SeatGuru shut down after 24 years. This is the site quietly replacing it.

If you've tried visiting SeatGuru recently, you've probably noticed something jarring: the site that millions of travellers relied on for decades is gone. TripAdvisor shut SeatGuru down on 31 October 2025, and a gap opened up in how people plan a flight. The go-to resource for airline seat maps, colour-coded seat recommendations, and traveller reviews vanished overnight.

So what happened, where do you go now, and which alternative actually lives up to what SeatGuru offered?

Why did SeatGuru shut down?

SeatGuru had been around since 2001 — a remarkable run for any website. TripAdvisor acquired it in 2007, and for a while, not much changed. The seat maps kept getting updated, the community kept leaving reviews, and frequent flyers kept bookmarking their favourite layouts.

But behind the scenes, things were shifting. TripAdvisor went through several rounds of restructuring, and SeatGuru's business model — which relied primarily on display advertising — became increasingly difficult to justify. Maintaining accurate seat maps for hundreds of aircraft configurations across dozens of airlines is an enormous, ongoing effort. When airlines reconfigure cabins, someone has to update those maps. That takes dedicated staff, partnerships with airlines, and a level of operational investment that TripAdvisor decided wasn't worth it.

By mid-2025, updates had already slowed to a crawl. Many seat maps were outdated, showing configurations that airlines had retired months or even years earlier. The final shutdown on 31 October 2025 was, in many ways, a formality — SeatGuru had been dying a slow death for a while.

What travellers lost

SeatGuru wasn't just a seat map website. It pulled several jobs together in one place:

Colour-coded seat maps — green for good seats, yellow for caution, red for seats to avoid. At a glance, you could tell which seats had limited recline, sat near lavatories, or had misaligned windows.
Detailed seat specs — pitch, width, recline angle, and power outlet availability for every cabin class.
User reviews — thousands of traveller-submitted ratings and comments about specific seats on specific aircraft.
Airline comparison tools — the ability to compare seat comfort across carriers flying the same route.
Aircraft type lookup — enter your flight number and see which aircraft type was assigned.

For many travellers, checking SeatGuru was as automatic as checking their gate assignment. Losing all of that at once left a real void.

The best SeatGuru alternatives in 2026

The good news? Several alternatives have stepped up. Here's an honest look at the options available today.

1. SeatMap.app — the most direct successor

Best for: detailed seat maps, modern interface, and seat recommendations

SeatMap.app was built specifically to fill the gap SeatGuru left behind. It carries detailed, regularly updated seat maps for all major airlines and aircraft types, with the same kind of colour-coded recommendations that made SeatGuru so useful.

What sets SeatMap.app apart:

Seat maps sourced from official airline PDFs — cross-checked against aviation databases, each tagged with how it was sourced and the date it was last updated
Seat notes that name the row — "row 14 has no window" rather than a generic warning
Cabin-by-cabin aircraft pages that break down each layout — explore them at /aircraft
Smart seat advisor that recommends seats based on your priorities — legroom, quiet, window view — try it at /advisor
Airline and aircraft pages built to surface in search, so you can find the exact configuration you're flying

SeatMap.app is actively maintained and expanding its coverage. If you want the closest thing to what SeatGuru used to be — built for 2026 — this is it.

2. AeroLOPA

Best for: aircraft enthusiasts and detailed cabin layouts

AeroLOPA has been around for years and offers highly detailed cabin layout diagrams. Its maps tend to be precise, showing exact seat positioning, galley locations, and lavatory placements. The site has a niche, enthusiast feel — thorough, but it can feel like a lot for a casual traveller who just wants to know "which seat should I pick?"

Pros: detailed technical layouts, good historical coverage Cons: less suited to quick decisions, no recommendation engine, narrower airline coverage than SeatGuru had

3. SeatMaps.com

Best for: quick seat map lookups

SeatMaps.com offers a straightforward seat map experience. You can look up airlines and aircraft types and get basic seat layout information. It's a solid option for quick reference, though it lacks the depth of seat-by-seat commentary and colour coding that power users came to expect from SeatGuru.

Pros: simple interface, decent airline coverage Cons: less detailed recommendations, fewer user reviews

4. Google Flights seat maps

Best for: checking seat maps while booking

Google Flights now shows basic seat maps when you're selecting flights. It's convenient because it's right there in the booking flow — you don't need to visit a separate site. The maps are basic, though. You'll see seat availability and a general layout, but there's no colour coding, no "this seat has limited recline" warnings, and no community reviews.

Pros: built into the booking flow, no extra site to open Cons: basic information, no recommendations, no reviews, not much use for planning ahead

Which alternative should you use?

For most travellers, SeatMap.app is the most complete replacement for the core SeatGuru use case: looking up a seat map and knowing which seats to pick. It combines detailed seat maps with modern design and seat recommendations — much of what SeatGuru did well, rebuilt for today's web.

If you're an aviation enthusiast who wants deep technical detail, AeroLOPA is a good complement. And if you just need a quick glance at the layout while booking, Google Flights will do in a pinch.

But if you want the full picture — detailed maps, seat-by-seat guidance, airline comparisons, and a tool that helps you actually decide which seat to pick — SeatMap.app is the most direct replacement for what SeatGuru offered.

The bottom line

SeatGuru ran for 24 years, but its shutdown wasn't the end of good seat maps. Several tools have stepped in to fill the gap. You still have choices — you just need the right map.

Start with the seat maps for your next flight:

You can still find the right seat. Check the row before you pick it.