An honest comparison
Limbo vs TripIt: two good apps, built for different trips
TripIt has spent years perfecting one thing: turning forwarded booking emails into a clean personal itinerary. Limbo starts from a different question — how does a group of travelers actually agree on anything? Here is where each app earns its place.
At a glance
- Included free
- Partial / limited
- Behind a paywall
- Not offered
| Feature | Limbo | TripIt |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free Every feature included — no subscription, no in-app purchases. | Freemium Free tier; TripIt Pro is $49/year after a 30-day trial. |
| Group voting | Built in Yes / No / Abstain ballots, sealed until reveal, auto-resolve at your threshold. | Not offered |
| Trip chat | Built in Photos, replies, quick polls, and live ballot cards — one chat per trip. | Not offered Trips are shared with view or edit permissions. |
| Email import | Included Forward bookings to add@getlimbo.app, then review and confirm. | Included Forward to plans@tripit.com; the itinerary builds automatically. |
| Flight alerts | Included free Delays, gate changes, and cancellations. | TripIt Pro only Real-time alerts are part of the $49/year plan. |
| Offline | Full editing View, add, edit, and vote offline; auto-syncs when you reconnect. | View only Your itinerary stays static until you reconnect. |
| Budget split | Included Estimated vs. actual costs, per-person split, multi-currency. | Not built in |
| Platforms | iOS & Android | iOS, Android & web |
TripIt details checked against tripit.com and help.tripit.com in June 2026.
Where TripIt shines
TripIt does itinerary filing about as well as it can be done. Forward any confirmation email to plans@tripit.com and a master itinerary appears, synced to your calendar and available on iOS, Android, and the web. For frequent business travelers, TripIt Pro adds real-time flight alerts, a seat tracker that notifies you when a better seat opens up, fare-refund monitoring, alternate flight suggestions, and interactive airport maps. Pro's Inner Circle can automatically share every upcoming trip with a partner or an assistant.
If your travel life is mostly you, your inbox, and a calendar, that is a polished and mature toolset — and the free tier alone is a perfectly good filing cabinet for your bookings.
Where Limbo shines
Limbo assumes the trip has people in it. Flights, hotels, restaurants, events, and car rentals all land on one shared timeline that updates for everyone at once. When the group needs to make a call, anyone can put a plan to a vote: Yes, No, or Abstain, sealed until the reveal so nobody anchors on the first response. Ballots can run up to 30 days, resolve automatically at a threshold you choose (60 percent by default), show results in real time, and can be anonymous when the question is delicate.
The conversation lives next to the plan. Each trip has its own chat with photos, reactions, replies, quick polls, and live ballot cards, so a decision never gets buried under fifty messages. Email import works the way you would hope — forward bookings to add@getlimbo.app, review, confirm. Live flight alerts for delays, gate changes, and cancellations are included free, as is a budget that tracks estimated versus actual costs and splits per person across currencies. Offline, you can view, add, edit, and even vote, with everything syncing once you are back online; only chat needs a connection. Companions join with a 6-character code, and the whole app is free on iOS and Android — no subscription, no Pro tier, no locked features.
Which one fits your trip
Pick TripIt if you travel solo or for work and your main problem is scattered confirmations. It files everything neatly, the web app is genuinely useful at a desk, and Pro's flight tooling is built for people who board a plane every week.
Pick Limbo if your trips come with a group attached — a bachelorette weekend, a family reunion, or six friends who cannot settle on a restaurant. TripIt can show everyone the itinerary; Limbo is built for the harder part, which is agreeing on it in the first place. Our guide to group trip planning covers how that works in practice. And if you are weighing collaborative planners against each other, see how Limbo compares to Wanderlog.
Frequently asked questions
Is Limbo really free, or is there a paid tier like TripIt Pro?
Limbo is completely free on iOS and Android — no subscription and no in-app purchases. Flight alerts, group voting, trip chat, budgets, and email import are all included. TripIt's free tier covers itinerary basics, while real-time flight alerts and seat tracking sit behind TripIt Pro at $49 per year.
Can I forward booking emails to Limbo the way I do with TripIt?
Yes. Forward flight, hotel, car rental, event, and restaurant confirmations to add@getlimbo.app. Limbo extracts the details, you review and confirm, and the plan lands on the shared timeline for everyone on the trip.
Does TripIt have group voting or a trip chat?
No. TripIt lets you share an itinerary with per-person view or edit permissions, which works well for keeping someone informed. It does not include group voting or a built-in chat, so group decisions still happen somewhere else.
Should I switch from TripIt to Limbo?
If you mostly travel solo or for work and just want bookings filed into one itinerary, TripIt remains a strong choice. If your trips involve a group that needs to agree on dates, stays, and plans, Limbo handles the deciding as well as the organizing. Some travelers simply use both.
Plan the next one together
Limbo is free on iOS and Android — every feature included, nothing to upgrade.
