MileIntel vs Roame: Search vs Full-Portfolio
Roame built a beautiful 'Google Flights for points.' Here's what it does well, what it doesn't try to do, and how MileIntel covers the rest.
TL;DR
Roame is genuinely the best-designed award search interface available. It is also exclusively a search tool. MileIntel is a portfolio platform that includes search as one feature among many — different category, different problem.
Key Takeaways
- Roame's UI is a real win — it makes points search feel like Google Flights.
- Roame is search-only by design. No portfolio, no trip tracking, no day-of intel, no expiration management.
- MileIntel adds balances, upgrade probability, delay recovery, and best-path recommendations across your full portfolio.
- Both can coexist — Roame for discovery, MileIntel for management.
Roame's elevator pitch is "Google Flights for points," and that is genuinely the most accurate one-line description we have seen for it.
If you have used Google Flights, you know the interface: a single search box, a calendar grid for flexible dates, a price-per-day heatmap, and a clean results list. Roame brought that same design language to award redemptions, and the result is the prettiest, most approachable points search tool on the market.
This post is about what Roame is, what it deliberately is not, and where MileIntel covers the rest of the picture.
What Roame does well
Roame is search-first. That is the entire product. The team made a clear bet: instead of trying to be a portfolio tool, a trip tracker, or a concierge, they would build the best-designed search interface and stop there.
By that yardstick, they nailed it.
| Capability | Why Roame wins |
|---|---|
| Interface quality | Cleanest UI in the category. Flexible dates feel natural. Visual price heatmap is genuinely useful. |
| Mobile experience | Of all the award search tools, Roame is the one that does not feel terrible on a phone. |
| Transfer partner math | Built-in awareness of transfer partner ratios. You can see Amex MR to ANA pricing alongside direct programs. |
| Cash + points hybrid view | Shows cash price alongside points cost, with cents-per-point math visible. |
| Discovery-first UX | Built for "I have flexible plans, show me where I can go" rather than "I need this exact flight." |
The discovery-first piece is the part most reviewers undersell. Roame's interface is genuinely better for the question "I have 200K Chase points and a week off in April, where should I go?" than any other tool we have used.
What Roame is not
This is not criticism. It is product positioning.
- No portfolio tracking. Roame does not connect to your loyalty accounts. You tell it how many points you have, it does the math against that input. There is no live balance view.
- No trip detection. Roame does not know about the trips you have already booked. It is not connected to your email or calendar.
- No day-of intelligence. No gate changes, no delay detection, no rebooking when things go wrong. The product ends at the search results.
- No expiration tracking. Your United miles, your upgrade certificates, your plus points, your suite night awards — Roame has no view into any of them.
- No status or qualification tracking. It is not a tool for managing elite status.
- No upgrade probability or delay prediction. No ML layer.
The team has been clear and consistent about this scope. Roame is a search engine. The product is allowed to not do other things.
Where MileIntel is better
The simple version: MileIntel is what you use after you have made a booking, alongside whatever you used to find the booking.
| Capability | Why MileIntel wins |
|---|---|
| Live balance tracking | Live miles, points, and certificate balances across 12+ programs via direct connections. |
| Email and calendar trip detection | Gmail OAuth detects every flight you book and surfaces it automatically, with no manual entry. |
| Upgrade probability | ML model predicts upgrade odds on specific flights. See the upgrade probability tool. |
| Delay recovery | When your flight is delayed or cancelled, MileIntel surfaces rebooking options that respect your loyalty status and alliance partners. |
| Best-path AI | Tells you whether to pay cash, redeem points, transfer from a flexible currency, or wait. Roame ranks search results; MileIntel makes recommendations. |
| Expiration alerts | Knows when every certificate, point, and credit expires and surfaces it before it does. |
| Status qualification | Tracks PQP, MQD, Loyalty Points, and projects whether you'll requalify based on your remaining travel. See the AAdvantage guide. |
| Push and SMS alerts on your trips | Real-time alerts on bookings you already have. Roame can alert on saved searches, not on trips. |
Pricing comparison
| Tier | Roame | MileIntel |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Limited search | Full Traveler tier |
| Paid (annual) | $109.99/yr (Pro) | $99/yr (Navigator) |
| Mid tier | N/A | $199/yr (Executive) |
| Top tier | N/A | $399/yr (Black) |
The annual price is in the same neighborhood at the entry tier. Whether to pay for both is mostly a workflow question, not a money one.
See MileIntel's pricing for what each tier covers.
The category difference
Roame and MileIntel are not really competing for the same job, even though they show up in the same comparison reviews. Roame is a search tool. MileIntel is a portfolio platform.
The analogy we use internally: Roame is Google Flights. MileIntel is the spreadsheet you used to keep in Excel showing every reservation, every reward, every certificate, every status balance — except now it is an actual product that updates itself and tells you what to do.
You can use both without overlap. You can use Roame to find the trip, and MileIntel to track every other part of your loyalty life.
What Roame should not be expected to do
If you read Roame reviews and someone complains that "it does not show my balances" or "it does not track my upgrade certificates," that is not a criticism of Roame. That is a category error. Roame is search.
If you want both jobs done by one tool, MileIntel is closer to that vision (we do search via partner APIs and on-demand queries, just not at Roame's scale or polish). But honestly, if Roame's UI is faster and cleaner for the search step of your workflow, just use it for that and use MileIntel for everything else.
Use both if you can
The right configuration for a serious traveler in 2026:
- Roame for the discovery and search step: "where should I go?" and "find the cheapest premium-cabin redemption on this date range."
- MileIntel for everything before the search (knowing your portfolio, expiration windows, transfer-bonus opportunities) and everything after (trip tracking, gate changes, upgrade odds, delay recovery, status qualification).
If you have to pick one:
- Pick Roame if your only problem is "I need a beautiful, fast search interface" and you are happy managing your portfolio in your head.
- Pick MileIntel if your problem is "I have miles I am losing track of, trips I cannot keep straight, and decisions I am not making well."
Roame is a great product. The team is shipping good work. We hope they keep going. The honest answer to "which one is better" is "depends what you are trying to do." Most people doing this seriously want both.
MileIntel is the portfolio and trip layer Roame intentionally does not build. See the pricing page or start free.
Get articles like this in your inbox
The Mileage Run — one short email when something actually changes your travel math. No filler, no affiliate trash, no spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Don't Miss a Departure
Track your miles, catch devaluations before the blogs do, and find the best use of every point you have.
Create Your Free AccountSign up with Google · No credit card required