what3words is described as 'What3words encodes geographic coordinates into 3 dictionary words (for example, the Statue of Liberty is located at planet.inches.most). what3words is different from other alphanumeric location systems and GPS coordinates in that it displays 3 words rather than long strings of' and is an app in the travel & location category. There are more than 25 alternatives to what3words for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Web-based, Linux, Mac and Android apps. The best what3words alternative is QGIS, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like what3words are Plus Codes, ArcGIS, Maptitude and Global Mapper.
what3words is essentially an alternative global coordinate system, an algorithm for geocoding locations on a 3m² grid into three words. ArcGIS is not comparable because it is far more than a geocoding platform.