SeatGuru is Gone: The 10 Best Alternatives for Choosing Your Seat (2026)

Best for: Instantly checking live seat availability and seeing how full a flight is.

The AwardFares Seat Map Tool is the best first stop for any traveler. It’s free, simple, and shows you the real-time seat map for virtually any flight. You don’t need to know the exact aircraft type, just your flight details. Its primary goal is to answer the question: “What does my flight look like right now?”

How To Use the Live Seat Map Checker

1. Enter your flight details (Origin, Destination, Date, and Flight Number).
2. Click Search.
3. Instantly see which seats are occupied (red), available (green), or blocked (yellow).

Why it’s our #1 pick:

• Live Data: Shows you the actual, up-to-the-minute seat map.
• Extremely Easy: No need to know the specific Boeing 777-300ER version you’re on.
• Completely Free: The tool is free for everyone to use.

Best for: Accurate, detailed aircraft layouts for aviation enthusiasts.

AeroLOPA creates beautiful, precise, and up-to-date seat maps based on official airline diagrams. If you want to know the exact window alignment, where the bassinets are, or the manufacturer of your business class seat, AeroLOPA is the place to go.

Why it’s so good:

• Unmatched Accuracy: The maps are based on real LOPA documents from airlines.
• Incredible Detail: Shows everything from galleys to window positions with perfect scale.
• Flight-Number Search: As of 2026, you can enter your flight number and date to pull up the right map. You no longer need to know your exact aircraft model.

What to know:

• It’s a Static Map: It shows the plane’s layout, not who is sitting where.

How AeroLOPA Works:

AeroLOPA sources its diagrams from official airline LOPA (Layout of Passenger Accommodations) documents. These are the same technical drawings airlines use internally. The easiest way in is the new flight-number search: enter your airline, flight number, and date, and AeroLOPA finds the matching map. You can also browse by airline and aircraft type (e.g., “Boeing 777-300ER” or “Airbus A350-900”) if you already know your plane.

Best for: A more traditional, SeatGuru-like experience.

SeatMaps.com is the closest thing to a direct SeatGuru replacement. It offers color-coded maps, seat dimension details (pitch and width), 360-degree panoramic cabin views, and in-flight reviews. Based in London and Munich, the team updates and publishes seat maps weekly, covering 739 airlines and over 3,240 aircraft configurations.

Why it’s a good option:

• Familiar Interface: Easy to use if you liked SeatGuru’s color-coded layout.
• Strong Coverage: 739 airlines and 3,240+ configurations, updated weekly.
• 360-Degree Views: Some aircraft include panoramic cabin photos.

What to know:

• Data Can Be Generic: Despite regular updates, some maps may not match the exact configuration on your specific flight.

Best for: Frequent flyers who want seat alerts, upgrade tracking, and detailed seat data.

ExpertFlyer is a powerful subscription-based tool used by frequent flyers and travel hackers. In March 2026, ExpertFlyer received its biggest update in 17 years: a partnership with AeroLOPA that brings detailed seat maps (with pitch, recline, and attribute data) directly into the platform, plus a new systemwide upgrade search for American Airlines.

ExpertFlyer Pricing (Updated March 2026):

• Basic ($6.99/month, or $5.99/month annually): Full seat maps, 50 alerts
• Premium ($12.99/month, or $10.99/month annually): 250 alerts, award availability, upgrade tracking
• Elite ($19.99/month, $239.88/year): Everything in Premium + AA systemwide upgrade availability search

Why it’s useful:

• Seat Alerts: Actively monitors seats and notifies you when your target seat opens up. Basic now includes 50 alerts (up from 4).
• AeroLOPA Integration: Seat maps now show granular data like seat pitch, recline specs, and attribute tags that weren’t previously visible.
• Upgrade Monitoring: Track when upgrade space becomes available. The new Elite tier shows all confirmable AA systemwide upgrade space in one search.

What to know:

• Requires a Paid Subscription: Prices went up in 2026, and the most useful features require Premium or Elite.
• Learning Curve: Takes time to master all the features, but worth it for serious frequent flyers.

Best for: User reviews and photos of specific seats.

SeatLink is a review-driven platform where travelers share their direct experiences. Its main value comes from user-uploaded photos, which give you a real-world preview of what to expect from a seat, something a diagram can never do.

Why it’s useful:

• Real Traveler Photos: See the actual seat, legroom, and window view.
• Crowd-Sourced Data: Offers insights you can’t get from official maps.

What to know:

• Inconsistent Coverage: The quality of information depends entirely on user submissions, so many planes or seats may have no data.

Best for: A backup for older aircraft configurations and user reviews.

SeatMaestro is another long-standing site that, like SeatGuru, relies on user reviews and photos. While it also suffers from having some outdated information, its large database can sometimes have details on older planes that other, more modern sites don’t cover.

Why it’s a good backup:

• Large Database: Has a deep archive of aircraft layouts.
• Review-Based: Offers personal experiences from other travelers.

What to know:

• Often Outdated: Not reliable for new aircraft or recently updated cabins.

Best for: A SeatGuru-like experience with optional live seat tracking.

FlightSeatmap.com offers free static seat maps similar to SeatGuru’s old format, plus a paid subscription ($6.99/month) for live seat availability, seat alerts, and upgrade notifications. It covers a few hundred airlines, though the site’s own coverage numbers vary depending on where you look.

Why it’s worth knowing about:

• Free Static Maps: A solid no-cost starting point in a familiar SeatGuru-style format.
• Smart Monitoring: The paid tier checks availability every 2 hours for imminent flights and twice weekly for far-out bookings, emailing you when your preferred seat opens up.
• Extra Tools: Includes an Airport Wait Time Calculator and an Award Availability Search.

What to know:

• Free Tier is Limited: Live data and alerts require the $6.99/month subscription.
• Static Maps Can Be Generic: The free seat maps may not always match the exact configuration on your flight.

Best for: Verified, no-nonsense seat tips from official airline data.

SeatMap.app launched after SeatGuru’s shutdown with a different philosophy: every seat map is built from official airline PDFs and cross-referenced against aviation databases — no crowdsourced guesses. Instead of generic “Economy is comfortable” filler, it provides seat-specific tips like “Row 44 has no window and limited recline.”

Why it stands out:

• Verified Data: Each map cites its source and shows when it was last verified.
• Best Seat Mode: Filter seats by legroom, quiet zones, fast exit, and window alignment.
• Completely Free: No account, no paywall, no premium upsell.

What to know:

• Growing Fast, But Still Young: Coverage has expanded quickly — from 26 airlines when we first reviewed it to 205 airlines and over 238,000 mapped seats as of July 2026. Depth still varies by carrier, so some fleets are mapped in far more detail than others.

Best for: AI-powered seat recommendations for your specific flight.

SeatCompare.ai takes a different approach from traditional seat map tools. Enter your flight number, cabin type, and departure date, and it uses AI to generate a personalized recommendation: the best seats, seats to avoid, and why. It also offers “version lottery alerts” — notifications if your aircraft type changes, which can mean a cabin downgrade.

Why it’s interesting:

• Flight-Specific Advice: Tells you the best and worst seats for your exact aircraft and configuration.
• Aircraft Change Alerts: Get notified if your plane gets swapped. ExpertFlyer offers something similar, but only on its paid plans.
• Broad Coverage: Tracks 70+ airlines, 1,000+ cabin layouts, and 5,000+ aircraft.

What to know:

• Still in Beta: The tool is actively being developed, so expect rough edges. More features are planned.
• No Live Availability: It recommends seats based on layout analysis, not real-time occupancy. Use AwardFares for that.

Best for: Comparing legroom across flights while you’re booking.

Legrooms+ is a free Chrome extension that overlays seat pitch, amenity, and carry-on data directly onto Google Flights search results. It’s not a standalone seat map tool, but it solves a problem that SeatGuru users often faced: choosing between two flights without knowing which one has better legroom.

Why it’s useful:

• Zero Friction: Install once and forget. Data appears automatically in Google Flights.
• Compare Before You Book: See legroom for standard economy, premium economy, and extra-legroom sections side-by-side across different flights.
• Completely Free: No account or subscription needed.

What to know:

• Chrome Only: Works on desktop Chrome only — no Safari, Firefox, or mobile support.
• Not a Seat Map: It shows seat pitch per cabin section, not a map of individual seats.

Best for: The guaranteed correct seat map for your specific flight.

Don’t forget the most obvious source. The airline you’re flying with will show you a seat map when you manage your booking. This is the only 100% guaranteed accurate map for your flight. Always use it as your final check before selecting a seat.

Why it’s essential:

• Guaranteed Accuracy: It’s the real map for your exact flight.

What to know:

• Lacks Detail: Airline maps won’t tell you if a seat has limited recline or a missing window.