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Maps · head to head

Felt vs Transit

Felt logo

Felt

Maps

Collaborative browser mapping with a free non-commercial tier and annual-only paid contracts

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Transit logo

Transit

Maps

Public transit trip planning and real-time arrivals for buses, trains and shared bikes and scooters

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Felt felt publishes no prices for Professional or Enterprise, so buyers cannot compare against ArcGIS Online or QGIS with hosting without entering a sales process; Transit coverage depends entirely on whether the local transit agency publishes a real-time feed, so quality swings sharply between well-funded metro systems and smaller regional operators.
  • They diverge on capability: Felt covers Real-time collaboration, Transit covers Real-time arrivals.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Felt and Transit actually diverge.

Attributes where Felt and Transit differ
AttributeFeltTransit
Pricing modelquoteFree to riders; revenue from agency data and fare-payment transaction fees
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidiOS, Android, Web

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Felt

  • Real-time collaboration
  • Drag and drop data
  • Unlimited viewers
  • Field app with offline support
  • Dashboards
  • Live cloud sources
  • API and SDK

Only in Transit

  • Real-time arrivals
  • Multi-modal trip planning
  • Service alerts
  • In-app fare payment
  • Offline schedules
  • GO transit and micromobility layers

What people use each for

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

Felt

  • An environmental consultancy that needs a client to view and comment on survey results without installing GIS softwarenot Transit
  • A utility field crew collecting asset condition offline and syncing to the same map the office is looking atnot Transit
  • A planning department sharing a proposal map with the public where the viewer count is unpredictable and viewer seats would be uncostednot Transit
  • A team of analysts who each hold data in different formats and want one map assembled in an afternoon rather than a weeknot Transit

Transit

  • A commuter in a city with a well-maintained GTFS-realtime feed wanting live bus and train arrivalsnot Felt
  • A rider comparing a transit trip against a bike share or scooter leg for the last milenot Felt
  • A visitor needing offline-capable static schedules in a city with patchy data coveragenot Felt
  • Someone wanting to buy a transit fare inside the same app used to plan the trip, in supported citiesnot Felt

Where each one falls short

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

Felt

  • Felt publishes no prices for Professional or Enterprise, so buyers cannot compare against ArcGIS Online or QGIS with hosting without entering a sales process
  • Paid tiers are annual contract only with no monthly option, which excludes consultancies that need a tool for a single short engagement and forces them to the free non-commercial tier they are not licensed to use for client work
  • The API, JavaScript SDK and live warehouse connections are enterprise-only, so a mid-sized team that wants programmatic access has to buy the top tier rather than pay for one capability
  • Analytical depth is limited: there is no meaningful geoprocessing, topology checking or model building, so Felt sits beside a real GIS rather than replacing one
  • The Professional tier caps data processing at 25 GB a month and map views at 100,000 a month, which are easy to exceed with raster imagery or a public-facing map, and the overage terms are not published either

Transit

  • Coverage depends entirely on whether the local transit agency publishes a real-time feed, so quality swings sharply between well-funded metro systems and smaller regional operators.
  • The company earns its revenue by selling agencies a paid analytics product built from rider trip data, which means the free app functions partly as a data-collection layer for a business customer, not only as a public service.
  • In-app fare payment is only available in a limited set of cities, so the headline feature is not something most riders can actually use.
  • Static schedule fallback in low-data cities is only as accurate as the agency last published, and service changes can go unreflected for weeks.
  • The app has no offline routing without a cached area, so it is not reliable for navigation in areas with poor mobile signal.

Pricing, plan by plan

Felt

Free
  • PersonalFree
    • Free forever for non-commercial mapping
    • Map creation, upload and sharing
    • Not licensed for commercial use
  • Professional$undefined/year
    • 10 full-access seats with unlimited viewers
    • 25 GB of data processing per month
    • 100,000 map views per month
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Live cloud sources including Postgres, Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks and S3
    • REST API and JavaScript SDK
    • AI features

Transit

Free
  • Rider appFree
    • Real-time arrivals and trip planning
    • No ads shown to riders
    • In-app fare purchase where supported

Which should you pick?

Choose Felt if

  • You need real-time collaboration.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want drag and drop data.
Felt review

Choose Transit if

  • You need real-time arrivals.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want multi-modal trip planning.
Transit review

Questions people ask

Is Felt or Transit better?
Neither clearly leads. Felt starts at Free and Transit at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Felt or Transit?
Felt starts at Free and Transit at Free.
Does Felt or Transit run on more platforms?
Felt runs on Web, iOS, Android. Transit runs on iOS, Android, Web.
Can I use Felt for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Felt best used for?
Felt is most often used for an environmental consultancy that needs a client to view and comment on survey results without installing gis software, a utility field crew collecting asset condition offline and syncing to the same map the office is looking at, a planning department sharing a proposal map with the public where the viewer count is unpredictable and viewer seats would be uncosted, a team of analysts who each hold data in different formats and want one map assembled in an afternoon rather than a week. Of those, an environmental consultancy that needs a client to view and comment on survey results without installing gis software and a utility field crew collecting asset condition offline and syncing to the same map the office is looking at are not what Transit is typically brought in for.
What can Felt do that Transit cannot?
Felt covers Real-time collaboration, Drag and drop data, Unlimited viewers, Field app with offline support. Transit covers Real-time arrivals, Multi-modal trip planning, Service alerts, In-app fare payment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Felt: What does Felt cost?

Felt does not publish prices for Professional or Enterprise. Personal is free but licensed for non-commercial use only.

Transit: Does Transit cost anything to use?

No. The rider app is free with no subscription and no ads; the company earns money separately by selling agencies a paid data and communication platform.

Felt: Can I pay monthly?

No. Paid plans are annual contracts. There is a 7 day trial of Professional.

Transit: Does it work in every city?

No. Coverage depends on whether the local transit agency publishes a GTFS or GTFS-realtime feed; some smaller markets have static schedules only.

Felt: Do viewers cost anything?

No. Viewer access is unlimited on the paid plans, which is the main reason organisations with large map audiences choose it.

Transit: Can I buy a bus or train ticket in the app?

Only in cities where the local agency has integrated fare payment; elsewhere you still need the agency app or a physical ticket.

Felt: Is there a nonprofit discount?

Yes, 30 per cent for verified United States nonprofits, and free access for verified students and classrooms.

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