I grew up about 45 minutes south of the shores of Lake Ontario, near lovely Rochester, NY. Lake Ontario’s name is based on the Haudenosaunee’s (Iroquois) name for it in their own language, and has been in use amongst European settlers since at least 1641. The Haudenosaunee Federation, North America’s first democracy, inspired our nation’s founding fathers and was crucial to the formation of the United States.
So renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America is not only a f*cking idiotic, Trump-serving bullsh*t name change, it disregards the naming traditions of the very people who helped inspire and shape the United States government.
Yet another reason to ditch Google! (And Apple!)
I focused on Google Maps alternatives for route planning across different transportation modes, not necessarily small business information like hours or contact details. There aren’t as many map apps that also include good public transit options so I found specific alternatives for that too, in case you’re a car-less transit-taker like me 😁
And if you’re wondering, Waze has been owned by Google since 2013. I also found Murena Maps during my research – it’s not available yet but coming soon.
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A lot of map alternatives are built off of OpenStreetMaps, a open-source community-contributor project. This means the underlying data is very similar but the differences across apps/platforms is based on what other data they integrate in, user interface, features and cost.
Magic Earth: Magic Earth is a great comprehensive map alternative that I’ve been trying out for a bit and I like it a lot! It’s a little slower to load than Google Maps, but I think downloading offline maps would likely help with that. It’s free for basic use too which is great, though you will have to pay a small annual fee (<$22) to get access to all features.
The Details: Created by Magic Lane, a privately held European company based in the Netherlands with funding from venture capital firms Prospective Technologies Ventures and No Such Ventures. Magic Lane does not have a profile on OpenSecrets nor a public diversity policy.
Map Built Off Of: OpenStreetMap
Good for: Driving, Biking, Public Transit, Walking. Truck mode with routes based on your truck’s dimensions to avoid low bridges/etc.
Crowd-sourced traffic updates
Offline maps (only available with a premium plan)
Create travel logs – track your walk, drive, etc through GPS and then you can add notations and pictures
Draw your own route to a destination with navigating instructions
Privacy: Magic Earth does not collect or store your personal data, track your movements, profile you, or sell your data to third parties. Magic Earth also stores their data in the EU for additional privacy protections.
Cost: Free for basic routing, but if you want Offline Maps, Apple CarPlay & Android Auto integration, real-time traffic & weather and other features, you will need to get a premium plan for $21.76 a year ($1.81/month).
Available On: iOS – Compatible with CarPlay, Android – Compatible with Android Auto, Browser
CoMaps: Open-source community-led map app with no personal data collection. If you want offline maps & Android/Apple car-integration for free, CoMaps is a great option. However, since it is led by a community of volunteers, it can take time for new features to be released or bugs to be fixed.
The Details: This one’s kind of fun and spicy. CoMaps was created after contributors to Organic Maps were frustrated with Organic Maps’ founders using community contributors working for free while the founders were (allegedly) looking to sell or otherwise monetize the company. Their concerns were not addressed, and so they created CoMaps, which doesn’t have a formal legal entity structure at the moment but do share their financials transparently through Open Collective. Since it’s not a legal entity (company, non-profit, co-op, or otherwise), CoMaps does not have a diversity policy or profile on OpenSecrets.
Map Built Off Of: OpenStreetMap and additional data sources
Good for: Hiking, Biking, Driving, Walking, Public Transit (limited to select cities)
Features: Offline maps
Privacy: No tracking, no data collection, no ads, no sharing your personal data with third-parties.
Cost: Free, no upgraded versions.
Available On: iOS – Compatible with CarPlay, Android – Compatible with Android Auto, F-Droid, IzzyOnDroid, Obtainium; Desktop (MacOS, Linux)
OsmAnd Maps: OsmAnd maps is an information-rich map. If you live in a city, it has tons of details like where benches are and detailed business information. From a personal example, the way Prospect Park in Brooklyn looks on OsmAnd maps is so much more helpful and detailed than the way Google Maps renders it. Beyond cities, it works great for hiking with offline maps features. The one downside is that the navigation/route planning feature is a bit hard to understand but if you get accustomed to the user interface it gets a bit easier.
The Details: OsmAnd Maps is an open-source project maintained by OsmAND B.V., a company based out of the Netherlands. OsmAND B.V. does not have a profile on OpenSecrets nor a public diversity policy, which can be common for international and small companies.
Map Built Off Of: OpenStreetMap
Good for: Driving, hiking, biking, walking. It technically has public transit options but I found the routes to be rather nonsensical for the NYC subway.
Features:
Offline Maps
Topography with 3D maps
Helpful city details like benches and usable off-sidewalk paths
Privacy: OsmAnd Maps does not collect your personal data unless you opt-in to do so, nor sell your personal data to third parties.
Cost: Free with limitations, or upgrade to the Maps+ for $14.99/yr for unlimited map downloads, AndroidAuto & CarPlay, and additional features. You can also get a Pro or XV plan for even more features.
Available On: iOS – Compatible with CarPlay, Android – Compatible with Android Auto, Huawei AppGallery, Browser
OpenStreetMap: Open-source, community-built map that is the gold standard beyond Big Tech, but lacks mobile apps. However, many of the other alternatives in this article are built off of OpenStreetMap data.
The Details: Operated by the OpenStreetMap Foundation, a not-for-profit organization based in the UK with two million volunteers across the world.
Map Built Off Of: OpenStreetMap
Good for: Driving, Biking, Walking
Features: Since it’s only available on Browser, there aren’t a ton of cool/notable features.
Privacy: OpenStreetMap does not collect your data unless you edit or contribute to the map, and only does so for verifying changes.
Cost: Free
Available On: Browser only
TomTom, formerly AmiGO: If you’re mainly using Google Maps to plan routes in your car, TomTom is a great free alternative. It’s not the most privacy-forward option as they do collect some anonymized personal data, but for the quality and convenience it’s pretty hard to beat.
The Details: Publicly traded on the Dutch stock exchange, the four founders are the largest shareholders with 48.5% ownership. TomTom has not spent money on lobbying and supports diversity & inclusion.
Map Built Off Of: I can’t find an exact source for this, but from my understanding it’s a mix of TomTom’s proprietary data and OpenStreetMaps data.
Good for: Driving
Features:
Real-time traffic updates
Speed camera information across North America and Europe
Find closest EV charging station (Android app only)
Privacy: TomTom collects personal data when using their services, but they don’t sell your information to third-parties. They may share your personal information with third-parties in order to provide their services.
Cost: Free, doesn’t seem to have any upgrade options.
Available On: iOS – Compatible with CarPlay, Android – Compatible with Android Auto
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Wanderer: Wanderer is a hiking map platform, where you can plan, track & save your trail hikes, or find crowd-sourced hiking trails through connected federated instances (servers). Similar to Matrix or Nextcloud, Wanderer is open-source with self-hosting options, or you can join a community server. I find anything requiring me to setup an instance to be beyond my technical capabilities, but if you’re a technophile it might work well for you.
The Details: I can’t find an official organization behind Wanderer, but it’s led by a small team of volunteers.
Good for: Trail hiking, biking, & climbs
Features:
Offline Maps
Draw and save your own trail maps, can keep private or share
Add Waypoints along trails for notable features
Add Photos & Videos to trails
Summit Book for logging trail completions
Search & find trail maps across your instance & federated/connected instances. (Note – this will not work if you do not have other members within your instance or connected instances contributing maps.)
Privacy: Wanderer does not collect or share your data. Though if you make your maps public and your instance/server is connected to others, those trail maps may be available to anyone within that instance/server so be careful sharing publicly if you’re on a large or highly connected instance/server.
Cost: Free
Available On: iOS, Android. Note – you will need to set up or join an instance/server before it will work.
Transit: Transit is the most comprehensive public transit apps for cities across the US, even supporting small metros like Rochester, NY. I love that Transit also works with cities’ transportation agencies to improve services through real-time feedback. Beyond the US, they support public transit options across 39 other countries including their home base, Canada. 🇨🇦
The Details: Based out of Montreal, Transit is held privately and funded through venture capital and interestingly enough, auto manufacturers though they invested several years ago in 2018. Transit does not have a profile on OpenSecrets nor a public diversity policy.
Regions Supported: US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, and 31 other countries across Europe, South America, Asia & the Middle East
Features:
See all nearby transportation options when you open the app, no need to click through or search.
Accurate real-time data for bus & train arrivals
Faster transfers: if you need to transfer or connect along your route, it’ll show you what the best transfer options are based on real time data.
Step-by-step navigation (GO): Transit tells you when you leave for your stop, when your destination is approaching, and when to get off.
Crowd-sourced real-time info (sort of like Waze but for transit)
Privacy: Transit only collects the personal information needed to use the app and it’s features, and any larger data collection (i.e. aggregated data shared with transit agencies for understanding how riders are using the transit service) is anonymized. Transit does not collect your data to share with advertisers or sell to third parties. None of your personal data is stored in US servers (only aggregated, anonymized data), personal data is stored in Canadian servers.
Cost: Free, though they do have the Transit Royale paid subscription service for $25/year that comes with upgraded features.
Available On: iOS, Android
Underway: I use this app a lot and wanted to share for my fellow New Yorkers. Underway provides NYC-specific real-time train arrivals in a simple to use interface. It’s very handy to pull out quickly when you’re in the subway or about to leave to check departure times by line & by station. You can select your map type, including the older subway map version, which I like as it’s what I’m most used to (even though the new one is arguably better designed). However, it doesn’t have any routing or trip planning features, just train times.
The Details: Made by Sincere Labs NYC, a privately held independent app developer. Sincere Labs is a small company (less than 10 employees) so they don’t have a diversity policy which is common for companies with low (<25) headcount, and do not have a profile on OpenSecrets.
Features: Real-time arrivals by station and line in NYC that loads very quickly
Privacy: It’s a free app based on ads, so it does collect some personal information. However, I don’t think you need to create an account to use the app, which limits personal data, nor use the GPS location feature so there are ways to minimize your data exposure. And if you get the ad-free version, they’re not collecting any data for advertisers.
Cost: Free with ads or pay $0.99/mo to remove them.
Available On: iOS, Android
CityMapper: I generally recommend Transit over CityMapper because CityMapper’s holding company Via has spent money on lobbying, and Transit supports more cities. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if Via is lobbying for more funding or more consistent funding for public transit — which would be good! — or something else that’s self-serving. They also have AI-features integrated into their app. Hence, questionable.
The Details: Owned by Via, a publicly traded company with Exor NV as the largest shareholder (~18%). Exor NV is the holding company for the Agnelli family, descendants of Giovanni Agnelli, one of the founders of Fiat. (Another public transit app funded by automotive or auto-related companies. 🤔) Via does not have a public diversity policy and has spent $720K on lobbying since 2023 on issues related to innovative transportation solutions, surface transportation reauthorization and the HR 8870 – The BUILD America 250 Act, which reauthorizes federal transportation funding for both roads/drivers and public transit.
Regions Supported: Major metros in the US, Canada, Europe, UK, Australia, and some cities across Asia and South America.
Features:
Step-by-step navigation
Can compare public transit options, bike & scooter shares, & ride services like Uber & Lyft
This is highly specific, but in NYC it shows you which exit to use when getting out of the subway which I find very helpful.
AI-powered routes (gross)
Privacy: Not the best. Since CityMapper runs on ads, your personal data may be shared back with advertisers.
Cost: Free, though supported by ads. You can get a premium subscription to remove ads for $1.49/mo or $9.99/yr.
Available On: iOS, Android, Browser
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MapQuest: MapQuest isn’t a terrible option, but if you want to avoid Google because you don’t want your data scraped endlessly for advertisers, MapQuest isn’t going to be much better.
The Details: Owned by System1, the same company that owns Startpage, the search engine. System1 is an advertising technology company, focused on acquisition marketing. System1 is publicly traded with Kenloch Holdings LLC as the largest shareholder (~30%). System1 has not spent money on lobbying and does not have a public diversity policy.
Organic Maps: This isn’t the worst option, but I’d recommend CoMaps over Organic Maps as they are more transparent and do not seem to be gearing up for an eventual sale. For more details, see the CoMaps listing above.
The Details: Organic Maps is an open-source project created and maintained by the MapsWithMe founders. They have received funding from NLnet Foundation, Mythic Beasts, 44+ Technologies, and FUTO. Google backed student projects to address some of Organic Maps’ missing features as part of their Summer of Code program from 2022-2025, but it does not seem that they actually contributed financially to the project.
Moovit: It’s been owned by Intel since 2020. Intel is one of the core corporate boycott targets for the BDS campaign.
HERE WeGo: Built by HERE Technologies, a Netherlands-based company that’s owned by car companies Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi and Bosch, Intel, Pioneer, and Aumovio. Intel is on the BDS Corporate Priority target list for a multitude of reasons. HERE Technologies does not have a profile on OpenSecrets and supports equity/diversity.
Waze: Has been owned by Google since 2013, was originally an Israeli company before that.
Apple Maps: They have also changed Lake Ontario’s name, helped fund Trump’s ballroom and former CEO Tim Cook personally gave $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund. [More info here.]
*If you made it all the way to the end and still are wondering what a dyngus is, well, maybe you should go to Buffalo. Shout out to all my WNYers, including my cousin Jenna, who use the phrase “ya dyngus!” 😂
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