TravelMatch
Best travel buddy apps (2026): TravelMatch, GAFFL and more
You have the trip half-built in your head. Ten days somewhere warm in March, a rough budget, maybe even the neighbourhood you would like to stay in. What you do not have is anyone to go with. So one evening you type "travel buddy app" into the App Store and get a screen of names you have never heard of, half of them with "travel friends" in the title. Then you go to Google and add "reddit" to the end, because what you really want to know is what they are like once you are inside.
If you already know roughly where and when you want to go and need people to go with, the travel buddy app we recommend is TravelMatch: it is free, you post your trip or join someone else's, and you see where you match with each person before anyone books. The alternatives do related but different things. GAFFL lists trips by destination and lets you contact the travellers and locals behind them, Tourlina matches trips by swiping, Nomadtable connects you with travellers near you right now, and TripBFF matches travel friends by interests. Everything below about those four comes from their own websites and official App Store or Google Play listings, checked on 7 October 2026.
What you actually need a travel buddy app to do
They all appear in the same search, and they solve three different problems. Working out which one is yours saves you an evening of downloading.
The first is finding someone to do a whole trip with. You agree a destination, dates and a budget, and each of you books your own travel. The second is meeting people where you already are: you are in Hanoi on your own tonight and would like someone to eat with. The third is broader, making travel friends in general, some of whom may become trip companions later.
None of these is better than the others. But an app built for the second will feel empty if you are looking for the first, and the other way round, which is behind a fair share of the "does this app even work?" threads people go looking for.
TravelMatch: for a trip you want to plan with people you choose
On TravelMatch you create the trip you have in mind, or browse the ones other travellers are organising. For each trip you see the destination, the dates, the budget, the places left and who is already going. If it fits, you ask to join. If it is your trip, you receive requests and decide who comes.
What changes the outcome is what you see about the people before you say yes. You set the age range you want to travel with, and you see where you match on budget, pace, daily rhythm and how you plan. You can look at someone's past trips, and reviews can only be written by someone who travelled with that person and confirmed the trip took place. Then the organising happens inside the same trip: a day-by-day itinerary, shared expenses and who paid what, bookings and documents, photos and the trip chat. You can block and report users, and it is for over-18s only.
It is free, it is on the UK App Store, and it works in English in the browser. It is not built for meeting someone for dinner tonight, and if what you want is a guide and a fixed itinerary, a group tour does that job better; how to find travel companions compares those other routes.
The alternatives, from their own listings
GAFFL: trips by destination, plus locals
GAFFL describes itself on its site as a way to find a travel buddy, plan trips and travel together. You search a destination and see the trips other travellers have already created there, as well as locals who live there; when one interests you, you tap Connect and chat. You can also start your own trip. Its latest App Store update added filters by age, gender and language and a list of travellers nearby who were recently active.
According to its App Store listing, it is free to download and use, including starting trips, replying to messages and getting a verification badge. A subscription, GAFFL Unlimited, adds unlimited connections, hotel discounts and 24/7 trip assistance. Its price is not published on the listing or the site. We could confirm an iOS listing in the UK store; we could not confirm a Google Play listing on the day we checked.
Tourlina: swipe-based trip matching
Tourlina's site says it began as the first women-only travel app and that since 2024 men can join too, so it is now mixed. You enter a trip by country and dates, describe your itinerary, and swipe through people whose destination, dates and interests match yours. The site says its team checks every new user, and only checked users can chat. Its App Store listing describes the app as a place for travel companions, friendships and dating.
It has a free version and a paid Premium, with no price published on its site. It is on iOS and on Google Play.
Nomadtable: travellers nearby, right now
Nomadtable is built for the second problem above. Its site describes it as a way to find friends while travelling solo: you see activities near you, join one or create your own, chat to agree the details and meet up. Its App Store listing adds a future-trip feature, where you add your next destination and get put in a group chat with travellers visiting at the same time, plus AI suggestions for activities and venues.
It is free to download on iOS and Android. A paid tier, Nomadtable Plus, shows the full list of nearby travellers rather than a selection, who viewed your profile, a profile boost, unlimited AI suggestions and the complete list of travellers overlapping with your future destinations. Profile verification is optional. The listing does not publish the price of Plus.
TripBFF: travel friends by interest
TripBFF's App Store listing describes an app to connect with travel friends: you build a profile with your interests, travel preferences and a destination wishlist, and its algorithm suggests people. It has group chats, travel content written by users, a yearly Travel Wrapped summary, and interest groups for people studying abroad, on work exchanges or living as digital nomads.
It is free to download, with two subscriptions, TripBFF Pro and TripBFF Pro +. The UK listing prices Pro at $4.99 a week, $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year, renewing automatically unless you turn it off at least 24 hours before the period ends. We could confirm the iOS listing; we could not confirm a Google Play listing on the day we checked.
TripBFF vs Nomadtable: the comparison people search
They are often searched together because both say "travel friends" in their store name. The difference is in where they start. Nomadtable starts from place and time: who is near you now, what is happening nearby, who will be in the same city on the same dates. TripBFF starts from the person: interests, preferences and the places you want to go, with the matching done by its algorithm.
Neither is designed around organising one specific trip with a group you have chosen, with the itinerary and the expenses in the same place. If that is the trip you have in mind, that is the gap TravelMatch is built for.
Free or paid: what each one charges for
The pattern is the same across most of the category: free to download, with a subscription that unlocks more contacts or more visibility. On the day we checked, TravelMatch was free. GAFFL was free to use with GAFFL Unlimited on top, Tourlina had a free version and Premium, Nomadtable had Nomadtable Plus, and TripBFF had TripBFF Pro and Pro +. Only TripBFF publishes its prices on its listing.
Before you pay for any of them, check two things on the app itself. What exactly the free version lets you do, because in some apps the limit is how many people you can contact. And whether there are trips or people for your destination and dates, which you can usually see before subscribing.
Travel buddy app reviews and Reddit threads: how to read them
People search "tourlina reviews", "nomadtable reddit" or "tripbff app reddit" because they want to hear from someone who has been inside. We do not quote star ratings or review scores here, for the same reason they are hard to use: an app with lots of people in Bangkok and nobody in Porto can be rated highly by people in Bangkok and still be empty for your trip.
What is useful in a review or a thread is context. Where the reviewer was going and when. Whether they were looking for a whole trip or someone to meet that evening. And what the complaint actually is: "nobody near me", "had to pay to reply" and "everyone wanted something different" are three different problems, and only one of them is about the app itself.
What to check before you give any app an evening
Some apps have thousands of profiles and no plan you could actually join. Four checks tell you quickly whether one is worth your time.
Look for trips or meetups with real dates for your destination, not just profiles. See what you learn about how someone travels before you message them, beyond age and photos; how to choose travel companions covers the seven things people actually fall out over. Find out who is allowed to leave a review, because a review anyone can write after a chat tells you much less than one written after a trip together. And check who decides who joins a trip.
None of that replaces your own precautions. Have a video call before anyone books, agree in figures how money will be split, keep your own documents and way home, and make the first trip short. Is it safe to travel with strangers goes through the rest, and if you would rather travel with women, solo female travel groups compares the options.
The app only gets you to the first message
Whichever app you choose, someone still has to post the trip or write first. If you have dates and a destination and nobody yet, posting the trip yourself is how most groups start.
→ Post your trip on TravelMatch · Free.
Reviewed in October 2026. What each app does and charges was checked on 7 October 2026 on its own website and its official listing: gogaffl.com and the UK App Store listing "GAFFL - Find A Travel Buddy"; tourlina.com, the UK App Store listing "Tourlina - Travel Buddy" and the Google Play listing "Tourlina Travel Companion"; nomadtable.app, the UK App Store listing and the Google Play listing "nomadtable: travel friends"; tripbff.com and the UK App Store listing "tripbff - travel friends". Features and prices change, so check the app's own listing before you subscribe. We do not quote ratings or review scores.