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Maps · head to head

Citymapper vs Foursquare Spatial Studio

Citymapper logo

Citymapper

Maps

The ultimate urban mobility app for city commuters

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Foursquare Spatial Studio logo

Foursquare Spatial Studio

Maps

The product formerly sold as Unfolded, now a Foursquare platform rather than a standalone company

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Citymapper has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Citymapper citymapper's own App Store listing states live transit and turn-by-turn features work only in a named list of specific cities (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and dozens of other listed cities), not globally, per the developer's own description.; Foursquare Spatial Studio unfolded no longer exists as a product or a contracting entity, so buyers researching under that name find documentation, pricing discussion and comparison material that no longer applies to what Foursquare sells
  • They diverge on capability: Citymapper covers Multi-modal routing, Foursquare Spatial Studio covers Browser rendering at scale.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Citymapper and Foursquare Spatial Studio actually diverge.

Attributes where Citymapper and Foursquare Spatial Studio differ
AttributeCitymapperFoursquare Spatial Studio
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsIos, Android, WebWeb
Founded2011Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Maps).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Citymapper

  • Multi-modal routing
  • Real-time departures
  • Live bus tracking
  • Disruption alerts
  • Walking directions
  • Uber
  • Lyft
  • Lime

Only in Foursquare Spatial Studio

  • Browser rendering at scale
  • H3 spatial indexing
  • Data joins
  • Time animation
  • Map sharing and embedding
  • Cloud data connections
  • Foursquare data access

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Citymapper

  • Daily commutingnot Foursquare Spatial Studio
  • City explorationnot Foursquare Spatial Studio
  • Trip planningnot Foursquare Spatial Studio
  • Mobility as a servicenot Foursquare Spatial Studio

Foursquare Spatial Studio

  • A retail property team comparing catchment overlap between candidate sites using hexagonal aggregation rather than drive-time polygonsnot Citymapper
  • A telecommunications planner visualising a national dataset of measurements in the browser without building a tile pipelinenot Citymapper
  • An analytics team that already writes deck.gl in-house and wants a hosted environment so non-developers can explore the same datanot Citymapper
  • A marketing group that wants Foursquare places and movement data joined to its own customer geography in one toolnot Citymapper

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Citymapper

  • Citymapper's own App Store listing states live transit and turn-by-turn features work only in a named list of specific cities (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and dozens of other listed cities), not globally, per the developer's own description.

Foursquare Spatial Studio

  • Unfolded no longer exists as a product or a contracting entity, so buyers researching under that name find documentation, pricing discussion and comparison material that no longer applies to what Foursquare sells
  • Pricing is not published at all, and because access to Foursquare datasets can be bundled into the same agreement, separating the cost of the software from the cost of the data requires explicitly asking for a split quote
  • Much of the visualisation capability exists in kepler.gl and deck.gl, which are free and open source, so the paid product must justify itself on hosting, collaboration and data rather than on rendering
  • Foursquare's core business is selling location data, which means the analytics roadmap follows what makes that data sell, and a customer using only its own data is not the priority segment
  • It is analysis and visualisation, not a spatial database or an editing environment, so organisations still need PostGIS, a warehouse or a GIS for the authoritative data and its maintenance

Pricing, plan by plan

Citymapper

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Multi-modal routing
    • Real-time departures
    • Basic navigation
  • Citymapper Premium$4.99/month
    • Live location sharing
    • Weather integration
    • Widgets

Foursquare Spatial Studio

On request
  • Foursquare Spatial Studio$undefined/year
    • Quoted by users, data volume and which Foursquare datasets you take
    • Cloud warehouse connections on the higher tier
    • Not published

Which should you pick?

Choose Citymapper if

  • You need multi-modal routing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Ios, Android, Web.
  • You also want real-time departures.
Citymapper review

Choose Foursquare Spatial Studio if

  • You need browser rendering at scale.
  • You also want h3 spatial indexing.
Foursquare Spatial Studio review

Questions people ask

Is Citymapper or Foursquare Spatial Studio better?
Neither clearly leads. Citymapper starts at Free and Foursquare Spatial Studio at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Citymapper or Foursquare Spatial Studio?
Citymapper has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Citymapper and On request for Foursquare Spatial Studio.
Does Citymapper or Foursquare Spatial Studio run on more platforms?
Citymapper runs on Ios, Android, Web. Foursquare Spatial Studio runs on Web.
Can I use Citymapper for free?
Yes. Citymapper has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Foursquare Spatial Studio starts at On request.
What is Citymapper best used for?
Citymapper is most often used for daily commuting, city exploration, trip planning, mobility as a service. Of those, daily commuting and city exploration are not what Foursquare Spatial Studio is typically brought in for.
What can Citymapper do that Foursquare Spatial Studio cannot?
Citymapper covers Multi-modal routing, Real-time departures, Live bus tracking, Disruption alerts. Foursquare Spatial Studio covers Browser rendering at scale, H3 spatial indexing, Data joins, Time animation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Citymapper: Does Citymapper offer paid membership?

Yes, Citymapper offers a CLUB membership tier with exclusive features, including AI-powered route selection. However, specific pricing details for CLUB membership are not disclosed on their main website.

Source
Foursquare Spatial Studio: Can I still buy Unfolded?

No. Foursquare acquired Unfolded in 2021 and sells the product as Foursquare Spatial Studio. There is no Unfolded contract.

Citymapper: Where can I find Citymapper CLUB pricing?

Citymapper CLUB pricing is not published on their website. You would need to check the mobile app (Apple App Store or Google Play Store) or contact Citymapper support directly for current pricing information.

Source
Foursquare Spatial Studio: Is kepler.gl the same thing?

No. kepler.gl is the free open source visualisation library from the same original team. Spatial Studio is the hosted commercial platform built around it.

Foursquare Spatial Studio: What does it cost?

Foursquare does not publish pricing. Ask for the software and the data licences to be quoted separately.

Foursquare Spatial Studio: Do I need Foursquare's data to use it?

No, you can load your own, but the commercial proposition is strongest for customers who also want the places and movement datasets.

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