Last updated: 6 July 2021
Navigation is a part of daily life, especially if you are moving to a new location. For over three years of my career as an Uber driver, I used different navigation apps to see excellent service. Today, we have two navigation services. HERE WeGo and Waze are two of the popular services around the world. How do both differ? The blog post covers HERE WeGo vs. Waze.
HERE WeGo
HERE WeGo, formerly known as Here Maps, is operated by Here Global. It was first released with Nokia Symbian Phones and then joined the Lumia family. Today, it is available for iOS and Android. Major car companies bought the service for $3 billion in 2015. As of February 2017, more than 100 million cars have HERE installed.
Waze
Waze is one of the popular navigation apps on iOS and Android. The robust reporting features make it one step ahead of all the apps. Waze is owned and operated by Google, and currently, it is the second most used GPS app on mobile phones.
HERE WeGo vs. Waze
Routing
With the help of AI and data provided by the app/user, both services calculate the traffic. To dig deeper, I took a test drive (above video) to find the difference. Take a look at the below results.
| Service | ETA on start | ETA on end | Dist. on start |
|---|---|---|---|
| HERE WeGo | 19:09 | 16:35 | 10 km |
| Waze | 19:06 | 16:35 | 9.1 km |
Regarding the traffic, Both did a good job. Initially, the arrival time in Waze was quicker, and the distance was less than in HERE WeGo. But, I had to favour HERE WeGo sometimes to make it an even comparison.
Winner: Tie Score: HERE WeGo: 0 | Waze: 0
Voice navigation
HERE WeGo comes with about 78 different voices in many languages, while Waze offers about 73 voice options. A beneficial thing in Waze is to record personal voice for turns and stuff.
Winner: Tie Score: HERE WeGo: 0 | Waze: 0
Related: Waze vs TomTom Go
Transit options
There is no comparison regarding the transport options. HERE WeGo has more transit options than Waze.
| Feature | HERE WeGo | Waze |
|---|---|---|
| Car | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Taxi driving | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Bicycle | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Public transport | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Taxi/ride-share | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Walk | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Winner: HERE WeGo Score: HERE WeGo: 1 | Waze: 1
Reporting
Both offer some reporting tools. Waze has an edge on reporting features because of its user based reporting tool. Take a look at the below table for all the features.
| Feature | HERE WeGo | Waze |
|---|---|---|
| Speed camera | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Speed limit | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Vehicle’s speed | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Static speed camera | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Mobile speed camera | ❌ | User-reported |
| Crash | ❌ | User-reported |
| Congestion | ❌ | User-reported |
| Roadworks | ❌ | User-reported |
| Road closure | ❌ | User-reported |
| Object on road | ❌ | User-reported |
| Disabled vehicle | ❌ | User-reported |
| Fuel prices | ❌ | User-reported |
| Roadside help | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Disabled vehicle | ❌ | User-reported |
Contributions
Waze uses a scoreboard system where users can contribute. The user-based reporting tools in the above section are the features that can be reported. Depending on the user level, the report is sent to the server. The more a person reports, the more points they get. This feature helps Waze report many things around the area.
Winner: Waze Score: HERE WeGo: 0 | Waze: 1
Offline navigation
HERE WeGo allows downloading maps for different areas. Depending on your location, you can download your city, state or even the whole country’s map. It comes in handy when you are in remote areas or you don’t have enough data left.
Related: HERE WeGo vs Google Maps
The app will not give you traffic updates, but it would give you the smallest route. Waze does not allow you to download maps on your phone.
Winner: HERE WeGo Score: HERE WeGo: 2 | Waze: 1
Video
The video explains how both work and react on the road. None of the services is perfect, and in the HERE WeGo vs Waze comparison, we saw something similar.
Related: Sygic vs Waze
Other features
HERE WeGo
- View satellite, transit, and traffic modes
- View business information such as phone number, website, opening hours etc
- See all the possible ways to get to a location in the same window
- Supports Samsung Galaxy Gear watches
- Offers a map editor
- The night mode available
Waze
- Switch between 2D and 3D mode
- Talk to Waze by saying “OK Waze”
- Supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
- Offers a map editor
- The night mode is offered
Which one is better where?
The answer to this question is complicated. Here is a list of which service is better where.
- If you travel to remote areas frequently, then you should go with HERE WeGo and download maps.
- In the city, both will work fine, but if you want to stay up to date with surroundings, Waze is better.
- For public transport, taxi, ride-share, or walk, HERE WeGo is your choice.
- Love to help the community, Waze is for you.
Wrap up
The end of this comparison is here. Thanks for having a read, and I hope the comparison HERE WeGo vs. Waze helped. Please feel free to share your views regarding both comments and subscribe to the newsletter for updates.
Thanks for the comparison. Now I know when to use Here WeGo and when to use Waze.
Glad I could help. Drive safe 🙂
There is no comparison. Waze is the choice.
It’s your choice. Thanks for the feedback.
another point in comparison. Here WeGo has an app for Galaxy Gear watches while waze does not. If you want to get/view navigation on your Samsung watch then Here is the choice. BTW how are you defining road vs street?
Thanks for the words, Mick. Thanks for pointing out that HERE WeGo has an app for the watches. I did not think of roads vs streets comparison. I’ll look into it and update the article.
I used Here We Go yesterday for the 1st time because I thought it would be like Here Drive that I used on my old Nokia Windows phone which was 100% reliable over the years but I had to get rid only because it was falling apart. Here We Go got me to my destination okay so I thought great but coming back it was a complete disappointment, waiting for GPS pops up when I’ve already started driving. I was just left without guidance & had to pull over & used Waze instead also for the 1st time. It got me to my destination okay but I got a couple of pop ups during my journey which was a huge distraction that I really did not appreciate, as you’re not supposed to be handling your mobile whilst driving, thank goodness my daughter was with me & got rid of them. It also did not give me the speed that I am able to drive on different roads & warnings if I’m going over but I went into settings at home & apparently it does have that feature, I don’t know why it’s not applied automatically. Also there were cartoon pictures of small chickens on the map which I found a bit bizzare. I’ll need to get use to it. I really wanted Here We Go to work but on my first outing it just was extremely unreliable. I also thought it was supposed to work offline. I was in London not desolate country roads & I never needed to download any maps ever on Here Drive. It just worked. That’s what you need reliability.
Thanks for the views, Sandy. None of the apps is perfect and, definitely, reliability is the most important. Waze doesn’t have a feature to download maps while Here WeGo needs some polishing.
It was good but resently always waiting for gbs
HERE WeGo or Waze?
Google Maps it is!!
Sure, it is.