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Meridian Dispatch vs TripIt

Both apps take the booking emails you forward and turn them into an itinerary. TripIt stays a list of bookings. In Meridian Dispatch the itinerary becomes a written journal as you travel, one day at a time from your photos, and the trips abroad already in your camera roll are written up too.

Last updated 27 September 2026/TripIt details checked 27 September 2026

The short answer

Choose TripIt if you fly often, for work especially, and want live flight alerts, seat tracking and check-in reminders, with your plans on your phone, watch and laptop.

Choose Meridian Dispatch if your trips are for pleasure and you want the plan and the memory in one place: an itinerary before you go, a written journal as you travel, and nothing shared with other people.

At a glance

TripIt details checked 27 September 2026, from its own website and App Store listing.
Feature	Meridian Dispatch	TripIt
What it is for	Planning the trip, then keeping it as a journal	Organising travel plans, especially flights
How plans get in	Forward booking confirmations to your personal inbox address	Forward to plans@tripit.com, sync your Gmail, Microsoft or Yahoo inbox, or add plans by hand
Help with the days	Names what is still unbooked and suggests things to do, with why to go, how long to stay and how far they are from your hotel	Nearby places around your hotel, and directions between your plans
Flight tools	Flights land on the right day of your itinerary	Pro adds real-time flight alerts, seat tracking, alternate flights and check-in reminders
The journal	Each day written up from your photos while you travel, then a finished journal laid out like a magazine	None. Past trips stay in your account and feed your travel stats
Past trips	Trips abroad already in your camera roll are found on day one, the last five years free	Only trips whose bookings reached TripIt
Location access	Never requested	Some Pro features, such as Go Now and gate reminders, need location set to Always. Its App Store listing warns it may use your location when the app is not open
Where your data lives	Your trips and journal stay on your iPhone, and photos are never uploaded. Bookings you forward are kept on our server	On TripIt's servers. TripIt is part of SAP Concur
Price	Free for your last five years of trips and one trip in planning. Membership is $19.99 a year	Free. TripIt Pro is $48.99 a year on the US App Store
Platforms	iPhone, iOS 18 or later	iPhone and iPad (iOS 17.3 or later), Android, Apple Watch, Mac and the web

How each one works

TripIt is the long-standing organiser for people who travel a lot. You forward confirmations to plans@tripit.com, or let it scan your inbox, and it builds a master itinerary of flights, hotels, cars and activities. Its paid Pro tier is aimed at frequent flyers, with real-time flight alerts, seat tracking, fare refund alerts and loyalty point tracking.

Meridian Dispatch starts the same way: forward your confirmations and the trip assembles into a day-by-day plan. It then helps you fill the empty days, with suggestions that say why to go, how far each one is from your hotel and how long to stay. The difference comes once you are travelling. Each time you open the app, your newest photos land on the right days and each day is written up, every place named. The morning after the trip ends, it becomes a finished journal laid out like a magazine.

TripIt also keeps your past itineraries and turns them into travel stats: distance, countries and cities by year. It does not write the trip up or build anything from your photos, and it only knows about trips you put into it. Meridian Dispatch reads your camera roll and writes up the trips abroad it finds.

Privacy

TripIt is run by Concur, part of SAP. Your plans live on its servers, and inbox sync gives it ongoing access to scan your email for bookings. Some Pro features, such as Go Now and terminal and gate reminders, need location access set to Always. Its App Store label lists no data used to track you.

Meridian Dispatch never asks for your location, and your photos never leave your phone: trip detection runs on your iPhone, where your trips and journal are stored. Our server keeps your sign-in, your forwarding address and the bookings you forward.

What it costs

TripIt's free tier is generous for organising plans. TripIt Pro is $48.99 a year on the US App Store, with a free trial, and some companies that use SAP Concur give it to employees free.

Meridian Dispatch is free for the last five years of your trips and one trip in planning. Membership, $19.99 a year, opens every trip you have ever taken and as many plans as you like. You can cancel anytime from your App Store settings.

Which one is right for you

Choose TripIt if

you fly often and want real-time flight alerts
you want seat tracking, check-in reminders and loyalty points in one place
your company already gives you TripIt Pro
you want your plans on Android, Apple Watch or the web

Choose Meridian Dispatch if

your trips are for pleasure, not the office
you want help filling the days, not just a list of bookings
you want each day written up as a journal while you travel
you want your past trips abroad written up too
you want an app that never asks for your location

Questions

Is Meridian Dispatch a TripIt alternative?

For leisure trips, yes. Like TripIt, it builds a day-by-day itinerary from the booking emails you forward. It also suggests what to do on the empty days and writes the trip up as a journal as you travel. For frequent business flying, TripIt Pro's flight alerts and seat tracking do things Meridian Dispatch does not try to.

Does TripIt keep a travel journal?

No. After a trip, TripIt keeps the itinerary and adds it to your travel stats. Meridian Dispatch turns the trip into a written, day-by-day journal from your photos.

Can I forward booking emails to Meridian Dispatch like TripIt?

Yes. You get a personal forwarding address, and hotels, flights and trains land on the right days of your itinerary.

Is TripIt Pro worth it compared with Meridian Dispatch?

They are for different jobs. TripIt Pro, $48.99 a year on the US App Store, is worth it if you fly often and want flight alerts. Meridian Dispatch membership, $19.99 a year, is for planning holidays and keeping them as a written journal.

Can I use TripIt and Meridian Dispatch together?

Yes. Forward the same confirmations to both. TripIt handles the flight alerts, and Meridian Dispatch plans the days and writes the journal as you go.

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Where the TripIt details come from