Sarthi is a decent lookup app for Delhi Metro station info, first and last train times, gate directions, and lost-and-found. It stops being useful the second the trip is longer than a metro ride. There is no live train position, no bus overlay, no rail schedule for the outskirts, and no last-mile booking. For most Delhi commuters, that leaves a gap the size of the actual journey.
The seven Delhi Metro Sarthi alternatives below cover the parts Sarthi does not. Global routing engines with live traffic go first. Rail and bus specialists sit in the middle. A ride-hailing option for the walk between the station and the door closes the list.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free | Live tracking | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Maps | End-to-end routing with metro, bus, and walking | Yes | Metro schedule, bus live in select cities | Combined multimodal ETA |
| Mappls MapmyIndia | India-first routing and lane guidance | Yes | Metro, bus routes | Delhi Metro line filter and station overlay |
| Delhi Metro | Fastest and cheapest route between two stations | Yes | No | Interchange-aware fare calculator |
| Where is my Train | Rail and NCR passenger trains | Yes | Live train position | Runs offline, cell-tower based |
| Chalo | Delhi cluster and DTC buses with live position | Yes | Buses live | Bus arrival ETA plus mobile pass |
| Moovit | Delhi transit for tourists and non-Hindi readers | Yes | Metro, bus | Full accessibility guidance |
| Rapido | Last-mile bike from the station gate | Yes | Ride live | Bike Metro pickups outside select stations |
Why people leave Delhi Metro Sarthi
The app has not shipped a meaningful feature update in a while. Users on Reddit and Play Store reviews mention crashes on newer Android versions, an outdated station list on new lines, and a Journey Planner that still assumes shortest-route logic even when the interchange is closed for maintenance. The 3.4 rating on Play is not from a lack of usage. It is from users who install it, hit a bug, and open a real navigation app instead.
Ticketing sits somewhere else. Sarthi does not sell tokens, QR tickets, or metro card top-ups. The official DMRC path for that is the separate Momentum 2.0 app or the WhatsApp bot at 9650855800, and neither is Sarthi. Users looking for a single-app metro experience end up carrying two.
Coverage stops at the metro. The moment the journey includes a DTC bus, an autorickshaw, or a suburban rail leg to Ghaziabad, Faridabad, or Gurgaon, Sarthi has nothing. Any real Delhi commute crosses those lines.
There is no live position. Sarthi shows first and last train timings for each station. It does not show where the next train actually is. Waiting on the platform for a train that is delayed by five minutes is exactly the moment a commuter wants live data.
The tourism content ages badly. Metro Museum, tourist spots near a station, and feeder service listings are all present, but most entries have not been touched in years. Google Maps and Mappls both keep this up to date passively.
Which app should you choose?
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Google Maps if you want one app for the metro, the bus, the auto, and the walk. The default for a reason, with the deepest multimodal routing in Delhi.
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Mappls MapmyIndia if you want the same routing built around Indian addresses. Six-character Mappls IDs, lane guidance on the Ring Road, and Delhi-specific line filters.
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Delhi Metro if you only need the two-station fare, time, and interchange. Free, no login, no bloat.
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Where is my Train if your route touches NCR rail, IRCTC-run passenger services, or the outstation legs. Works even when the platform has no signal.
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Chalo if your commute mixes metro with DTC or cluster buses. Live bus position on the map plus mobile bus passes.
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Moovit if you are visiting Delhi, do not read Hindi, or need accessibility routing. Full multilingual UI and station accessibility notes.
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Rapido if the walk from the metro gate to the door is the annoying part. Bike Metro pickups exist right outside several Delhi Metro stations.
Stay on Delhi Metro Sarthi if you only need the offline station reference: first and last train timings, gate directions, station contacts, parking availability, and lost-and-found. Nothing on this list bundles those five things in one lightweight, no-login screen.
1. Google Maps, best for end-to-end multimodal routing
Google Maps treats a Delhi trip as one journey, not four legs. Enter Rajiv Chowk to Gurgaon Cyber City, and the app returns metro, bus, cab, and walking options ranked by total time. Metro schedules line up with the DMRC feed, DTC bus times are pulled in through Google Transit partnerships, and the walking segment includes crossings for the DMRC-owned skywalks. Live traffic feeds into the auto and cab legs.
Where it falls short: No Delhi Metro ticket sale, no live train position on the map, and no fare view before you tap Start. Business listings for a metro station’s exits are often labelled by nearby landmarks rather than gate numbers, which trips up first-time users.
Pricing:
- Free: Full routing, live traffic, transit, offline area downloads.
- Paid: No paid tier for consumers.
- vs Delhi Metro Sarthi: Free and vastly deeper, at the cost of a bigger install and a Google account nudge.
Migrating from Delhi Metro Sarthi: No data to migrate. Search for the station you use most, tap the star, and it moves into Saved. Home and work labels replace the Sarthi shortcut in about a minute.
Bottom line: The right pick for anyone whose Delhi commute is more than a straight metro ride.
2. Mappls MapmyIndia, best for India-first routing
Mappls is built by CE Info Systems in Delhi. It ships with the Delhi Metro line overlay switched on by default, has station-level exits mapped by gate number, and gets small-town coverage right in a way Google Maps still does not. The six-character Mappls ID is genuinely useful for meeting someone at a specific gate, since Delhi Metro exits often have no legible street address. Lane guidance on Delhi Ring Road, DND, and the Peripheral Expressway is more detailed than any competitor.
Where it falls short: The Mappls ID only works inside Mappls. Sharing one with a rider on Uber or a Rapido captain is a dead end. Business listings and reviews are thinner than Google, and the app aggressively promotes its own IoT trackers and community feed.
Pricing:
- Free: Full routing, metro overlay, Mappls IDs.
- Paid: No paid tier for consumers.
- vs Delhi Metro Sarthi: Free with far broader coverage, at the cost of an in-app promo layer.
Migrating from Delhi Metro Sarthi: Enable the Metro layer from the map controls. Save home, work, and the two stations you use as Favourites. That mirrors the Sarthi shortcut set in a couple of minutes.
Bottom line: The strongest India-native option and the natural fit for a commuter who lives fully inside Delhi and NCR.
3. Delhi Metro, best for the two-station fare check
Delhi Metro by Sphinx is a small, fast route planner focused on one job: pick two stations, get the shortest route, the fare, the interchange, and the estimated travel time. No account, no ads on the core routing screens, and no attempt to become a super app. The station database covers Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Violet, Pink, Magenta, Airport Express, Grey, and the Rapid Metro loop in Gurgaon.
Where it falls short: No live train position, no ticket sale, no bus overlay, and no offline map. Some interchange walking times are estimates rather than measured. The look and feel is dated.
Pricing:
- Free: All routing features.
- Paid: No paid tier.
- vs Delhi Metro Sarthi: A tighter, faster take on the same routing problem, at the cost of losing Sarthi’s tourism and lost-and-found sections.
Migrating from Delhi Metro Sarthi: Nothing to migrate. Open the app, pick your two stations, and the fare and route load in under a second.
Bottom line: The right pick if all you want is the fare and interchange for a specific pair of stations, without the rest of Sarthi’s clutter.
4. Where is my Train, best for the rail leg outside the metro
Where is my Train solves the problem Sarthi ignores. A lot of Delhi commutes involve a suburban rail leg to Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Palwal, or Panipat, and Delhi Metro Sarthi has nothing to say about any of them. Where is my Train shows live train position based on cell-tower triangulation, works when the platform has no data signal, and covers every IRCTC-run passenger service including the Ring Rail loop.
Where it falls short: No metro coverage, no bus data, and the UI still leans heavily on Hindi and English with limited Delhi-specific transliteration. Live position is inferred, not from a GPS unit on the train.
Pricing:
- Free: Full features, no login needed for tracking.
- Paid: No paid tier.
- vs Delhi Metro Sarthi: Complementary rather than competing. Different modes.
Migrating from Delhi Metro Sarthi: No overlap in data, so no migration. Add the trains you take as Favourites and set the alarm for your alighting station.
Bottom line: Pair it with any of the metro apps for a commute that touches Indian Railways.
5. Chalo, best for the bus half of a Delhi commute
Chalo covers DTC and cluster buses in Delhi with live position on the map, an arrival ETA at every stop, and mobile bus passes for regular users. On a Delhi commute where the last leg is a bus from the metro station to the office, Chalo is the app that saves the ten-minute stand-and-wait at the stop. Cross-city journey planner covers metro plus bus in a single search.
Where it falls short: Metro data is a summary layer, not a full route planner. Live position depends on the operator’s GPS units being switched on, which is not always the case for older cluster buses.
Pricing:
- Free: Live tracking, journey planner, trip alerts.
- Paid: Optional Super Saver bundles that discount per-trip mobile bus tickets.
- vs Delhi Metro Sarthi: Adds the entire bus network. Sarthi has none of that.
Migrating from Delhi Metro Sarthi: Log in with a mobile OTP, pick your regular stops, and enable arrival notifications. Metro-only users can ignore the bus half and use it purely for the arrival map.
Bottom line: The clear pick for a commuter whose metro trip ends at a bus stop.
6. Moovit, best for tourists and non-Hindi readers
Moovit is a global transit app with genuine Delhi coverage, station accessibility notes for wheelchair users, and a UI that reads cleanly in more than forty languages. Where Sarthi assumes the user is a Delhi resident who already knows what Rajiv Chowk means, Moovit spells it out with line colours, iconography, and a route-guide screen that keeps updating with the next action to take. Multimodal routing pulls metro plus bus for the same journey.
Where it falls short: Live bus tracking is not as reliable as Chalo since Moovit depends on the operator’s public GPS feed being on. Business listings around a station are thin. Ads appear at the top of route lists on the free tier.
Pricing:
- Free: Full routing, live where available, offline maps for one route at a time.
- Paid: Moovit+ removes ads and unlocks unlimited offline routes for a small monthly fee.
- vs Delhi Metro Sarthi: More user-friendly for a first visit to Delhi, and covers the buses Sarthi ignores.
Migrating from Delhi Metro Sarthi: Pick a language, save the two stations you use, and Moovit remembers them across sessions. A guest account works. Optional signup syncs Favourites across devices.
Bottom line: The friendliest option for visitors. Delhi residents will pick something India-native instead.
7. Rapido, best for the last mile between the station gate and the door
Rapido is not a routing app, but it plugs the gap Sarthi leaves at the end of every trip. Bike Metro pickups run right outside several Delhi Metro stations, with dedicated waiting bays for captains. Auto and cab options round out the walk that is too long in July or too dark in December. Fixed fares mean no negotiation at the exit, which matters for late-night rides from Rajiv Chowk or Kashmere Gate.
Where it falls short: Not a substitute for Sarthi. Rapido has no station info, no fare calculator, and no journey planner. Surge pricing hits at rush hour, and captain quality varies.
Pricing:
- Free to install, per-ride pricing shown upfront.
- Paid: No subscription. Each ride is a separate charge.
- vs Delhi Metro Sarthi: Complementary. Different modes, different job.
Migrating from Delhi Metro Sarthi: No data to migrate. Sign in with the mobile number, set home and work, and the last-mile flow is one tap after alighting.
Bottom line: Pair it with a routing app, not with Sarthi. It solves a problem Sarthi does not touch.
FAQ
Which app is the official Delhi Metro app? The official Delhi Metro Rail Corporation ticketing and route app is DMRC Momentum 2.0, distributed by DMRC directly. Delhi Metro Sarthi is a separate third-party companion app that provides station info, journey planning, and lost-and-found without selling tickets.
Can you book Delhi Metro tickets in Google Maps or Mappls? Not yet. Both apps show fares and routes for reference. QR ticket purchase in Delhi runs through DMRC Momentum 2.0, the WhatsApp bot at 9650855800, or the paper token counter. Google Wallet metro pass integration is live in some Indian cities but not Delhi as of this article.
What is the cheapest way to plan a Delhi Metro trip? All seven apps on this list are free to install. Google Maps, Mappls, and Delhi Metro (Sphinx) give you fare, route, and interchange without any account. For live bus data on top, Chalo is also free.
Does any single app cover metro, bus, and rail in Delhi? Google Maps and Moovit come closest, since both stitch metro and bus into one journey. Neither integrates live IRCTC train position, so a commuter whose route includes suburban rail should pair either with Where is my Train.
Do these apps work offline? Google Maps and Mappls both support offline area downloads for the map layer, though live transit needs data. Where is my Train specifically works with no data, using cell-tower triangulation for train position. Delhi Metro Sarthi and Delhi Metro (Sphinx) do most of their lookup offline once the app has cached the station list.
Is Delhi Metro Sarthi being updated? Sarthi ships occasional maintenance updates. Users on Play Store reviews report that new station additions on the Pink and Magenta line extensions lag behind the actual openings, and some interchange walking directions are dated.
