NomadMania and Globestamp count your travels in two different ways. NomadMania is a traveler community with its own lists (the 193 UN countries, 1,381 regions and much more), written rules for what makes a "minimal visit", public rankings on its website, and a verification process for top-ranked travelers. Globestamp counts from the evidence in your photos, by fixed rules applied privately on your iPhone, with no account. If you want to compete on a public ranking, that's NomadMania's world; if you want your own count found and kept private, that's what Globestamp does.
Everything below about NomadMania comes from its App Store listing and website as they read on 13 November 2026.
NomadMania and Globestamp side by side
| NomadMania | Globestamp | |
|---|---|---|
| Country lists | The 193 UN countries | 193 UN members, all 250 countries and territories, the TCC's 330 (Pro), or your own (Pro) |
| Deeper lists | 1,381 regions, DARE (1,400+ remote places), Series (60,000+ sights), Know Your Earth (458 grid squares), ATLAS (137 areas) | Regions and states, cities, airports, wonders, landmarks, World Heritage Sites and national parks, as globe layers |
| How visits get recorded | You mark them, in the app or on the website | Read from photo locations on the iPhone; you can add, take off or change any stamp |
| Written rules for what counts | Yes, its "minimal visit" rules, set by member polls | Yes, fixed photo rules |
| Proof checked by others | Yes, for top-ranked travelers | No |
| Public rankings | Yes, on its website | No; a leaderboard of friends |
| Account | Its site calls the app a tool for members | No account |
| Android | Yes | No, iPhone only |
Two philosophies
NomadMania's rules start from a question the community argued over: what is a visit? Its guidelines, set after two polls of its members, ask for more than stepping over a line. In short:
- Crossing a border and coming straight back, with no further experience, doesn't count.
- Driving through without stopping doesn't count, unless you experience a cultural or natural sight of significance along the way (in a private vehicle; on public transport you have to step off).
- Any visit that never leaves an airport doesn't count, with or without passing immigration.
- Staying in a port area doesn't count, however big the port.
For the top-ranked travelers, NomadMania then checks: a verification committee asks for proof of a random sample of countries or regions, such as visas, entry stamps, boarding passes, hotel bills or selfies with landmarks.
Globestamp's rules start from a different question: where were you, according to your photos? Word for word:
- A country counts when one of your photos was taken on its ground.
- A photo just off the coast, on a beach, a pier or a ferry near shore, counts for that coast.
- A photo more than 25 km from any coast is at sea, and never counts. A port you went ashore in does.
- A photo taken from a plane never counts.
- Photos only at an airport make a transit stamp in lighter ink, counted only if you count layovers.
- One or two photos right at a border ask you first.
Nobody checks your Globestamp count but you.
Where the totals will differ
Run the same trips through both and you'll see a few gaps:
- A layover in Doha. Without leaving the airport, NomadMania never counts Qatar. Globestamp gives you a lighter transit stamp, counted only if you count layovers. Does a layover count as visiting a country? sets out the arguments.
- A cruise stop where you stayed in the port. NomadMania doesn't count it. Globestamp counts a port you went ashore in. See does a cruise stop count?
- A drive through Liechtenstein with one photo from the car. Globestamp counts it, because the photo was taken on its ground. Under NomadMania's rules a drive-through in your own car counts only if you experienced a sight of significance on the way.
- A day trip just over a border. NomadMania asks for more than the crossing. Globestamp asks you first when there are only one or two photos right at a border.
Neither is wrong. They answer different questions, which is why how to count the countries you've visited starts by asking which rules you want to follow.
What NomadMania offers that Globestamp doesn't
- A community and public rankings. Globestamp has a leaderboard of friends and comparing by a link, not a public ranking.
- Verification. A badge that others have checked your record. Globestamp's evidence stays on your phone.
- Much deeper lists. DARE's remote places, Know Your Earth's grid squares and the Series go well beyond Globestamp's layers.
- A website and an Android app. Globestamp is iPhone only.
What Globestamp does differently
It finds your countries for you from the photos you already have, including trips you'd forgotten, and never uploads the photos. It counts by the Travelers' Century Club's 330 (Pro) as well as the UN list. And it adds things a list can't: a stamp for every country, drawn after its real entry stamp, days in every country, and how far you've flown.
NomadMania's App Store privacy label, written by its developer, lists Data Not Linked to You: Location, Contact Info, User Content, Search History, Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics.
NomadMania is a trademark of its owner; Globestamp is not affiliated with it.