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Fleet Management · head to head

GPS Trackit vs Lonboard

GPS Trackit logo

GPS Trackit

Fleet Management

Vehicle tracking for small and mid-size fleets with no long-term contract

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Lonboard logo

Lonboard

Maps

Python map rendering in Jupyter that skips GeoJSON and moves millions of features without choking

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Lonboard has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: GPS Trackit month-to-month pricing carries a premium, so measured across three years the total cost usually exceeds a competitor with hardware amortised into a term contract.; Lonboard it is a notebook visualisation library, not a mapping application, so there is no editing, no layout, no map export for print and no sharing beyond distributing the notebook or an HTML file
  • They diverge on capability: GPS Trackit covers Live tracking, Lonboard covers GeoArrow binary transfer.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which GPS Trackit and Lonboard actually diverge.

Attributes where GPS Trackit and Lonboard differ
AttributeGPS TrackitLonboard
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelPer vehicle per monthOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryFleet ManagementMaps

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

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 GPS Trackit

  • Live tracking
  • Driver behaviour
  • VidFleet cameras
  • Maintenance reminders
  • Self-installed devices
  • Alerts and reports

Only in Lonboard

  • GeoArrow binary transfer
  • GeoPandas input
  • deck.gl layers
  • Jupyter widget
  • Large dataset handling
  • Styling by attribute
  • Open source licence

What people use each for

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

GPS Trackit

  • A contractor whose fleet size swings with the season and who cannot justify a three-year commitment on vehicles it may not run next springnot Lonboard
  • A small service business trialling telematics for the first time that wants an exit if drivers or supervisors do not adopt itnot Lonboard
  • A fleet that needs devices fitted the week they arrive, without booking installation appointments across a depotnot Lonboard
  • An operator replacing a vendor mid-contract that wants a stopgap platform rather than another long agreementnot Lonboard

Lonboard

  • An analyst exploring a national road or parcel dataset in a notebook where pydeck or ipyleaflet becomes unusable at that sizenot GPS Trackit
  • A researcher publishing a reproducible analysis where the visualisation must run from the same script as the processingnot GPS Trackit
  • A data scientist joining spatial data to model outputs in pandas and needing to see the result immediately without exporting to a GISnot GPS Trackit
  • A team building an internal analysis pipeline on GeoParquet that wants rendering without a serialisation step in the middlenot GPS Trackit

Where each one falls short

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

GPS Trackit

  • Month-to-month pricing carries a premium, so measured across three years the total cost usually exceeds a competitor with hardware amortised into a term contract.
  • The feature set is tracking-first, with a shallow maintenance module and no meaningful work order, parts or inventory management, so fleets serious about maintenance need a second system.
  • Compliance tooling is basic, and a fleet that takes on regulated interstate work will find the hours of service capability behind vendors built around the mandate.
  • The integration list is short and the API is limited, so pushing telematics data into payroll, job costing or an ERP normally becomes a manual export routine.
  • Self-installed OBD-II devices are easy to fit and equally easy for a driver to unplug, and the tamper reporting does not make up for the fact that the physical device is within reach of the person being monitored.

Lonboard

  • It is a notebook visualisation library, not a mapping application, so there is no editing, no layout, no map export for print and no sharing beyond distributing the notebook or an HTML file
  • Maintenance sits with Development Seed as an open source side output of a consultancy, so roadmap priorities follow client projects and there is no support contract to buy
  • Layer coverage is a subset of deck.gl, so an analyst needing a less common layer type has to drop to pydeck or write JavaScript rather than staying in Python
  • It expects data already in GeoPandas or Arrow form, which means the performance benefit depends on the rest of your pipeline being Arrow-friendly; reading a large Shapefile is still the slow step
  • Rendering happens in the browser, so very large datasets are ultimately limited by the client machine's memory and GPU rather than by the server, and a laptop will still fail on data a workstation handles

Pricing, plan by plan

GPS Trackit

On request
  • GPS Trackit$undefined/month
    • Month-to-month subscription per vehicle with no minimum term
    • Tracking hardware supplied with the subscription
    • Camera hardware and video plans charged separately

Lonboard

Free
  • LonboardFree
    • Open source, no licence fee
    • No usage limits
    • Installed from PyPI or conda

Which should you pick?

Choose GPS Trackit if

  • You need live tracking.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want driver behaviour.
GPS Trackit review

Choose Lonboard if

  • You need geoarrow binary transfer.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want geopandas input.
Lonboard review

Questions people ask

Is GPS Trackit or Lonboard better?
Neither clearly leads. GPS Trackit starts at On request and Lonboard at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, GPS Trackit or Lonboard?
Lonboard has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for GPS Trackit and Free for Lonboard.
Does GPS Trackit or Lonboard run on more platforms?
GPS Trackit runs on Web, iOS, Android. Lonboard runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Lonboard for free?
Yes. Lonboard has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. GPS Trackit starts at On request.
What is GPS Trackit best used for?
GPS Trackit is most often used for a contractor whose fleet size swings with the season and who cannot justify a three-year commitment on vehicles it may not run next spring, a small service business trialling telematics for the first time that wants an exit if drivers or supervisors do not adopt it, a fleet that needs devices fitted the week they arrive, without booking installation appointments across a depot, an operator replacing a vendor mid-contract that wants a stopgap platform rather than another long agreement. Of those, a contractor whose fleet size swings with the season and who cannot justify a three-year commitment on vehicles it may not run next spring and a small service business trialling telematics for the first time that wants an exit if drivers or supervisors do not adopt it are not what Lonboard is typically brought in for.
What can GPS Trackit do that Lonboard cannot?
GPS Trackit covers Live tracking, Driver behaviour, VidFleet cameras, Maintenance reminders. Lonboard covers GeoArrow binary transfer, GeoPandas input, deck.gl layers, Jupyter widget.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

GPS Trackit: Is there really no contract?

The subscription is month to month, but read the hardware terms. Devices are supplied on the expectation they come back, and unreturned units are charged for.

Lonboard: Why not just use pydeck?

pydeck serialises geometry to GeoJSON to reach the browser. Lonboard uses a binary GeoArrow pipeline, which is the reason it handles far larger datasets in the same notebook.

GPS Trackit: How does the cost compare to Samsara or Verizon Connect over three years?

Generally higher per vehicle, because those vendors discount in exchange for the commitment. The comparison only favours GPS Trackit if you value the ability to leave.

Lonboard: Who maintains it?

Development Seed, a geospatial engineering consultancy, as an open source project. There is no commercial support offering.

GPS Trackit: Can drivers unplug the tracker?

A plug-in OBD-II device can be removed in seconds. The system reports the disconnection, but enforcement is a management problem, not a technical one. Hardwired units are available for fleets where this matters.

Lonboard: Does it work outside Jupyter?

It is built as a Jupyter widget. Exporting to standalone HTML is possible, but the intended environment is a notebook.

Lonboard: Is it free for commercial use?

Yes, it is open source with no licence fee.

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