Compare
Hiking navigation apps, side by side.
Goat Maps, Gaia GPS, AllTrails, CalTopo, onX Backcountry, Komoot and FarOut side by side: prices, free tiers, offline maps, map layers and route planning.
Updated · Prices checked
| Feature | Goat Maps | Gaia GPS | AllTrails | CalTopo | onX Backcountry | Komoot | FarOut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | |||||||
| Paid plan | $29.99/year | $59.90/year, or $89.99 with Outside+ | $35.99/year Plus, $79.99/year Peak | $20/year Mobile, $50 Pro, $100 Desktop | $29.99/year Premium, $99.99/year Elite | $59.99/year Premium, or regions from $3.99 once | $96/year Unlimited, or a guide from $24.99 once |
| Free version | Yes Topo, satellite, public land, slope shading, tracks, waypoints | Yes Gaia Topo, tracks, waypoints; no offline maps | Yes Trail search, reviews, recording, web route planner | Yes Full web planner; no offline maps | Yes Tracking, limited waypoints, one offline map | Yes Planning anywhere; navigation in one free region | Limited Free app with demo sections |
| Platforms | |||||||
| Apps | iPhone, iPad, web | iPhone, iPad, Android, web, Apple Watch, CarPlay, Android Auto | iPhone, iPad, Android, web, Apple Watch, Wear OS | iPhone, iPad, Android, web, Windows and Mac desktop | iPhone, iPad, Android, web | iPhone, iPad, Android, web, Apple Watch, Garmin | iPhone, iPad, Android, web |
| Android | No In development | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Plan on the web | Yes Web map with route planning | Yes Saving routes on the web needs Premium | Yes Custom routes free on the website | Yes The most capable web planner here | Yes | Yes Full web planner | Yes Web app for planning |
| Maps | |||||||
| Offline maps | Paid plan Downloads in the background | Paid plan Downloads lock if membership lapses | Paid plan Plus | Paid plan Mobile plan and up | Paid plan One map free; unlimited with Premium | Limited Free region, or buy regions once | Yes Included with every guide |
| Slope angle shading | Yes Free, with custom angle ranges | Paid plan | Paid plan Peak only | Yes With LiDAR where available | Paid plan Premium | No | No |
| Public land (US) | Yes Free | Paid plan | Paid plan Peak only | Yes | Paid plan Premium | No | No |
| Private land ownership (US) | Paid plan Owner names; online only | Paid plan | Paid plan Peak only | Paid plan Pro | Paid plan Elite only | No | No |
| Recent satellite imagery | Paid plan Updated about every 14 days | Paid plan Recent satellite layer | No Standard satellite base map | Paid plan Live imagery with Pro | Paid plan Elite only | No Standard satellite base map | No Online satellite base map |
| Weather forecasts | No | Paid plan Weather overlays; smoke and air quality free | Yes 7-day forecast free; trail conditions with Plus | Yes NOAA point forecasts and forecast layers | Yes Point forecasts, free | Paid plan Weather along the route, Premium | No |
| Planning & navigation | |||||||
| Snap-to-trail routes | Paid plan Needs a connection for now | Yes Works offline since 2026 | Yes Free on the web; in the app with Peak | Yes Needs a connection on mobile | Paid plan Premium; needs a connection | Yes Automatic; needs a connection | Limited Along a guide’s own trails |
| Off-trail and freehand routes | Paid plan Draw by hand, mix with snapped segments | Limited Straight-line segments | Yes On the website | Yes | Paid plan Point Draw, Premium | Limited Straight lines where no path is mapped | Limited For measuring distance |
| Voice turn-by-turn | No | Yes “Guide Me”, also on CarPlay and Watch | Paid plan Plus, with wrong-turn alerts | No Not documented | No Not documented | Yes In unlocked regions | No |
| GPX import and export | Yes Free | Yes GPX, KML, GeoJSON and more | Yes GPX, KML, FIT and more | Yes GPX, KML, GeoJSON | Yes GPX and KML | Yes Exports the route line only | No Not documented |
| Discovery | |||||||
| Trail guides and reviews | No OpenStreetMap trails on the map | Yes Hikes with reports; Trailforks with Outside+ | Yes 500,000+ trails, 72 million reviews | No Shared maps from other users | Yes Trails, climbs, ski lines, 1,500 guided Adventures | Yes Community Highlights and Collections | Yes 200+ guides with water, camp and town waypoints |
| Made by | Independent | Outside Inc. | AllTrails, Inc. | CalTopo LLC, independent | onXmaps, Inc. | Bending Spoons, since 2025 | Atlas Guides, independent |
Yes Paid plan Limited No
Head to head
Goat Maps against each app in detail: where it's better, where it isn't, and who should pick which.
- Goat Maps vs Gaia GPS The biggest map catalog and offline snap-to-trail, at twice the price, now part of Outside.
- Goat Maps vs AllTrails The biggest trail library and community. Built for following trails, not making your own.
- Goat Maps vs CalTopo The most powerful planner on a big screen, built for search and rescue. Less so on a phone.
- Goat Maps vs onX Backcountry Curated routes, ski and avalanche tools and land ownership, spread across three tiers. Mostly US.
- Goat Maps vs Komoot Automatic routing and voice navigation, strongest in Europe and on a bike. No terrain layers.
Looking to switch?
The alternatives to each app, what each is best for, and how to bring your tracks, routes and waypoints over to Goat Maps.
Which app is right for you?
There's no single best hiking app. Each one is built around a different question, and the right one depends on what you're asking.
- "Where should I hike?" AllTrails has the biggest library of trails, with reviews, photos and recent conditions. Abroad, Wikiloc's library of user-recorded tracks is huge and cheap.
- "How do I get there, on trail or off?" Goat Maps, CalTopo and Gaia GPS are built for planning your own routes. CalTopo is the most powerful at a desk, Gaia has the most layers and platforms, and Goat Maps is the simplest and cheapest on a phone.
- "Who owns this land?" Goat Maps and onX Backcountry both show private land with owner names. Goat Maps includes it in a $29.99 membership. onX keeps it for its $99.99 Elite tier.
- "Turn left in 200 meters?" Komoot plans routes automatically and talks you through them, and is strongest in Europe and on a bike. AllTrails Plus and Gaia GPS also give turn-by-turn directions.
- "Where's the next water?" On a long trail like the PCT, AT or CDT, FarOut's guides list water, campsites and towns, with comments from hikers ahead of you.
- "Can I use the official park map?" Avenza Maps puts agency PDF maps, like Forest Service and park visitor maps, on your phone with your GPS position.
The apps
Goat Maps is a map, a route planner and a track recorder for iPhone, iPad and the web, started by a small, independent team led by two former engineers at Gaia GPS. Topo, satellite, public land and slope angle shading are free. Membership, $29.99 a year, adds offline maps, the route planner, private land ownership and satellite imagery updated about every two weeks. It has no trail guides, weather or turn-by-turn directions, and no Android app yet.
Gaia GPS has the biggest catalog of maps and overlays, offline snap-to-trail routing, turn-by-turn guidance and apps for Android, Apple Watch, CarPlay and Android Auto. Premium is $59.90 a year, or $89.99 with Outside+. Outside Inc. has owned it since 2021. Goat Maps vs Gaia GPS.
AllTrails is the trail library: over 500,000 trails with about 72 million reviews. Plus, at $35.99 a year, adds offline maps and turn-by-turn navigation. Peak, at $79.99 a year, adds land and slope layers and in-app route planning. Goat Maps vs AllTrails.
CalTopo is the professional's planning tool, used by search and rescue teams, with the deepest layer catalog for terrain, snow and weather. The web planner is free. Offline maps cost $20 a year, Pro is $50 and Desktop is $100. Goat Maps vs CalTopo.
onX Backcountry combines land ownership maps with curated Adventures, ski lines, climbs and avalanche tools, mostly in the US. Premium is $29.99 a year and Elite, which adds private land and recent imagery, is $99.99. Goat Maps vs onX Backcountry.
Komoot routes automatically and gives spoken directions, with one free region and one-time map purchases from $3.99. Premium is $59.99 a year. Bending Spoons has owned it since 2025. Goat Maps vs Komoot.
FarOut sells waypoint guides for long-distance trails: each guide from $24.99 once, or every guide for $96 a year. It's a guidebook more than a map, with no terrain layers and no documented GPX export.
What "free" means
Almost every app here has a free tier, and almost none of them work offline on it. Offline maps are what these apps charge for: Goat Maps, Gaia GPS, AllTrails and CalTopo all need a paid plan, onX gives free accounts a single offline map, and Komoot gives a single free region. If you need a map where there's no signal, which is most of the backcountry, budget for one paid app.
Where the free tiers differ is everything else. Goat Maps gives free accounts satellite imagery, public land and slope angle shading. In Gaia GPS those are Premium, and in AllTrails they're Peak. CalTopo's free tier is the most generous on the web, where you can plan without paying.
Goat Maps and FarOut
On a thru-hike, FarOut and Goat Maps do different jobs. FarOut knows the trail: where the water is, which campsites are taken, how far to the next town. Goat Maps knows the terrain around it: the side trail to a resupply, the road walk around a closure, the slope above a snowy traverse, recent satellite imagery of a burn. Many hikers carry both.
How we compared
We checked every competitor's prices and features against its own pricing page, help center and App Store listing in October 2026. Prices are in US dollars, as listed for the US, and don't include first-year discounts. Where an app doesn't document a feature, we say so rather than assume it's missing.
The Goat Maps team wrote these comparisons. We've tried to be fair, and to say where other apps are better. If you spot something wrong or out of date, email info@goatmaps.com and we'll fix it.
Try Goat Maps free.
Topo and satellite maps, slope angle shading, public land, track recording, waypoints and GPX import are free. Membership adds offline maps and the route planner for $29.99 a year.
