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WhereNext vs Expatistan: Beyond City-Pair Cost Comparison
Expatistan is a focused tool for comparing the cost of living between two cities. WhereNext goes broader: not just cost, but the full relocation decision including visa eligibility, tax burden, healthcare access, and school options for families. Here's how they compare.
Quick answer
What Expatistan does well
- Clean, fast city-pair cost-of-living calculator
- Cost-only focus keeps the UX simple and unambiguous
- Crowdsourced data with reasonable update cadence
Visit Expatistan for the use case where they're the right tool. We link to them in our deeper guides.
Where WhereNext is different
Three structural differences that change which tool fits which question.
1. Multi-dimensional, not cost-only
WhereNext compares cities and countries on 7 dimensions: cost, safety, healthcare, education, career, climate, and infrastructure. Cost is one input among several for a relocation decision.
2. Visa + tax integration
WhereNext maintains structured visa-eligibility data (25 digital-nomad visas + golden-visa programmes) and tax rates per country. Expatistan doesn't cover this — you'd need a separate tool.
3. Open data + CSV
Every WhereNext comparison is backed by a downloadable CC BY 4.0 dataset. Expatistan's data is proprietary and not redistributable.
Side-by-side comparison
Feature-by-feature breakdown, last reviewed 2026-05-08.
| Feature | Expatistan | WhereNext |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Use case | City-pair cost compare | Holistic relocation decision |
| Cost data | Crowdsourced | World Bank ICP-anchored |
| Visa data | None | 25 DNVs + golden visas |
| Tax data | None | 20 countries × 3 income tiers |
| Schools | None | 4,149 international schools |
| Open data | Proprietary | CC BY 4.0 |
When to use which
Use Expatistan
If you have two specific cities in mind and want a fast cost-of-living comparison and nothing else, Expatistan's focused UX is excellent.
Use WhereNext
If you're choosing between countries (not cities), or you need visa, tax, school, or healthcare data alongside cost, WhereNext is the broader-purpose tool.
At a glance
- Expatistan = cost of living Specialised for that single use case.
- WhereNext = open-data platform 95 countries, 380 cities, plus visa, tax, schools, healthcare.
- Both free at entry tier Expatistan is free; WhereNext is fully free for all data + tools.
- CC BY 4.0 licence on WhereNext Every dataset is downloadable + redistributable with attribution.
- Use Expatistan for... If you have two specific cities in mind and want a fast cost-of-living comparison and nothing else.
Frequently asked questions
Is WhereNext just a fancier Expatistan?+
No — they solve different problems. Expatistan is a focused calculator for cost-of-living between two specific cities. WhereNext is a research platform for choosing which country to relocate to in the first place. The two complement each other.
Can WhereNext compare two specific cities like Expatistan does?+
Yes — see /city/{country}/{city} and the in-page comparison tool. We also have city-pair pages at /city-compare/{a}-vs-{b} for popular pairings. Coverage is 380 research-tier cities (vs Expatistan's broader crowdsourced set).
Where to go next on WhereNext
This comparison was last reviewed 2026-05-08. We aim to be honest and source-cited about both tools — including pointing you at Expatistan for the use cases where they're the right fit. WhereNext's full methodology is at /methodology. Spot a factual error? Tell us.