Explore Korea Like a Local

Kakao Taxi, Kakao T, and K.ride — What’s the Difference?

June 1, 2025

2–3 minutes

A woman using her phone to call a taxi on a city street in Korea. — With K.ride, you can easily take a trusted taxi — no language barriers, no hassle.

If you’ve taken a taxi in Korea, you’ve probably heard of Kakao Taxi or Kakao T. And recently, K.ride is popping up more often, especially for travelers.
Though the names sound similar, these services are designed for different users and situations.

Here’s a quick breakdown!

✅ Kakao Taxi: The Original Name

Launched in 2015, Kakao Taxi was Korea’s first major taxi-hailing app. It allowed users to call taxis easily via smartphone and quickly became popular.

These days, however, it’s mostly known as part of Kakao T, the integrated mobility platform. So think of Kakao Taxi as one feature within Kakao T.

✅ Kakao T: Korea’s All-in-One Mobility App

Kakao T stands for “Transportation” and goes far beyond taxis.
It includes:

Taxi-hailing
Driver-for-hire (chauffeur)
E-bike
Parking reservations
Navigation
Intercity bus and SRT(Super Rapid Train) tickets

It’s designed for Korean residents, and the app is primarily in Korean.

✅ K.ride: Global Ride-Hailing for Foreign Travelers

K.ride is the global version of Kakao T, created for international users.
It solves common pain points for travelers:

Supports 130+ languages (including English, Japanese, and Chinese)
Works in 34 countries
Accepts foreign cards and accounts

Whether you’re in Korea or abroad, K.ride makes ride-hailing easy in your language.

Countries where K.ride is available

South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, United States, Canada, Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Romania, Slovakia, Portugal, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Cyprus, Malta (Coming soon to Australia, Italy, and Spain)

🟡 Summary

Service	Target Users	Key-Features
Kakao Taxi	Korean users (early version)	Now part of Kakao T
Kakao T	Korean users	All-in-one mobility platform
K. ride	Foreign travelers	Multilingual, global, tourist-friendly features