Grab, Be and Xanh SM: Ride-Hailing Apps in Vietnam

Three apps cover the overwhelming majority of taxi and motorbike-taxi rides in Vietnam. You should install all three before you arrive. None of them require a Vietnamese phone number to sign up; foreign mobile numbers work fine.

Grab

The Singapore-based giant. Largest fleet, biggest geographic coverage, best app, English-language interface. Available in every city you'd visit and most of the smaller towns. Pays drivers more reliably than the others, which is why most drivers also accept Grab if they're on Be or Xanh SM.

Options that matter:

• GrabCar — standard 4-seat car.
• GrabCar 7 — 7-seat SUV/MPV. Worth it for two couples with luggage.
• GrabBike — motorbike with a helmet for the passenger. The fastest way to move through Hanoi or Saigon traffic. Pillion only, no luggage beyond a small backpack.
• GrabFood — food delivery, useful when you can't read a menu.
• GrabExpress — courier between two addresses.

Pay with cash, a card linked to the app, or Momo (Vietnam's main e-wallet). Foreign cards work but get declined intermittently — keep cash on you as a fallback. See money and banking.

Be

Vietnamese-owned, smaller fleet, slightly cheaper on average. Patchier outside the big cities. The app is in English. Useful as a price comparison — if Grab is surging, Be often isn't. beCar and beBike are the equivalents.

Xanh SM

The newcomer. Launched by VinFast in 2023, all-electric fleet — both the green taxis you see everywhere and the green motorbikes. Run by salaried drivers rather than gig workers, which means consistent service and almost no cancellation games. Slightly more expensive than Grab but the cars are new, quiet and clean. Coverage now spans every major city and is expanding into provincial capitals.

Two ways to use Xanh SM: via the app (best price), or by waving one down on the street — they run as metered taxis with a published fixed tariff. The meter is honest. Recommended over the random metered-taxi pool, which still has problems: see taxi meter scams.

Pricing reality

Indicative city fares for a 5 km trip in Hanoi or HCMC:

Service	Typical fare
GrabBike / beBike / Xanh SM Bike	25,000–45,000 VND
GrabCar / beCar / Xanh SM Car	60,000–110,000 VND
Surge in rain or rush hour	1.3–2x

Fares display upfront in the app. The driver cannot change the price. If a driver asks for "a bit more for traffic" the answer is no — file it via the app's complaint form and the fare you booked is what you pay.

Tipping

Not expected. Rounding up to the next 10,000 VND is appreciated. If a driver helps with luggage, 20,000–50,000 VND is generous.

Lost items

Open the trip in the app, tap the driver's contact, call. Drivers almost always return items if you reach them within an hour, often for the price of the return trip. After a few hours the phone may be off and the item is gone. For valuables, Grab's in-app "Lost item" support actually works but takes 24–48 hours.

Motorbike taxi vs car: when to pick which

• Motorbike if you're alone, travelling light, and the trip is under 10 km in city traffic. Saves both time and money.
• Car for two or more people, anything with luggage, after dark, in heavy rain, and any time you don't feel up to navigating Vietnamese traffic from the back of a bike.

If you're sceptical about the bike option, do one short daytime trip with GrabBike to a destination you know. The drivers are professional, the helmets are mandatory, and once you've done it once the city opens up. For renting your own bike instead, see motorbike rental.

Quick app-install checklist

Before your first day in country: Grab, Xanh SM, Be, Momo, Google Maps. With a working SIM (sim cards and mobile data) you have everything you need to move around.