular coverage. The Pro version enhances this with offline maps and full functionality.
The app syncs seamlessly across devices, so changes made on your phone are instantly available on your computer and vice versa.
Wanderlog integrates deeply with Google Maps, allowing you to export your daily itinerary directly to Google Maps for turn-by-turn navigation. This creates a seamless transition from planning to execution, as you can follow your pre-planned route using the navigation app you're already familiar with.
The system shows estimated travel times between destinations and can factor in different transportation methods.
The platform hosts user-generated travel guides that you can browse for inspiration and practical tips. These guides include detailed itineraries, photos, and recommendations from real travelers who have visited your destination. You can save items from these guides directly to your own trip plan.
This community aspect helps you discover hidden gems and local favorites that might not appear in traditional guidebooks.
Wanderlog serves as a central repository for all your travel documents and notes. You can attach files, add detailed notes to each destination, create packing lists, and store important travel information. The checklist feature helps ensure you don't forget important tasks or items.
The platform also allows you to add custom sections and organize information in whatever way works best for your travel style.
Unlike many travel planners that work best for single-destination trips, Wanderlog excels at complex, multi-city itineraries and road trips. You can add unlimited stops, plan routes between cities, and organize your trip by geographic regions or time periods.
The visual map interface makes it particularly useful for planning driving routes and understanding the spatial relationships between destinations.
Plan group trips like working on a Google Doc—everyone can edit simultaneously, add suggestions, and contribute to the itinerary in real-time.
See all your destinations plotted on an interactive map with travel times and distances, making it easy to plan logical daily routes.
Get full itinerary building, collaboration, budgeting, and recommendation features without paying a subscription fee.
Export your daily plans directly to Google Maps for navigation, creating a smooth transition from planning to exploring.
Handle everything from detailed itineraries and expense tracking to document storage and packing lists in a single platform.
Unlike TripIt's automatic email scanning, you often need to manually input reservation details and lesser-known attraction information.
Wanderlog doesn't provide flight delay notifications or gate changes like specialized travel management apps—you'll need airline apps for that.
At $39.99/year, some users find the Pro subscription costly for features like offline access and route optimization that could be essential.
If you prefer spontaneous travel or just need basic planning, Wanderlog's comprehensive feature set might feel like overkill.
While you can research flights and hotels, you can't book them directly through the app—you'll need to use separate booking sites.
"I do a lot of road trips, and this app is great for planning. It will arrange stops in a logical way, but it will also allow me to move them if desired. I love the feature that lets you see the stops on a map, so I can see if a stop is too far of my desired trip route. The app can also give great suggestions for whatever your favorite thing to see on your travels is. I wish it included more hiking trailheads, but I can typically get somewhat close to where I want to go."
"I used to love Roadtrippers. Planned some of my best trips with it's help. Went to download it again for another trip coming up and it's completely changed. The awesome feature of being able to explore the area around you is now useless. They try to plan it for you and it isn't at all what you would want. AI can be a great companion, unfortunately for Roadtrippers, it ruined a really great thing. So disappointed."
Roadtrippers' newest feature, Autopilot, uses artificial intelligence and data from over 38 million planned trips to create personalized itineraries. By answering a few questions about your preferences, budget, vehicle type, and interests, the AI generates custom route suggestions with stops tailored to your travel style. This patent-pending technology factors in accommodations, dining preferences, activities, and budget levels to create unique adventures.
Autopilot is exclusively available to Premium members and represents a significant advancement in automated trip planning.
The platform excels at uncovering hidden gems, quirky roadside attractions, and off-the-beaten-path destinations that you won't find on traditional navigation apps. Roadtrippers maintains a database of millions of points of interest across the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with detailed information including photos, reviews, hours of operation, and user ratings.
The app categorizes attractions by type (outdoor recreation, dining, lodging, entertainment, historic sites) and allows you to filter by distance from your route to discover nearby gems.
After acquiring Campendium, Roadtrippers has become a powerhouse for RV travelers. The platform offers RV-friendly GPS navigation that accounts for your vehicle's height, weight, length, and propane restrictions to suggest safe routes avoiding low bridges, narrow roads, and restricted areas.
Enhanced camping features include access to over 150,000 campground reviews, comprehensive map overlays showing public lands, cell coverage, and wildfire smoke, plus advanced filtering by elevation and cellular service quality.
Multiple users can simultaneously edit and contribute to the same trip itinerary, making it perfect for group road trips where everyone wants input on destinations and stops. Collaborators can add suggestions, vote on activities, and help build the perfect group adventure.
The sharing features extend beyond planning, allowing you to share completed trips as inspiration for other travelers or keep family updated on your progress.
Roadtrippers accommodates everything from short day trips to epic cross-country adventures. The free version allows up to 7 stops, Basic membership supports up to 20 stops, Pro handles up to 50 stops, and Premium enables massive 150-stop road trips perfect for extended journeys or comprehensive regional exploration.
Each stop can include detailed notes, photos, and timing information to create comprehensive travel guides.
Premium and Pro members can download offline maps for specific regions, ensuring access to your route and destination information even in areas with poor cellular coverage. This feature is essential for remote road trips and camping adventures where internet connectivity is unreliable.
The app also provides in-app navigation with turn-by-turn directions, though many users prefer to export routes to Google Maps for primary navigation.
Roadtrippers automatically calculates estimated fuel costs based on your vehicle type, route, and current gas prices. The budgeting tools help you understand the financial impact of route changes and plan accordingly for long trips.
The system shows cost breakdowns by segment and provides transparency into total trip expenses before you hit the road.
The platform features handcrafted travel guides created by travel experts and community members, covering popular routes like national park loops, historic trails, and scenic byways. These guides provide inspiration and starting points that you can customize to match your interests and timeline.
Users can also create and share their own guides, contributing to the community knowledge base.
Premium members access multiple map overlays including live traffic conditions, cellular coverage maps, public land boundaries (BLM, National Forest, National Parks), and wildfire smoke tracking. These overlays help you make informed decisions about routes and stops.
The filtering system allows you to search for specific types of destinations, facilities, or amenities along your route.
Roadtrippers allows you to export your complete trip as a PDF guide for offline reference or create GPX files for use with other GPS devices. You can also generate shareable links to let family and friends follow your planned route.
The export features make it easy to have backup navigation options and physical references during your travels.
The platform provides live traffic updates and can suggest alternate routes or detours when road conditions change. While driving, you can check traffic conditions before making stops to avoid delays.
The system automatically recalculates optimal routes when you add, remove, or reorder stops, ensuring efficient travel paths.
Discover amazing roadside attractions, local diners, and unique stops you'd never find on regular navigation apps—all automatically suggested along your route.
With RV-specific routing, 150,000+ campground reviews, and specialized overlays for public lands and cell coverage, it's built for outdoor enthusiasts.
Answer a few questions and let Autopilot create a complete itinerary based on insights from 38 million previous trips—like having a personal travel expert.
Plan epic road trips with friends and family where everyone can contribute ideas, vote on stops, and build the perfect group adventure together.
Download maps and access your entire itinerary without internet, essential for remote adventures and areas with poor cellular coverage.
The free version only allows 7 stops per trip, making it practically useless for anything beyond the shortest day trips—you'll likely need to upgrade immediately.
No monthly options available, and many users complain about unexpected auto-renewals. You must remember to cancel manually or face another year charge.
Primarily focused on the US and Canada with limited coverage for Australia and New Zealand. International travelers outside these regions will find little value.
While it offers in-app navigation, most users still prefer Google Maps or Waze for actual turn-by-turn directions—making it more of a planning tool than navigation solution.
Some users report outdated information about restaurants, attractions, or businesses that have closed or relocated, potentially leading to disappointing detours.
The choice between Wanderlog and Roadtrippers ultimately comes down to your travel type and geographic focus. Roadtrippers offers the more specialized experience with AI-powered route discovery, curated roadside attractions, and RV-specific routing that make it particularly appealing for dedicated road trippers in supported regions. Its discovery-focused approach consolidates hidden gem suggestions, gas cost estimation, and scenic route optimization in ways that Wanderlog doesn't match.
However, Roadtrippers' specialized features come at significant costs in versatility and global coverage. The restriction to only four countries (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand), focus solely on road trips, and subscription requirement for full features make it feel more like a niche tool than a comprehensive travel solution. For international travelers or those taking various types of trips, Roadtrippers' limitations pose real constraints.
Wanderlog prioritizes comprehensive trip planning and global flexibility over specialized discovery features. Its platform works for any travel type anywhere in the world, offers superior collaborative planning with budget tracking, and provides detailed itinerary management that all travelers need. While it lacks Roadtrippers' curated road trip content and automated discovery tools, it delivers versatile trip planning across all travel types without geographic or transportation restrictions.
The verdict: Choose Roadtrippers if you're a dedicated road tripper in supported regions who values automated discovery and can justify the subscription for specialized features like RV routing and hidden gem suggestions. Choose Wanderlog if you take various types of trips globally, need collaborative planning features, or want comprehensive trip organization that works for flights, trains, international travel, and any destination worldwide.
Wanderlog is a comprehensive travel planner that works for all types of trips - flights, trains, international travel, city trips, and road trips anywhere in the world.
Roadtrippers is specialized exclusively for road trips and only works in four countries (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand). It won't help with flights, trains, or travel outside these regions.
Roadtrippers excels at discovery with AI-powered suggestions for roadside attractions, hidden gems, scenic routes, and curated road trip content you might not find otherwise.
Wanderlog focuses more on organizing and planning your trip with tools for itinerary creation, budget tracking, and collaborative planning, but requires more manual research for discovering attractions.
Wanderlog offers robust collaborative features with real-time group editing, shared budgets, expense splitting, and the ability for multiple people to contribute to detailed trip planning.
Roadtrippers has basic trip sharing and collaboration (with Plus subscription), but it's more focused on individual or couple road trip planning rather than extensive group coordination.
Wanderlog offers a comprehensive free version that works globally, with Pro features around $40-60/year that add value for any type of travel anywhere.
Roadtrippers costs $29.99/year for full features but only works for road trips in four countries, making it great value if you're a dedicated road tripper but limited value for other travel types.
Roadtrippers is easier for road trip planning with automated route suggestions, AI planning, and curated content that reduces research time - just enter start/end points and it suggests everything.
Wanderlog requires more manual effort but offers greater flexibility - you research and add attractions yourself, create custom itineraries, and have full control over organization, making it more work but more customizable for complex trips.
