We help people find cities that feel like home
The origin
Born from Spreadsheet Fatigue
It started the way most nomad decisions start: a 47-tab spreadsheet at 2am. Cost of living columns. Safety scores. Internet speed. Weather averages. Columns for things that are easy to measure but don't actually tell you if a city will make you happy.
The spreadsheet grew. The decision didn't get any closer. Every city looked fine on paper. None of them felt right. And the tools that existed - Nomad List, Nomadlio, random Reddit threads - were either expensive, overwhelming, or both.
That's when the question shifted. Instead of “which city has the best numbers,” it became: “which city matches how I actually want to feel?”
Novad is the answer to that question. We still use all the data - cost, safety, weather, internet, air quality, community - but we start with something the spreadsheets can't capture: your emotional priorities. Do you want calm? Adventure? Creative energy? A place to recover from burnout?
We translate those feelings into a vector, match it against 300+ real city profiles, and give you 5-7 ranked results with transparent explanations. Not 1,000 options. Not a filter wall. Just the cities that actually fit.
Philosophy
Feelings First, Data Always
Most tools start with filters: budget, continent, weather. You end up with a list of cities that pass a checklist. But passing a checklist and feeling at home are not the same thing.
Novad starts differently. We ask how you want to feel - then we use data to find cities that deliver that feeling. Want calm? We weight safety, air quality, noise levels, green space. Want creative energy? We look at culture scores, coworking density, arts communities, walkability.
The result is personal. Two people with the same budget but different emotional priorities will get completely different cities. That's the point.
How We Score Cities
Data sources, scoring methodology, emotional matching, and transparency.
From the founder
“Figuring out where to live next shouldn't feel like a second job. I built Novad to make that decision simpler.”
- Amaury, founder of Novad
Ready to find your city?
3 minutes. 10 questions. Matched to 300+ cities with real data and transparent scoring. Free, no ads.