How Plot Along compares
Plot Along vs Google My Maps
Google My Maps is a pin board. It is good at holding places: import a spreadsheet, sort pins into layers, share the map like a Google Doc, embed it in a website. If your project ends with looking at pins, it does the job and costs nothing.
It is not a route planner. Directions live on separate layers you cannot navigate, the mobile app was shut down in 2021 so there is no editing away from a desk, and your collaborators find out what changed when they refresh. Plot Along starts where My Maps stops: several people shaping one drivable route, live, then opening it in a real nav app.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Plot Along | Google My Maps |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time collaboration | Yes. Everyone works on the same map at once and sees every change as it happens. | No. Sharing borrows Google Drive permissions, but there is no live sync. You refresh the page to find out what your co-planner did. |
| Live cursors | Yes. You can watch your friends work the map, pointer and all. | No. |
| Multi-stop routing | Routes are the whole point. Drag a stop and the road route redraws for everyone. | Directions layers only. You can draw directions between points, but there is no way to navigate them and no say in which roads they take. |
| Scenic routes | The route keeps the roads you pick. Avoid Highways means avoid highways, not a polite suggestion. | No routing controls at all. Directions layers take whatever road Google picks, and there is no avoid-highways option to argue with it. |
| Pin capacity | 8 waypoints per route free, 25 on Hobby, 50 on Pro. | Up to 10 layers per map and 2,000 rows per import. Plenty of pins; still nothing you can drive. |
| Editing on a phone | Yes, on any device with a browser. Nothing to install. | View only. The Android app was discontinued in 2021, and the Google Maps app can display a custom map but not change it. |
| Price | Free forever, no credit card. Pro is $5 a month billed yearly. | Free with a Google Account. |
Prices and limits checked July 2026.
Where Google My Maps fits
Use My Maps for what it is: a free way to pin research to geography. An apartment hunt, a wedding logistics map, every taqueria worth arguing about. It swallows big spreadsheets, embeds anywhere and shares with permissions everyone already understands.
The moment those pins need to become a drive, you have left what My Maps can do. There is no route to follow, no way to edit from the road and no live planning session. That is not a missing feature; it is a different product.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Google My Maps when the map is a document you look at. It is free, it holds thousands of pins and it lives in the Drive account you already have.
Pick Plot Along when the map is a trip you drive. Your group shapes one route together, live, the line stays on the roads you chose and the finished plan opens in Google Maps, Apple Maps or your GPS from everyone’s own seat.
Plan your next trip together
Live collaboration, routes you get to keep and one-tap handoff to the nav app everyone already has. No credit card required.