The seat map tool SeatGuru should have been.

Best for: Technical accuracy & precise cabin diagrams

AeroLOPA draws cabin layouts straight from official airline LOPA (Layout of Passenger Accommodations) documents — the same technical drawings airlines use internally. The result: unmatched accuracy on window alignment, exit row geometry, bassinet positions, and crew rest placement. Their ExpertFlyer partnership (March 2026) brought their diagrams into ExpertFlyer's platform as native seat maps with pitch, recline, and attribute tags.

Coverage: Major US, European, Middle Eastern, and Asia-Pacific carriers

Best for: Closest direct SeatGuru replacement

SeatMaps.com is the lookalike replacement — colour-coded layouts, seat dimensions, 360-degree cabin panoramas, and in-flight reviews. London- and Munich-based team updates the catalogue weekly. The breadth is staggering (739 airlines, 3,240+ configurations) but seat-specific data is often generic; their own copy notes a map may not match the exact configuration on your flight.

Coverage: 739 airlines / 3,240+ configurations

Best for: Frequent flyers wanting seat alerts and upgrade tracking

Subscription tool used by serious frequent flyers and travel hackers. Got its biggest update in 17 years in March 2026 via the AeroLOPA partnership — granular per-seat data (pitch, recline specs, attribute tags) now appears natively, plus a new systemwide upgrade search for American Airlines on the Elite tier.

Best for: AI-generated, flight-specific seat recommendations

Newer entrant taking an AI angle. Enter flight number, cabin, and date, and SeatCompare returns the best and worst seats for that specific aircraft and configuration. Also offers "version lottery alerts" — notifications if your aircraft gets swapped between booking and departure, which can mean a cabin downgrade no other tool surfaces.

Coverage: 70+ airlines / 1,000+ layouts / 5,000+ aircraft (claimed)

Best for: Largest catalogue + paid live seat tracking

The biggest database on this list — 6,100 airlines, 10,000+ configurations. Static maps free, live seat tracking on a $6.99/month subscription that polls every two hours for imminent flights and emails when your target seat opens. Also bundles an airport wait time calculator and award availability search.

Coverage: 6,100 airlines / 10,000+ configurations

Best for: Live seat availability for a specific flight

AwardFares' free live seat map shows real-time occupancy for virtually any flight — enter origin, destination, date, and flight number to see which seats are currently taken (red), available (green), or blocked (yellow). Best first stop when you want to know how full your flight actually is, before drilling into per-seat detail.

Best for: Real traveller photos and crowdsourced reviews

Review-driven platform where flyers upload photos and write up specific seats. The crowd-sourced angle is its strength — actual cabin photos give you a real-world preview no diagram can match. Quality depends entirely on who has flown what; many seats have no data, but where coverage exists it's gold.

Best for: Older aircraft and backup reference

Long-standing site that, like SeatGuru, leans on user reviews and photos. Suffers from outdated information on newer cabins but its deep archive sometimes holds details on older aircraft layouts other modern tools have dropped. Useful as a backup reference, not a primary source.

Best for: Comparing legroom across flights while booking

Free Chrome extension that overlays seat pitch, amenity, and carry-on data directly onto Google Flights search results. Not a standalone seat map — it answers a different question: when you're choosing between two flights on the same route, which one has the better cabin?