The core difference: Takeout Tools is a general-purpose "get your Google Maps data out" toolset built around seven use cases, travel planning, real estate, field sales, territory sales, content creation, drinks distribution, and spatial project management, with GPS/GPX export as one branch among several. MapsLinkQuest is purpose-built for one job: getting a Google Maps list onto a GPS device, offline app, or Google Earth. To be fair, Takeout Tools' actual tool does accept a pasted shared-list link directly, the same as MapsLinkQuest, so this isn't a workflow difference. It's a positioning one: MapsLinkQuest gets you to a GPS-ready file without the real-estate and sales-territory tooling built for a different audience.
On pricing: MapsLinkQuest's pricing is two flat tiers, Explorer Pass at $19 a year and Lifetime at $49 one-time. Takeout Tools prices in GBP as pay-as-you-go credits, from £5 for 50 places up to £45 for 750, or a £99 30-day unlimited pass aimed at business users. There's no lifetime or low-cost annual option on their side, so someone converting a handful of lists a year either stays capped at their 5-place free tier or buys a credits pack priced for business use, not occasional personal trips.
Where Takeout Tools has an edge: It's simply a bigger site, a large blog, 20-plus free format converters and validators, and dedicated local business directories on top of destination-app content. If you're looking for a one-stop hub with lots of adjacent tools and reading material, that's real breadth MapsLinkQuest doesn't try to match. MapsLinkQuest stays focused on doing one conversion job well and fast.