
Waze was formerly FreeMap Israel, a community maps project developed by Ehud Shabtai in 2006. At that time, there are a few hundred drivers mapping 5,000 kilometers in Israel.
By 2008, the map project has grown to 2,500 drivers and had a new name called “Linqmap”. By 2009, it was renamed “Waze” and has 17,000 drivers.
The Waze app was updated in 2011 to display real-time and community-curated points of interest like local events. After that, it took about two years to reach close to 50 million Waze users, in 2013.
Due to its innovation and popularity, Waze Mobile Ltd was acquired by Google in June 2013 for $966 million.
Today, Waze has over 140 million monthly active users across 185 countries.
Read on to check out the key Waze statistics, users, facts, and revenue model in 2023.
Here’s a breakdown of what we’ll cover:
- Most Interesting Waze Numbers
- What is Waze
- Waze User Count
- Waze Statistics
- Waze Facts
- Waze Driver Satisfaction Index by Countries
- Waze Company Overview
- Waze Revenue Model
- Waze Fund Raising
- Waze Projects
- How Waze Works
- Waze Competitors
- Waze FAQ
Most Interesting Waze Numbers
- Waze has over 140 million monthly active users.
- Waze users have driven 36 billion kilometers globally across 185 countries.
- There are 30 million Waze users in the United States.
- Waze has users across 185 countries.
- Waze GPS Maps is the second most downloaded map and navigation app in the United States with 13.4 million downloads.
- The average monthly distance driven by Waze users is 10.5 kilometers.
- The average time spent by the user per month on the Waze app is 438 minutes.
- Over 18 million map edits are made to Waze every month.
- Waze was sold to Google at $966 million.
What is Waze?
Waze is a popular GPS and Maps Navigation app that uses crowd-sourced data to provide accurate road information to help users navigate and improve their driving experiences.
It is the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app.
Waze, create a local driving community by connecting the drivers to work together to improve the quality and experience of everyone’s driving.
Through the data collected from users, Waze can recommend the shortest, fastest, or toll-free route to reach the destination, which saves users time and money by avoiding heavy traffic and longer route.
In Waze, maps were meant to be redrawn as a static map could never tell users what to expect next like there is a vehicle suddenly breakdown in the middle of the highway and causes congested traffic. By using dynamic maps, Waze can update and reroute for a smoother route.
Waze User Count
Here the stats about Waze users.
1. Waze has over 140 million monthly active users.
According to Waze, the Waze app has over 140 million monthly active users globally in 185 countries, which is a 55.6% growth from 90 million monthly active users in 2019, and a 115.4% growth from 65 million monthly active users in 2016.

Sources: Waze, Waze Driver Satisfaction Index 2016
2. There are 30 million Waze users in the United States.
Source: Times-Call
3. Waze has users across 185 countries.
Source: Waze Driver Satisfaction Index 2016
4. 38 countries and 235 metros have over 20,000 monthly active Waze users.
Source: Waze Driver Satisfaction Index 2016
Waze Statistics
Here are the statistics about Waze.
5. Waze GPS Maps is the second most downloaded map and navigation app in the United States with 13.4 million downloads.
According to Statista, Waze GPS Maps has 13.4 million downloads in 2021, which is the second most downloaded map and navigation app in the United States, just after Google Maps at 25.4 million downloads.
Source: Statista
6. Waze users have driven 36 billion kilometers globally across 185 countries.
Waze said more than 140 million monthly active users have driven 36 billion kilometers globally across 185 countries.
Source: Waze On Virtual Event
7. The average monthly distance driven by Waze users is 10.5 kilometers.
According to Waze, the monthly KM driven by Waze users is 10.5.

Source: Waze
8. The average time spent by the user per month on the Waze app is 438 minutes.
Source: Waze
9. Waze has over 420,000 active volunteer editors that update Waze maps.
Source: Hindustan Times
10. Over 18 million map edits are made to Waze every month.
Source: Medium
11. Waze is available in more than 56 languages.
Source: Medium
12. Waze has an estimated 13.4 million website visits in July 2022.
Source: SimilarWeb
13. Waze has over 3.09 million followers across social media.
According to Waze’s Facebook Page, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube accounts, they have a total of 3.09 million followers.

Source: Waze’s social media accounts
Waze Facts
Here are the facts about Waze, including its history, founders, parent company, CEO, and more.
14. Waze was started in 2006.
Source: Medium
15. Waze was formerly FreeMap Israel.
Source: Wikipedia
16. Waze’s founders are Ehud Shabtai, Amir Shinar, and Uri Levine.
Source: Wikipedia
17. Waze was initially funded by Magma VC and Vertex Ventures Israel in Israel and Bluerun Ventures in the United States.
Source: Wikipedia
18. Waze app was launched in the United States in May 2009 and globally in November 2009.
Source: Medium
19. Waze Mobile Ltd was acquired by Google in June 2013.
Source: Haaretz
20. Waze was sold to Google at $966 million.
According to Google’s financial report submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company acquired Waze for the sum of $966 million.

Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
21. There were about 50 million Waze users at the time of Google’s acquisition.
Source: The Times of Israel
22. Waze launched Carpool in 2016, a feature that uses routes on the map to pair drivers and riders who are going the same way.
Source: Medium
23. The Netherlands is the best country to drive worldwide.
Source: Waze Driver Satisfaction Index 2016
24. The United States is the third best country to drive worldwide.
Source: Waze Driver Satisfaction Index 2016
25. Malaysia is the best country to drive in ASEAN.
Malaysia is the best country to drive in ASEAN ranked 23 globally, followed by Singapore at 32, Indonesia at 34, and the Philippines at 37.
Source: Waze Driver Satisfaction Index 2016
26. Malaysia has the highest number of Waze users in Asia and is among the top five globally.
Most Waze users in Malaysia are concentrated in metros like Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Johor Bahru.
Kuala Lumpur alone has 2.5 million active Waze users, higher than Jakarta, Indonesia at 2 million and Manila, the Philippines at 1.5 million.
Source: TheStar
27. Waze’s main revenue channel is Waze Ads, an advertising service trusted by over 25k businesses globally.
Source: Waze Ads
Waze Driver Satisfaction Index by Countries
The Waze Driver Satisfaction Index analyses the driving experience of Waze users in 38 countries and 235 metros with over 20,000 monthly active users.
Here’s the ranking:
- Netherlands
- France
- United States
- Czech Republic
- Sweden
- United Arab Emirates
- Latvia
- Hungary
- Slovakia
- Italy
- Spain
- Belgium
- Puerto Rico
- Australia
- Portugal
- Canada
- United Kingdom
- Argentina
- Israel
- Brazil
- Mexico
- Chile
- Malaysia
- Ecuador
- Russia
- South Africa
- Uruguay
- Romania
- Costa Rica
- Venezuela
- Colombia
- Singapore
- Peru
- Indonesia
- Panama
- Guatemala
- Philippines
- El Salvador
Source: Waze Driver Satisfaction Index 2016
Waze Company Overview
- Waze’s parent company is Google.
- Waze’s headquarter is at 240 Hamilton Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301 United States.
- Waze’s CEO (Chief Executive Officer) is Neha Parikh.
- Waze has about 525 employees. (Source)
- Waze’s official website is https://www.waze.com.
- Waze android app download page is : Google Play
- Waze iOS app download page is: Here: Apple App Store
- Waze social media platforms:
Waze Revenue Model: How Much Money does Waze Make?
Waze started monetizing the app in November 2012.
The main revenue model is by offering resellers and advertisers a web interface to advertise their products or services based on location, where the ad appears when a user is at a particular location.
Waze also offers a web interface to broadcast current traffic reports and alerts directly from the Waze app to TV news stations. By June 2013, the service had been used by 25 U.S. TV news stations.
Waze Carpool is another paid service that connects drivers and raiders that are going the same way, but currently, all the money collected is going to the drivers.
There is no official figure yet about Waze’s revenue, but the estimation across multiple sources is between $50 to $100 million.
Waze Fund Raising
Waze has a total of three initial fund-raising activities which are held in:
- 1st March 2008 (Series A) – $12 Million
- 8th December 2010 (Series B) – $25 million
- 18th October 2011 (Series C) – $30 million
Waze Projects
Waze is continuously launching new projects and partners with organizations to improve users’ driving experience, here are some of the projects launched by Waze.
Waze Live Map
Similar to Google Maps, Waze Live Map allows you to plan your route on their website.
Waze for Cities
Waze for Cities allows local governments and transportation agencies to use more crowdsourced data in their planning. It has over 1,800 city and public sector partners.
Waze Beacon
Waze Beacon is Hardware that sticks to a tunnel wall and transmits Bluetooth signals to prevent Waze users from losing their GPS signal when routing through a tunnel.
How Waze Works
Waze partners with cities, transportation authorities, broadcasters, businesses, and first responders to ensure the community-driven data is accurate and helps as many people as possible in saving valuable minutes.
Waze uses crowd-sourced data from users to plan the best route according to users’ preferences, whether is the fastest, shortest, or toll-free route.
The map on Waze is dynamic and not static. The map will be updated in real-time and rerouted according to the data crowd-sourced from users.
Waze Competitors
Here is the list of Waze competitors:
- Apple Maps
- Google Maps
- HERE WeGo
- Sygic
- Tom Tom
- GPS Maps
- Android Auto
- Trucker Path
- Roadtrippers – Trip Planner
- MAPS ME
- Gaia GPS: Offroad Hiking Maps
- INRIX
- MapQuest
- Syndicated Maps
- Bad Intersections
- Uber
- Lyft
- Grab
Waze FAQ
Is Waze free?
Yes. Waze is free to use.
Why is Waze called “Waze”?
In fact, “Ways” was the first name choice for the app, but the name was already owned, and the selling price is steep, so the team went for “Waze” which is 25x cheaper.
What is Waze phone number?
Waze does not have a customer service number to call, the best way to contact Waze is via email.
Conclusion
That’s the list of Waze statistics, users, and facts. The list is updated yearly to reflect the latest stats about Waze.
Read Next: