Townleap vs Everyone Else
Comparison pages usually exist so a company can explain why its competitors are terrible. These ones don't. Two of the three products below are better than us at something important, and one of them supplies our data. Checked August 2026.
Numbeo prices cities. Nomads.com ranks them for people passing through. InterNations introduces you to people once you've landed. Townleap works out whether you can legally live there, what your salary becomes after local tax, and whether the government is one you want to be governed by. Most people need two of the four.
Head to head
The world's biggest price database. Also the source of our cost data.
Numbeo has more raw price data than anyone alive. Townleap takes those prices — literally the same ones — and answers the question Numbeo doesn't: can you legally live there, and what's left of your salary once you do.
Excellent for three months somewhere. Silent on the rest of your life.
Nomads.com is built for people whose next stop is three months away. Townleap is built for people whose next stop is permanent. Neither of us is doing the other's job badly — we're doing different jobs.
The best place to meet expats. Not a place to decide where to be one.
InterNations is the best product in the world for meeting expats once you've moved. It's a poor one for deciding where to move, because its data is how people feel about a place — not what a place will legally let you do.
Looking for alternatives
Wider lists, including tools that aren't us.
If you need prices, there is no better Numbeo alternative than Numbeo. If you need to know whether you can legally live somewhere and what's left of your salary afterwards, you need a different category of tool entirely.
Most Nomad List alternatives are Nomad List with a different colour scheme. If you're settling rather than touring, what you want isn't another nomad score — it's residency routes, post-tax income and a governance rating.
What Townleap is, without the adjectives
A free relocation planner for people who are moving somewhere and staying. 140 cities across 60+ countries. Cost of living from Numbeo, economics from the World Bank, homicide rates from UNODC, democracy from the EIU, freedom from Freedom House. On top of that: 55 residency routes across 20+ countries, income tax rules for 50+ countries, spouse work rights, schooling data and pension visa thresholds.
No account. No email capture. No paid tier waiting behind the third click. If you want to check our arithmetic, the methodology page shows every formula and source.
Start somewhere
Swipe through 140 cities. It asks what you actually want, then argues with you about it.
Your passport, your job, your savings — which residency routes you'd survive.
Numbeo prices, arranged for someone signing a lease rather than booking a hotel.
What's left of your salary after the local tax office has had a look.
Pension visas, income thresholds, and healthcare you can actually get onto.
Questions people actually ask
What is Townleap?
A free permanent-relocation planner. It covers 140 cities across 60+ countries with cost of living, 55 residency and visa routes across 20+ countries, take-home pay modelled against income tax rules in 50+ countries, democracy and safety scoring, family and schooling data, and pension visa thresholds. No account, no paid tier.
How is Townleap different from Numbeo?
Our cost-of-living data comes from Numbeo, so on prices we're the same source with far fewer cities — 140 against roughly 12,800. The difference is what sits beside the prices: residency eligibility, income tax modelling, EIU democracy scores, UNODC homicide rates, spouse work rights and pension visa thresholds. Numbeo prices a city; Townleap tells you whether you can move to it.
How is Townleap different from Nomad List?
Nomads.com (renamed from Nomad List in 2024) optimises for arriving — internet speed, live weather, monthly burn, community meetups — across 1,377 cities, behind a paid membership. Townleap optimises for staying: residency routes, post-tax income, governance scoring, schools and pensions. Different audiences, not competing versions of the same thing.
Is Townleap free?
Yes. Every page and tool is free, no account is required, there is no trial and there is no paid tier. Numbeo's consumer site is also free; Nomads.com requires a paid membership; InterNations has a free approval-based Basic tier with paid upgrades.
Which site is best for planning a permanent move abroad?
It depends on the stage. Deciding which country: Townleap, because residency eligibility and post-tax income are the binding constraints. Pricing a specific city, especially an obscure one: Numbeo. Picking somewhere for a few months of remote work: Nomads.com. Meeting people after you land: InterNations. They stack rather than replace each other.