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Maps · head to head

Foursquare Spatial Studio vs What3words

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
What3words logo

What3words

Maps

What3words has divided the world into 3m squares and given each one

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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; What3words the free API plan includes no coordinate conversion, only AutoSuggest, and is rate limited to 5 requests per second
  • They diverge on capability: Foursquare Spatial Studio covers Browser rendering at scale, What3words covers Core Functionality.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Foursquare Spatial Studio and What3words actually diverge.

Attributes where Foursquare Spatial Studio and What3words differ
AttributeFoursquare Spatial StudioWhat3words
Pricing modelquotefreemium

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), platforms (Web), 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 Foursquare Spatial Studio

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

Only in What3words

  • Core Functionality
  • User Interface

What people use each for

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

Foursquare Spatial Studio

  • A retail property team comparing catchment overlap between candidate sites using hexagonal aggregation rather than drive-time polygonsnot What3words
  • A telecommunications planner visualising a national dataset of measurements in the browser without building a tile pipelinenot What3words
  • An analytics team that already writes deck.gl in-house and wants a hosted environment so non-developers can explore the same datanot What3words
  • A marketing group that wants Foursquare places and movement data joined to its own customer geography in one toolnot What3words

What3words

  • Referring to a 3 metre square location with three wordsnot Foursquare Spatial Studio
  • Adding location entry to a delivery or dispatch appnot Foursquare Spatial Studio
  • Converting between coordinates and what3words addresses via APInot Foursquare Spatial Studio

Where each one falls short

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

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

What3words

  • The free API plan includes no coordinate conversion, only AutoSuggest, and is rate limited to 5 requests per second
  • Converting to and from what3words addresses starts on the Basic plan at $9.99 per month for 1,000 conversions
  • Priority and developer support require the Standard plan at $45 per month
  • 24/7 phone support requires the Plus plan at $125 per month
  • Custom invoicing and annual payment require the Premium plan at $300 per month
  • Overage pricing is not published; the page states only that a fair usage policy applies
  • The three word address scheme is proprietary and licensed rather than open data

Pricing, plan by plan

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

What3words

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the What3words review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Foursquare Spatial Studio if

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

Choose What3words if

  • You need core functionality.
  • You also want user interface.
What3words review

Questions people ask

Is Foursquare Spatial Studio or What3words better?
Neither clearly leads. Foursquare Spatial Studio starts at On request and What3words at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Foursquare Spatial Studio or What3words?
Foursquare Spatial Studio starts at On request and What3words at On request.
Does Foursquare Spatial Studio or What3words run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Foursquare Spatial Studio best used for?
Foursquare Spatial Studio is most often used for a retail property team comparing catchment overlap between candidate sites using hexagonal aggregation rather than drive-time polygons, a telecommunications planner visualising a national dataset of measurements in the browser without building a tile pipeline, an analytics team that already writes deck.gl in-house and wants a hosted environment so non-developers can explore the same data, a marketing group that wants foursquare places and movement data joined to its own customer geography in one tool. Of those, a retail property team comparing catchment overlap between candidate sites using hexagonal aggregation rather than drive-time polygons and a telecommunications planner visualising a national dataset of measurements in the browser without building a tile pipeline are not what What3words is typically brought in for.
What can Foursquare Spatial Studio do that What3words cannot?
Foursquare Spatial Studio covers Browser rendering at scale, H3 spatial indexing, Data joins, Time animation. What3words covers Core Functionality, User Interface.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

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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