Travel has changed dramatically, and mobile devices now drive the shift. What used to be simple communication tools have become essential travel companions that visitors rely on at every step of their journey.
Travelers now expect destinations to have self-guided tours they can access on their phones. This gives them the freedom to explore at their own pace while enjoying engaging stories and rich content.
This evolution also creates new possibilities for tour creators. You can sell tours worldwide, reach audiences around the clock, and generate income without ever needing to guide groups in person.
However, choosing the right platform to build and sell your tours can be the difference between success and frustration. The key is understanding your audience, clarifying your goals, and finding a solution that fits your budget.
To help you navigate the options, this guide compares the best self-guided tour builders in 2025 and shows you where to publish your guides so you can start earning.
1. STQRY
STQRY is a versatile digital storytelling platform that enables destinations and individual tour creators to craft engaging self-guided tours.
With STQRY, you can easily design, publish, and manage interactive experiences across mobile apps, web, and kiosks—all in one place.
At the core of this innovation is STQRY Apps, the flagship solution that gives organizations fully branded mobile experiences. With it, institutions can launch self-guided tours on iOS, Android, and web apps that feel custom-built for their brand.
They can also publish these tours directly in the STQRY Guide App, available on Google Play and the App Store, for instant visitor access.
STQRY Marketplace complements this by allowing tour creators to build, publish, and monetize self-guided tours on a single platform.
With flexible access and pricing options, creators can sell tours, offer access codes, or set up tiered experiences. This lets both independent creators and large institutions earn revenue while keeping full control over how and when their content is shared.
Equally impressive is how simple it is to bring these tours to life. STQRY’s no-code technology means you don’t need technical expertise or a team of developers to build a professional self-guided tour app. Its intuitive tools let you create, edit, and publish content on your own.
Furthermore, STQRY supports more than 55 languages. This ensures accessibility for diverse audiences and makes it easier for destinations to welcome international visitors.
Behind the scenes, advanced location technology ensures every visitor sees the right content at the right moment. Geofenced alerts guide visitors through outdoor spaces, while iBeacon integration adds precision indoors.
STQRY is also designed for versatility. Organizations can host multiple tours in one app, from exhibition guides to city walks, bike paths, or even boat routes. This lets destinations serve different visitor interests without needing separate apps.
Finally, STQRY’s interactive features bring everything to life. Augmented reality (AR), games, quizzes, and reward systems turn passive listening into active, engaging exploration.
2. izi.TRAVEL
Established in 2011, izi.TRAVEL set out to build a free storytelling platform that connects cities, museums, and their stories with travelers looking for new ways to explore.
Think of it as Facebook or Wikipedia, but specifically designed for cultural storytelling and travel experiences.
What sets izi.TRAVEL apart is its commitment to completely free publishing. Creators can combine text, audio, images, and video into indoor guides, outdoor tours, or single stories—all for free.
The platform's free content management system provides unlimited storage capacity. This removed traditional barriers that prevent smaller organizations from creating digital experiences.
izi.TRAVEL makes publishing easy with a three-step process: create content with simple tools, test in restricted view, then publish and promote through built-in marketing options.
Once live, your guides appear on the izi.TRAVEL website and app, reaching audiences you might never reach on your own.
However, the platform offers limited support for selling content with access codes, and it lacks substantial institutional support.
While a handful of tours are available for purchase, the vast majority are free. This makes izi.TRAVEL better suited as a distribution channel for exposure rather than a fully monetized solution for enterprises.
3. VoiceMap
Moving beyond institutional solutions, VoiceMap champions a different philosophy entirely. This platform empowers independent creators and local storytellers to publish GPS-triggered tours that reveal hidden narratives in cities worldwide.
What sets VoiceMap apart is its focus on individual voices rather than institutions. Local historians, former residents, and passionate community members create tours that major tourism boards would never commission.
This openness has produced unique and engaging content, and creators can also earn revenue by selling their tours directly through their app.
However, VoiceMap doesn’t support multiple access code types or offer a white-label solution. This makes it difficult to integrate with ticketing systems, manage different customer tiers, or present content under an organization’s brand.
If you are a larger organization or want a branded solution, VoiceMap may not be the right fit since it lacks enterprise-level flexibility, branding options, and advanced visitor management tools.
4. SmartGuide
SmartGuide is a travel platform that transforms your phone into a personal tour guide. It offers location-aware audio guides in various destinations worldwide.
Content creators can use its AI-powered self-service CMS to build guides and tailor them to specific audiences. The system includes automatic text-to-speech (TTS).
Integrated with DeepL, the CMS also makes translating tours into multiple languages simple with one click.
Beyond audio and video, the platform supports AR tours, from historic photography overlays to 3D models, enriching visitor engagement.
5. Nubart
Nubart is a digital audio guide platform that lets organizations offer self-guided experiences without an app. Instead, visitors scan a card’s QR code with their smartphone browser to instantly access multilingual audio guides.
The system works offline and keeps visitor data anonymous while still providing museums with detailed analytics. Organizations can upload and update multilingual text, audio, and images anytime without reprinting materials.
Nubart also creates revenue opportunities through flexible pricing models. This lets organizations sell guide cards as souvenirs or include them in ticket bundles.
However, because it relies on the browser rather than a native app, it lacks more advanced features such as push notifications, in-depth branding, or location-based triggers, which are important for walking, cycling, and driving tours and organizations with complex visitor flows.
Quick Comparison of Top Self-Guided Tour Builders
Here is a feature-by-feature comparison of leading self-guided tour builder platforms for 2025, based on their core offerings.
| Feature | STQRY | izi.TRAVEL | VoiceMap | SmartGuide | Nubart |
|
Offline Playback |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| GPS & Geofencing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✖︎ |
| Audio & Multimedia Content | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AR & Object Recognition | ✓ | ✖︎ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Analytics & Reporting | ✓ | ✖︎ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| White-label & Branding | ✓ | ✖︎ | ✖︎ | ✖︎ | ✖︎ |
| Monetization | ✓* | ✖︎ | ◐ | ✖︎ | ◐ |
*STQRY offers flexible monetization with multiple access and promo code options. Other platforms don’t have this flexibility.
Power Your Self-Guided Tours and Interactive Experiences with STQRY
Choosing the right self-guided tour builder and monetization platform is a critical decision that depends heavily on your audience, goals, and resources. While each platform brings unique strengths, STQRY stands out as the comprehensive solution built to serve organizations and independent tour creators.
With features like custom branding, full white-label control, comprehensive analytics, and flexible monetization, STQRY is a mature and reliable digital storytelling platform. It serves the full spectrum of users, from independent creators to major global institutions.
On top of that, STQRY offers excellent customer support, ensuring your team is guided every step of the way, from setup to launch and beyond.
If you’re ready to elevate your visitor engagement with a professional, scalable, and future-proof solution, explore what STQRY can do for your organization today.