Organic Maps or Global Adventurer?
An Organic Maps alternative for walkers and riders who want routes to follow
Organic Maps is a free, open-source offline map with navigation for every way of travelling: on foot, by bike and by car. Global Adventurer is smaller and built around walking, riding and paddling routes that you can follow, plan and record. This page sets the two side by side so you can pick the one that suits how you travel.
Choose Organic Maps if
- You want a free map for everything. Organic Maps is free with unlimited map downloads, and its App Store text lists walking, hiking, cycling and driving routes, metro routes and CarPlay. Its website adds Android Auto. We do not plan driving or public transport journeys, and we have no CarPlay.
- You want search and navigation to work with no signal. Its App Store text says both work offline on the maps you download. With us, planning a route works with no signal on the phone, using map data you download first, but looking up a place by name needs a connection.
- You want the app in your own language. Its App Store listing shows 48 languages; ours speaks twelve.
- You want open-source software, or to fix OpenStreetMap from inside the app. Its website says the code is open under the Apache License 2.0, and its App Store text says you can add missing places or edit the map from the app. Ours is not open source, and our app does not edit the map.
- You want an app that millions of people already use. Its website says it has passed 12 million installs.
- You do not want to pay for anything. Organic Maps is free and asks for donations. Most of Global Adventurer is free too, but Pro is £9.99 a year, or £49.99 once for life.
Choose Global Adventurer if
- You want routes to follow, not only a map to draw your own on. The Route Store has hundreds of long-distance trails, all free to follow, and more than a thousand day walks, plus rides and paddles, that are part of Pro.
- You want to plan a route when there is no signal. The planner runs on the phone itself, on iPhone and on Android, using map data you download first.
- You plan a route that takes several days. Tap points and the route is drawn on real paths, you mark where each day ends, and the plan lists the huts, shelters and bothies along the way. You can plan in your browser too.
- You use an Apple Watch, a Garmin or a Wahoo: the Apple Watch app is free, and sending routes to Garmin and Wahoo is part of Pro.
- You walk the hills and want them ticked off: Munros, Wainwrights, the Colorado 14ers and more, bagged when you walk over the summit, with a Peak Identifier, the 3D map and Flyover for any hike. On iPhone all of that is free.
- You go out in winter and want the slope on the map: shading by steepness and by the way the ground faces, on top of contours and hillshade.
- You paddle as well as walk: canoe, kayak and paddleboard routes, with tide times and the Apple Watch recording the trip.
Side by side
| Organic Maps | Global Adventurer | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free to download, and free to use by its own App Store text and website. It asks for donations. | Free to download. Most of it is free, including every long-distance route and one offline map area. Pro: £9.99 a year, or £49.99 once for life. |
| Map downloads | Unlimited, by its own App Store text. | One area free; as many as you like with Pro. |
| Search with no signal | Search and navigation work offline on downloaded maps, by its own App Store text. | Planning a route works with no signal on the phone. Looking up a place by name needs a connection. |
| Car and public transport | Its App Store text lists driving routes, metro routes and CarPlay. Its website adds Android Auto, and its June 2026 news post lists public transport routes. | None. We plan walking, riding and paddling routes. |
| Routes to follow | Its App Store text describes map layers that show hiking and cycling routes from OpenStreetMap. It does not list a library of routes to download. | The Route Store: hundreds of long-distance trails, free to follow, and more than a thousand day walks, plus rides and paddles, that are part of Pro. |
| Following a track | Its App Store text lists importing and recording tracks (GPX, KML, KMZ and GeoJSON) and does not list following one. Code for following a track was added to its public project in early November 2026, and the request for it (issue 1360) is still open. The UK release read, 2026.09.29 of 1 October 2026, does not mention it. | Yes. Follow a saved route or an imported GPX file with the next waypoint, distance left, an estimate of time and an off-route warning. Spoken turns at junctions are for Great Britain. |
| Apple Watch | Its App Store text does not list an Apple Watch app. | Yes, and it is free: record on the wrist, or use it as a remote with a bearing arrow while the phone follows a route. |
| Garmin and Strava | Its App Store text does not list either. | Activities from Garmin Connect and Strava come in, finished hikes go to Strava and planned routes go to Garmin. Part of Pro. |
| Summits, 3D and Flyover | Its App Store text does not list summit lists, a Peak Identifier, a 3D map or Flyover. | Free on iPhone. |
| Contours and heights | Contour lines, by its own App Store text. Its website adds elevation profiles. | Contours and hillshade, winter slope shading, and an elevation profile. |
| Languages | 48, by its App Store listing. | Twelve: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, Korean, Hebrew and Arabic. |
| Account and ads | Its App Store text says it collects no data or identifiers and shows no ads. Its website says there is no registration. | No account, no adverts, no analytics. There is nothing to sign in to. |
| Source code | Open source under the Apache License 2.0, by its own website. | Not open source. |
What we say about Organic Maps is what its own App Store page (on the UK store), its website and its public project on GitHub say, read on 6 November 2026: Organic Maps on the UK App Store, its website, its news of June 2026, its request for following a track (issue 1360), CoMaps. It is free, so there is no price to compare. The version on sale in the UK that day was 2026.09.29, released on 1 October 2026, and its project changes often, so look at the store before you decide. What we say about Global Adventurer is on Features in full.
CoMaps is a separate app that its own site calls a community-led fork of Organic Maps. This page is about Organic Maps only.
What the app does
Compared with AllTrails
Compared with HiiKER
Global Adventurer is not connected to Organic Maps or CoMaps. Organic Maps and CoMaps are trademarks of their owners. Apple Watch and CarPlay are trademarks of Apple Inc. Android Auto is a trademark of Google LLC. Garmin is a trademark of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries. Wahoo is a trademark of Wahoo Fitness. Strava is a trademark of Strava, Inc.