Free forever

$0 gameplay. Cosmetic IAP from $1.99. No required sub.

Pokémon GO alternative free: no battle pass, no ads, no Saudi data flow

If you're looking for a Pokémon GO alternative without battle passes or remote-raid-pass paywalls, most options walk you into the next premium trap. MapRaiders flips that around. The entire core game is free and stays free. No tiers, no required subscription, no data sales. We're a small independent team out of the US and Germany, and we built this for the people who quit Pokémon GO and never came back.

Notify me at launch

“No ads, no data selling, no Saudi sovereign-fund parent company. The map is yours.” – René Scafarti, Founder

Why people search

What pushes Pokémon GO players toward a free alternative in 2026

Three things made the market ready between 2024 and 2026:

Battle-Pass fatigue. Seasonal passes are only useful if you keep paying. Skip a season and your rewards are gone.
The remote-raid-pass fight. Niantic raised prices and cut availability in 2023, and a whole wave of players walked away.
Saudi acquisition, March 2025. Niantic sold its game division (Pokémon GO, Ingress, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now) to Scopely for $3.5 billion. Scopely is a subsidiary of the Saudi Public Investment Fund. The location data of around 30 million monthly Pokémon GO players has been running through that company's infrastructure ever since.

People searching for an alternative aren't looking for the next Pokémon GO. They're looking for something built against those three problems specifically.

What free actually means

What “free” actually means at MapRaiders

We list every tier openly. No hidden paywalls, no tutorial wall after ten minutes:

Tier	What you get	Price (USD)
Free Forever	100% gameplay (territory, Echoes, quests, clans, defense, events)	$0.00
Cosmetic-IAP	Marker designs, territory colors, clan emblems, skins	$1.99 – $9.99
MapRaiders Supporter (Sub)	Honor badge, beta access, monthly cosmetic pack, founder letter	$4.99 / month
Lifetime Supporter	Collector cosmetic + credits mention	$99 once

Important: cosmetic items give zero gameplay advantage. A free player and a Lifetime Supporter run on the same mechanics.

Comparison

Where Pokémon GO costs money, and where MapRaiders doesn't

Cost item	Pokémon GO	MapRaiders
Battle Pass	$5.99 to $11.99 per season	doesn't exist
Remote Raid Pass	$1.99 per raid	doesn't exist
Egg Incubators	$0.99 to $4.99	doesn't exist
Stardust Boosters	$0.99 to $9.99	doesn't exist
Cosmetic Skins	$1.99 to $14.99	$1.99 to $9.99 (optional)

The Saudi question

The Saudi-Niantic question: what happens to your data?

In March 2025 Niantic sold its entire game division (Pokémon GO, Ingress, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now) to Scopely for $3.5 billion. Scopely is a subsidiary of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which is a state-controlled entity of Saudi Arabia.

In practice that means the location data of around 30 million monthly Pokémon GO players now runs through Scopely's infrastructure. Where people jog, when they walk the dog, which routes they cover daily. The full data-transfer chain has not been disclosed publicly. What is clear: GDPR-equivalent protection against actors connected to a foreign sovereign fund is essentially nonexistent.

MapRaiders is a privately held US LLC, Scafa Investments LLC out of Florida, built by an independent team. We don't sell data, we don't run an ad network, and we are not state-controlled.

FAQ

Common questions

Is MapRaiders really free forever?

Yes. The entire core game stays free: claim territory, drop Echoes, build quests, form clans, play the defense mini-games. Cosmetic IAP from $1.99 is optional and gives purely visual customization, no gameplay advantage.

What does cosmetic-only IAP mean?

Cosmetic items like marker designs, territory colors or clan emblems cost between $1.99 and $9.99. They give zero gameplay advantage. Visual only.

Are there ads in the app?

No. MapRaiders is fully ad-free. We don't sell your data and we don't sell ad space.

What does “no Saudi ownership” mean concretely?

In March 2025 Niantic sold its game division (Pokémon GO, Ingress, Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now) to Scopely for $3.5 billion. Scopely is a subsidiary of the Saudi Public Investment Fund. The location data of around 30 million monthly Pokémon GO players has been running through that company's infrastructure ever since. MapRaiders is a privately held US LLC and is not state-controlled.

When does the iOS version launch?

MapRaiders is Android-only right now, in closed beta on Google Play. iOS launch is targeted for Q3 2026. If you're on iOS, drop your email on the homepage and we'll let you know.

From the founder

I played Pokémon GO for three years and eventually quit. The thing I was missing never showed up: real land instead of fleeting gym captures. When the Saudi acquisition hit in 2025 it was clear to me that the Niantic model wasn't heading anywhere I wanted to follow. So I'm building MapRaiders myself. No ads, no investor pressure, no required sub. My block is my playing field; yours is up for grabs.

René Scafarti

Founder, Scafa Investments LLC

From the closed beta

★★★★★

I run every morning anyway, but now I'm also defending something. My Alster loop is mine and I want to keep it that way. Weird how much discipline that suddenly mobilizes.

Vivian N.

Runner · Hamburg area, Germany

From the closed beta

★★★★★

You leave a short audio clip at a doorway, and three days later somebody you don't know has found it. It feels weirdly intimate for a game.

Aljoscha P.

Urban explorer · Berlin area, Germany

Note: testers are internal beta participants from the closed beta. We use first name plus initial at their request, for privacy. The reviews you see here are translated from the German originals. Schema.org marks them with translationOfWork so the translation chain stays visible.