Been App Alternatives: When a Country Count Isn't Enough

Been is a great app. If your goal is to tap countries, watch a map fill in, and see exactly how many you've collected, it does that as cleanly as anything out there — and its one-time premium (no subscription) is a genuine relief in a category full of monthly fees.

But a lot of people searching for a Been app alternative are hitting the same wall: the count isn't enough anymore. You can see that you went to 43 countries — but not what happened in any of them. Been is built around the number and the map, not your memories. It's mobile-only, and there's no way to share your travels as a link someone can just open. If any of that is why you're looking, here's where to go instead.

(Details below are current as of 2026 and change often — check each app before you switch.)

First: what Been is missing (and whether it matters)

Been does one job extremely well — counting countries and regions — and a few jobs not at all. Depending on what you want, the gaps are either irrelevant or the whole point:

• No rich memories. You get private notes, but not photo-and-video albums per country. If you want to relive trips, not just tally them, this is the big one.
• Mobile-only. No web version, and no link you can send to someone who doesn't have the app.
• It's about the count. Stats, percentages, a travel passport — great for the number, thin on story.

If none of that bothers you, honestly, stay with Been. If one of them does, pick the alternative below that fixes your gap.

If you want to relive trips, not just count them → Odyssa

Full disclosure: I work on Odyssa, so weigh that accordingly — but this is exactly the gap it's built for. Odyssa is web-first: it runs in a browser, nothing to install, and you share your travels as a link anyone can open in their own browser. Each country you've visited becomes a small album — hand-pick a few photos and videos, add a note — living on an interactive 3D globe you can spin, share, or export as a video. Pricing is freemium, with Pro at $18/year.

The difference from Been in one line: Been tells you how many; Odyssa holds what happened. If your count already feels complete but a little empty, this is the switch. Where Been still wins: deep region and state tracking, and a pure one-time price. Odyssa is about memories, not granular stats.

You can try it free at odyssa.me — mark your countries, then open one and drop in the photos worth keeping.

If you want automatic tracking and social → FindPenguins or Polarsteps

Been makes you tap each country by hand. If you'd rather your phone do the work:

• FindPenguins is fully free, tracks your route automatically by GPS, holds photos and videos, spins your route into 3D flyover videos, and has a real community to follow. Best if you want an automatic, social trip journal.
• Polarsteps does the same automatic route-tracking with a more polished feel, adds trip planning and destination guides, and turns trips into beautiful printed books. Core is free; Plus runs about €29.99/year.

Both organize travel by trip and route rather than by country, so they're a different mental model from Been — better for logging journeys as they happen, less about a lifetime country map.

If you just want more lists and a poster → Visited

If you liked Been's counting but want more to collect, Visited wraps a country/region/city tracker around 150+ bucket-list categories (UNESCO sites, national parks, film locations), lets you compare with friends, and prints your map as a physical poster. Free with in-app purchases. Best for list-driven travelers who want a wall-worthy keepsake.

The honest shortlist

You're leaving Been because…	Go to
The count feels empty — you want photos and stories per country	Odyssa (web, share a link)
You want tracking to be automatic and social	FindPenguins (free)
You want automatic tracking, planning, and a printed book	Polarsteps
You want more checklists and a physical poster	Visited
You actually just want a clean counter with regions	Stay on Been

So, do you even need to switch?

Here's the honest test. Open Been and look at your map. If seeing the number is satisfying on its own — you're done, Been is the right tool, keep it. But if you look at "43 countries" and feel a little hollow, like the best weeks of your life have been reduced to a score, that's the signal. The count was never the memory. An alternative that holds the photos, the notes, the why behind each country is what turns a tally back into something worth opening.

If that's the itch, start a map that remembers more than the number — it's free to try.

FAQ

What is the best Been app alternative? It depends on the gap you're filling. For memories and sharing a link, Odyssa. For automatic, social tracking, FindPenguins. For planning and printed books, Polarsteps. For lists and posters, Visited. Been itself is still the best pure country counter.

Is there a free alternative to Been? Yes. FindPenguins is fully free, and Polarsteps and Odyssa both have free tiers. Visited is free with in-app purchases.

Is there a Been alternative that works on the web, not just an app? Yes — Odyssa is web-first and runs in a browser with no install, and it lets you share your map as a link anyone can open. Polarsteps and FindPenguins have web views, but their full experience lives in the app.

Can I move my countries from Been to another app? There's usually no automatic import between these apps, so you'll re-mark your countries in the new one. The upside: it takes only a few minutes to tap your visited countries — and it's a good moment to add the photos and notes Been never held.