Mapy.com vs Waze
Mapy.com is a European alternative to Waze: same other use case, headquartered in Czech Republic and governed by EU GDPR, while Waze is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Explore detailed world maps, find hiking and cycling trails, and plan routes for any journey. Offers comprehensive mapping for cities and towns globally.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- Primary privacy law
- EU GDPR
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- No
Waze routes around jams using reports from other drivers, and that community layer is genuinely hard to replicate: hazards, police and closures appear faster than on any map waiting for sensor data. Use is free, paid for by ads shown while you drive. Google bought it in 2013, so trips are logged in the United States.
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Mapy.com vs Waze at a glance
| Mapy.com | Waze | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Czech Republic | United States |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | United States |
| Primary privacy law | EU GDPR | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Best for | Teams that need other built for European data-protection requirements | Teams already invested in the Waze ecosystem |
Choose Mapy.com if…
- You want a provider governed by a European privacy regime
- GDPR or public-sector data-protection requirements apply to you
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with Waze if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the Waze ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
Why choose Mapy.com over Waze?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. Waze is headquartered in the United States, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Mapy.com removes that overhead. As a Czech Republic-based provider, it operates under EU GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.