ZikZak vs Polarsteps vs Been
All three put your travels on a map, but they start from different places. ZikZak builds a map from the photos you already have. Polarsteps tracks a trip while you’re on it. Been is a checklist of the countries you’ve visited. Which one suits you depends on whether you’re looking back, travelling now, or counting countries.
Open ZikZakor explore a sample atlas →
At a glance
| ZikZak | Polarsteps | Been | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A travel atlas made from your photos | A trip tracker, travel journal and planner | A map of the countries and places you’ve been |
| How places get on the map | Read from each photo’s own location and date | Your phone’s GPS tracks the route during a trip; you add steps, photos and stories | You tick countries and US states yourself (regions, cities and airports with Premium) |
| Past trips | Years of trips at once, from your photos or a Google Photos Takeout | Added by hand; on iPhone the app can suggest past trips from your camera roll | Add countries, and visit dates if you wish, by hand |
| Where it runs | Any web browser – phone, tablet or computer, nothing to install | iPhone and Android apps, plus polarsteps.com | iPhone, iPad and Apple-silicon Macs (App Store) |
| Video | A vertical highlight video of your trips, made in your browser, and “My year in travel” cards | A Trip Reel video at the push of a button | Your timeline as a video (Premium) |
| Sharing | A view-only link; locations rounded to about 1 km and your home hidden | Friends and family follow your trip as it happens; you choose who can see it | Share your map image, and compare maps with friends who use the app |
| Price | Free, with no ads | Free; optional Plus subscription (€8.99 a month or €29.99 a year) and paid printed Travel Books | Free with in-app purchases; Premium is $19.99 a year on the US App Store, whose listing says the app contains ads |
Choose Polarsteps if…
you want to record a trip while it happens. Polarsteps follows your route in the background, your family can follow along live, and afterwards you can turn the trip into a printed Travel Book. It’s a mature app with iPhone and Android versions and a large community.
Choose Been if…
you mainly want to count countries. Been is quick for ticking off where you’ve been, shows how much of each continent you’ve seen, and covers US states – with regions, cities and airports in Premium. You add everything yourself, so it works even for trips without photos.
Choose ZikZak if…
you have years of travel photos and want them on one map without typing anything in. ZikZak reads where and when each photo was taken, works out where home is, sorts the rest into trips and draws them on a world map – in your browser, on any device. It doesn’t track you while you travel and has no printed book. Beyond your own trips there’s Someday for places you’d love to go, Plan it with places to see in each country, and Discover, where you can see places other travellers chose to share.
The apps don’t exclude each other: you could track a trip with Polarsteps, keep a country count in Been and still drop all your photos into ZikZak to see every trip on one map.
Private by default
Your photos are read in your own browser. Without an account nothing leaves your device. If you create a free account and save your atlas to the cloud, the copies we keep have their camera data, including GPS, removed. A shared link is a separate, view-only copy: it rounds locations to about 1 km, leaves out your home and never shows file names. The details are in the privacy policy.
Facts about Polarsteps and Been come from their own pages, checked on 31 October 2026: polarsteps.com, Polarsteps Plus, Polarsteps Travel Tracker, Is Polarsteps free? and Been on the App Store (by VINCI APPS). Prices vary by country and can change. Polarsteps and Been are trademarks of their owners; ZikZak isn’t affiliated with either.
Questions
Is ZikZak an alternative to Polarsteps?
For looking back, yes; for tracking a trip live, no. ZikZak builds one map from the photos you already have, so years of trips appear at once. It doesn’t follow your route while you travel, and it doesn’t make printed books.
Can ZikZak count the countries I’ve visited, like Been?
Yes, from your photos. The countries your photos were taken in light up on the map and are counted in your stats. Places come from photos rather than a checklist; photos without a location can be placed on the map by hand.
Do I need to install an app?
No. ZikZak runs in your web browser on phones, tablets and computers. Polarsteps and Been are mobile apps.
Which of them is free?
All three can be used for free. Polarsteps sells an optional Plus subscription and printed Travel Books, and Been has a paid Premium mode. ZikZak is free, with no ads.
Open ZikZakor explore a sample atlas →
Explore country pages: Japan Italy France Spain Thailand USA Iceland Portugal Greece Morocco. Your travel photos, finally on the map.