Free Travel Map Compared — Colour In Visited Countries with 24Houring, Polarsteps, Been, Google My Maps and Visited

By 24Houring · 2026-10-22

If you need a free travel map, 24Houring's Place tab is worth a try. You colour in the countries you have visited and the ones you want to visit on a globe, then zoom in to an area map and pin the places you want to remember. With no sign-up, countries and cities are unlimited, pins are free up to 50, and there are no ads. It suits people who want to record only what they choose rather than have their location tracked, and who want the same map in a phone or computer browser.

What to look for in a travel map app

• How it records: does it log your route by GPS while you travel, or do you colour in places yourself?
• What is free: countries only, or also regions, cities and specific places?
• Specific spots: can you go below country level and keep a restaurant or a place you stayed?
• Numbers: does it count your countries, continents and share of the world at a glance?
• Keeping and sharing: image export, backup, print.
• Devices: phone app only, or also on a computer?
• Location data: what is collected automatically?

Side-by-side (as of October 2026)

A fair note on each

Polarsteps is an app for while you travel. It records your route automatically, even when the phone is offline, and lets family and friends follow along as you add photos and words. Its help center says planning, tracking and sharing are free and the app shows no ads; the Plus subscription (€8.99 a month or €29.99 a year as of October 2026, varying by country) adds extras such as 3D maps and map styles. You can also order a trip as a printed Travel Book. Countries count toward your stats once you add a step there, and a scratch-map feature lets you add others. Sign-up happens in the phone app.

Been is a simple app for ticking off the countries you have visited. Its App Store listing says countries and US states are free, while regions, cities, airports and extra visualisations come with Premium ($19.99 a year on the US App Store, among other options, as of October 2026). It runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Another app with a similar name exists (been by REBR AS), so check the developer before you download.

Google My Maps is a general custom-map tool rather than a travel app. It is free with a Google account, and Google's help pages allow up to 10,000 places, lines and shapes and up to 10 layers per map. It is good for importing a spreadsheet of places at once and sharing the map by link. On the other hand, you build the map yourself rather than using a dedicated colour-and-count feature, and it needs an internet connection. The Android My Maps app was retired in 2021; on a phone you view maps in the Google Maps app or edit in a browser.

Visited lets you colour in countries you have been to, lived in or want to visit, and fill in travel lists such as national parks and art museums. The developer says the country map, travel lists and stats are free, while city and regional maps and itineraries are in-app purchases. The US App Store lists items such as Visited Pro ($59.99), a yearly subscription and Remove Ads ($3.99), as of October 2026. It has iOS and Android apps.

Where 24Houring is strong

• No sign-up: open it in a browser and the globe is there, on a large computer screen or a phone.
• Countries and cities free without limit: visited, want to go, lived in, the year of a first visit, notes, cities you have been to and a home country.
• From globe to area map: there is no mode to pick; zoom in and an area map takes over in the same place, where you pin a restaurant or a place you stayed with a date and a note. A pin colours its country in by itself.
• A summary line: "28 countries · 14% of the world · 4 continents · 61 cities", updated as you colour. A heat map shows where pins gather, and the colours can be changed.
• No automatic location collection: no background GPS and no reading locations out of photos. Your position is read once, only when you press "Where I am" or choose the area view, to move the map, and it is never stored or sent.
• Works without a network: country shapes and the city list ship with the app, so after the first visit you can colour, add cities, search and save a picture even on a plane.
• Tied to other tabs: it finds city names in the trips and moves on your life timeline and offers them (nothing is coloured until you agree), and a pin can name who was there from the relation map.
• Saving: export the whole map or a globe as a 2160-pixel-wide PNG, and back everything up as JSON.

Where it is honestly weaker

• It does not record your route while you travel. If you want the path you took drawn for you, Polarsteps is the better fit.
• It is not a travel diary or photo-book app. Pin photos are a Pro feature, and for a printed album Polarsteps' Travel Book does more.
• You can save the map as a picture, or copy your pins into a shared group's pin map (free, sign in with Google) that the group edits together. If you want family to follow a route as it happens, Polarsteps suits that better.
• For the fun of working through lists such as national parks or World Heritage sites, Visited offers more.
• Pins are free up to 50. Countries and cities are unlimited, but keeping many places needs Pro ($0.99 a month). Reaching the limit never removes pins already placed.
• Close-up street maps and online city search need a connection (OpenStreetMap).
• By default everything is stored in the browser, so clearing site data can lose it. Keep a JSON backup or turn on Pro sync.

How to start in 24Houring

1. Open the Place tab. The globe comes first.
2. Tap a country and mark it as visited or want to go; add the year of your first visit and the cities you saw.
3. Zoom in and pin the places you want to remember, with a kind, a date, a note and who was with you.
4. Check the summary line above the map for your country count and share of the world.
5. Export the whole map or a globe as a PNG, or back it up as JSON.

The full feature pages are free travel map and place map. It pairs well with the life timeline for trips and moves by year, the free personal CRM for the people who came along, and the free bucket list for things you want to try. See all free tools, Pro pricing, and the free personal CRM comparison.

FAQ

Is there a free app to colour in the countries I have visited?

Yes. 24Houring's Place tab works in the browser with no sign-up; countries and cities are unlimited and pins are free up to 50. Been and Visited also mark countries for free, with regions and cities in their paid tiers (as of October 2026).

Do travel map apps record my location automatically?

It depends on the app. Polarsteps is built around tracking your route during a trip. 24Houring's Place tab records nothing automatically: your position is read once only when you press "Where I am" or choose the area view, and it is never stored or sent to a server.

Can I see how many countries I have been to and what share of the world that is?

Yes. 24Houring's Place tab shows your countries, the percentage of the world, continents, cities and pins in one line above the map, and the numbers change as soon as you colour a country.

Can I use it on a computer?

24Houring is a web app, so it opens in any browser on a computer or phone, and there is also an Android app. Google My Maps is edited in a browser too. Polarsteps signs you up in its phone app, and Been and Visited are apps; on the App Store both also run on Mac.