Picking a city to live and work from is easier when you let real data do the heavy lifting instead of scrolling endless “best cities for digital nomads” listicles. Three tools dominate this space, and each one answers a different question: Nomads.com (the site formerly known as Nomad List) tells you where nomads are actually hanging out right now, Teleport matches cities to your personal priorities and job, and Relocate.me lines up visa-sponsored tech jobs with the relocation logistics attached.
Table of Contents
This guide breaks down what each tool actually does, what it costs, and which one fits your situation — whether you’re chasing fast wifi and low costs for a few months, weighing a permanent move based on quality-of-life scores, or trying to relocate abroad through a job offer with visa support.
Quick Answer
Use Nomads.com (formerly Nomad List) if you want live cost-of-living, wifi speed, safety, and weather data plus a community of nomads in the same cities. Use Teleport if you want a free, quiz-based tool that ranks cities against your own priorities (housing, safety, healthcare, taxes) and your job/income. Use Relocate.me if your move depends on landing a visa-sponsored job first and you need country-specific visa, tax, and salary guides alongside the listings.
What Each Tool Actually Does
Nomads.com started in 2014 as Nomad List, built by indie developer Pieter Levels, and has since rebranded under the Nomads.com domain (the old nomadlist.com URL now redirects there). It tracks data across 1,500+ cities, covering cost of living for nomads, expats, and locals separately, internet speeds, general and female-specific safety ratings, and current plus seasonal weather. Beyond data, it layers on community features: a dating/friend-finder function, an in-person meetup network active in 100+ cities, a travel tracker for logging where you’ve been, a Climate Finder for searching by weather preference, and even a FIRE (financial independence) calculator. A free account gets limited access; full city data unlocks with a paid membership.
Teleport takes a different approach: instead of browsing city profiles, you answer a short quiz about what matters to you — your field of work, monthly rent budget, and which quality-of-life factors you care about — and it returns a ranked list of cities matched to your answers, showing a fit score and cost differences versus your current city. Its dataset spans 266 cities scored across categories including housing, cost of living, startups and venture capital, travel connectivity, commute, business freedom, safety, healthcare, education, environmental quality, economy, taxation, and internet access. There’s also a side-by-side city comparison page and an “Ask a Local” feature for questions straight from residents. The core tool is free to use.
Relocate.me is built around a different problem entirely: finding a job that will actually sponsor your move. It’s a tech-focused job board listing international, visa-sponsored roles (software development, DevOps, design, and similar fields), paired with country guides covering visas, taxes, cost of living, salaries, and healthcare for around 25 destinations. It also includes tax calculators and salary comparisons across 20-plus countries, plus a large community (25,000+ members) sharing job alerts and relocation tips.
How to Choose Between Them
Start by identifying your actual scenario. If you’re a remote worker or freelancer deciding where to spend the next few months and want granular, frequently discussed data on wifi reliability, safety, and cost of living — plus a built-in community of other nomads already there — Nomads.com is the more purpose-built tool, though the deeper data sits behind its paid tiers.
If you’re weighing a longer-term or permanent relocation and want a structured way to weigh trade-offs (safety versus cost, healthcare versus taxation, commute versus housing) against your own priorities and income, Teleport’s free quiz-based matching is the faster, no-cost starting point — just note it’s not built around a nomad community or short-stay logistics.
If your move hinges on getting hired first, skip straight to Relocate.me. Its job board filters specifically for roles offering visa sponsorship, and its country guides answer the practical questions (tax rates, healthcare access, typical salaries) you’ll need once an offer is on the table. Many people end up using two of these together: Teleport or Nomads.com to shortlist cities, then Relocate.me to find the job that gets them there legally.
Tips / Common Mistakes
Don’t rely on a single tool’s ranking as gospel — cross-check cost-of-living and safety figures across at least two sources, since crowd-sourced data (which all three tools use to some degree) can lag behind fast-changing rent markets or new visa rules.
Don’t confuse Teleport’s free ranking tool with visa or immigration advice — it scores quality of life and cost fit, not your legal eligibility to live or work somewhere. Always verify visa requirements directly with the destination country’s official immigration site or an immigration lawyer before booking anything.
Don’t assume a job listed on Relocate.me guarantees visa sponsorship terms you’ll like — confirm sponsorship type, timeline, and any bond/repayment clauses directly with the employer before accepting.
If cost is a factor, remember Nomads.com’s full dataset requires a paid membership while Teleport’s core matching tool is free — try Teleport first if you just want a general direction before committing to a paid nomad-data subscription.
Explore more: Explore more travel planning guides.
Nomad List vs Teleport vs Relocate.me FAQs
Is Nomad List the same as Nomads.com?
Yes. Nomad List rebranded and now operates at Nomads.com; the original nomadlist.com domain redirects there. The core concept — data-driven city rankings for remote workers — is unchanged.
Is Teleport free to use?
Yes, Teleport’s core city-matching quiz and comparison tool are free to use at teleport.org.
Does Relocate.me help with visas directly?
Relocate.me lists jobs that offer visa sponsorship and provides country guides covering visa types, taxes, and living costs, but the actual visa sponsorship and paperwork are handled by the hiring employer and relevant government, not by Relocate.me itself.
Can I use more than one of these tools together?
Yes — a common workflow is using Teleport or Nomads.com to shortlist cities based on cost, safety, and lifestyle fit, then using Relocate.me to find a visa-sponsored job in one of those locations.
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