The Best London Taxi App
(And When to Skip Them)

1. Bolt — The Off-Peak Winner

Bolt has been on a deliberate value-positioning push in London since 2020, undercutting Uber by 5–15% on like-for-like journeys most of the time. The app is functionally identical to Uber's and the driver pool overlaps significantly — many drivers run both apps simultaneously and accept whichever job pings first.

Where Bolt wins: short central London journeys off-peak, especially in Zones 1–3. We've consistently found a 3-mile evening trip from Soho to Camden runs – on Bolt versus – on Uber. Bolt's surge tends to be slightly less aggressive too.

Where Bolt loses: airports, early mornings (sub-5am driver supply is thin), and any journey where reliability matters. Driver cancellations are common — we've recorded ~12% cancel rate on Heathrow pickups in our internal testing, which is unacceptable for time-critical travel.

2. Uber — The Default Choice

Uber needs no introduction. The biggest London ride-hailing app, the most consistent driver supply, and the most polished user experience. UberX is the entry tier, UberXL covers groups of up to 6, Comfort gives you a slightly nicer car, and Lux puts you in a Mercedes E-Class or equivalent.

Where Uber wins: 24/7 supply (you'll always find a car somewhere), tier choice (4 service levels), and cross-city trips. The Uber Reserve feature lets you pre-book up to 90 days ahead, but the price is locked at booking and surge still applies — meaning a Reserve booked on Saturday evening for Monday morning Heathrow can cost when the actual day-of price is .

Where Uber loses: surge pricing during rain, weekends, sporting events, peak hours and any holiday. The classic 3am New Year's Eve fare for a journey is uniquely Uber's brand of pain. Pre-booked airport transfers via traditional operators are almost always cheaper.

3. FreeNow — The Black Cab App

FreeNow (formerly Hailo, then mytaxi) is the dominant black cab booking app in London, with around 70% of London's ~13,000 black cabs registered. It also offers private hire vehicles in a separate tier.

Where FreeNow wins: rainy days, sporting event traffic, central London during congestion. Black cabs can use bus lanes — a meaningful time saving across the West End. They're also metered (no surge), so a 30-minute traffic jam costs you on the meter rather than via demand-based surge.

Where FreeNow loses: base fare (a black cab is roughly 30–50% more expensive than Uber/Bolt for the same trip), driver supply outside Zone 1 (limited), and airport runs (fixed fares exist but you'll pay + from central London to Heathrow versus our – fixed).

4. Gett — Corporate Black Cabs

Gett positions itself as the corporate alternative to FreeNow, offering primarily black cabs with detailed expense reporting, account billing and a clean interface designed for business travellers. It's been quietly losing market share since 2023.

Where Gett wins: if your employer has a Gett corporate account already, the seamless billing is genuinely useful. And black cabs remain the gold standard for The Knowledge-trained driver awareness of London.

Where Gett loses: for individuals, there's no compelling reason to pick Gett over FreeNow (which has more drivers) or pre-booked private hire (which is cheaper). Pricing is comparable to FreeNow with marginally less driver supply.

5. Addison Lee — The Premium Private Hire

Addison Lee has been running London private hire since 1975 and is the largest private hire operator in the city. Their app gives you scheduled and on-demand private hire across central and Greater London, with a uniformed driver in a generally newer-than-average vehicle.

Where Addison Lee wins: corporate accounts, scheduled bookings (their pre-book reliability is high), and consistency. If a 6am Tuesday Heathrow run is booked Friday afternoon, it'll happen.

Where Addison Lee loses: price. Addison Lee runs roughly 30–80% more expensive than Uber/Bolt for like-for-like journeys, and their airport fixed fares (e.g. + central London to Heathrow) are nearly double what a comparable independent operator charges. For corporate users with billed travel, that gap often doesn't matter. For everyone else, it does.

Where direct booking wins: airports, early-morning pickups, group travel (5+ passengers), pre-bookings days or weeks ahead, fixed pricing with no surge risk, named driver allocated in advance, and human accountability if anything goes wrong. Our central London to Heathrow fare of fixed is roughly half the comparable Uber Reserve price.

Where direct booking loses: ad-hoc 5pm-Tuesday "I need a car right now" trips. The app ecosystem is built for instant supply matching; direct booking works on a 30-minute minimum lead time. For everything outside that one use case, direct beats apps.