Comparison

Mountain Project vs Gunks

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Mountain Project

Discover and navigate to outdoor climbing areas, and find specific routes with detailed filters. Access route beta, photos, and topos offline, and view climbing area statistics. Connect with other climbers in the forum, track your progress, and create to-do lists.

Highlights
  • Find and navigate to climbing areas
  • Sort routes by discipline, difficulty, and rating
  • Search 155,000+ climbing routes offline
  • Download route beta, photos, and topos for offline use
  • View climbing area route statistics and critical info
  • Connect with climbers in the forum
  • Track attempts, sends, and create to-do lists
Features
Read full description

Beyond the Guidebook: The Definitive Rock Climbing Resource. • Find outdoor climbing areas near you, and navigate to them, using the map. This super-handy new feature is one of our personal faves. • The much requested route finder: Easily sort routes by discipline, difficulty, star ranking and more. If a 4-star M9 is your thing, we'll help you find it. • Search our entire database of 155,000+ climbing routes, even offline. • Download route beta, photos, and topos state by state for offline use — because the best crags often have the worst reception. • View a climbing area’s route stats (how many 5.11s are there?) and critical info (when is the raptor closure again?) in a single glance. • Chat, ask questions, or put out a call for partners in our forum. • Rate routes and photos, keep track of attempts & sends, or make a to-do list • It's free to download and free of advertising too. Everything you need, nothing you don't.

About

Gunks

Access digital guidebooks for rock climbing and bouldering with detailed route information, photos, and GPS navigation. Track your climbs with a tick list and cloud backup. Essential for climbers of all levels.

Highlights
  • Digital guidebooks
  • Searchable and filterable climb lists
  • High-resolution zoomable photos and topos
  • GPS navigation to climbs
  • Tick List & To-Do List
  • Cloud backup
Features
Read full description

The Gunks app provides digital guidebooks for rock climbing and bouldering written by local authors. Climbs are accessed from a list, which can be searched and filtered. Selecting a climb reveals a base photo, the route's description, and a high-resolution zoom-able aerial photo, topo, or GPS-enabled map. The photos include belays, descent information, variations, and new link-ups. The app uses GPS to provide navigation and find the nearest climb. It also includes a Tick List & To-Do List with cloud backup. This app was created by local climbing fixtures Christian Fracchia and Byron Igoe, and further content was contributed by Andy Salo, Char Fetterolf, Lee Hansche, Marty Molitoris, Victor Medeiros, Dana Seaton, Chris Redmond, Charlie Schreiber, Tim McGivern, John Byrnes, Melissa McNell, Ben Blackmore, Rich Shoemaker, Austin Hoyt, Conor O'Hale, Justin Sanford, Kayte Knower, Tom Chervenak, Hillary Guzik, Paul Jung, Tim Keenan, Aleks Shineleva, Ted Coffelt, Thacher Park Climber Coalition, Ryan Shipp, Seth Derr, Larry Felton, Kyle Matulevich, Mike Rawdon, Chris Lopez, Charlie Schreiber, Rich Shoemaker, Dana Miller, Robin Close, Eric Marx, Sabrina Crispyn, Gary Thomann, Jim Lawyer, Jeremy Haas, EPAC, Andrew MacNamee, Kevin Johnson, Samuel Hayden, Justin Meserve, Tylor Streett, Peter Treitler, Justin Ridgely, and more. The Gunks app is an indispensable resource for both the seasoned veteran and the first time climber.

Screenshots

Mountain Project4 screens
Gunks4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Gunks at 94% against Mountain Project's 36%. Gunks also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.0). Mountain Project's advantage is ratings volume (4.6K vs 79) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Gunks holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mountain Project has 4.6K ratings behind it against 79, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of Mountain Project's written reviews are positive against 94% of Gunks's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mountain Project ships an update every 3 weeks, Gunks every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Mountain Project versus Gunks: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMountain ProjectGunks
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (4.6K ratings)4.8 (79 ratings) — better
Positive reviews35.8% of reviews94.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.6K — better79
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size79 MB4 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperAdventure Projects Inc.Dirtbag Developers, Inc

Customer experience

Mountain Project

All ratings4,587 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral3.1%
Negative8.0%
Written reviews246 reviews
Positive35.8%
Neutral12.2%
Negative52.0%

Gunks

All ratings79 ratings
Positive94.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews36 reviews
Positive94.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.6%

Bugs and requests

Mountain Project

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App crashes when opening routes or areas
  • Map not showing all available climbs
  • Incorrect date recording for ticks
  • Inability to delete downloaded areas
  • Login issues and account sync problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to add/update routes and areas
  • Implement better offline map functionality
  • Improve search and filtering options
  • Add user profile and route tracking features
  • Enhance community engagement tools

Gunks

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Mountain Project

No in-app purchases

None

Gunks

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mountain Project free?
Mountain Project is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Gunks free?
Gunks is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mountain Project or Gunks?
Gunks is rated higher. Mountain Project averages 4.6 out of 5 from 4.6K ratings, while Gunks averages 4.8 from 79 ratings.
Do Mountain Project or Gunks have ads?
Neither Mountain Project nor Gunks shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mountain Project or Gunks?
Mountain Project ships an update every 3 weeks, and Gunks every 2 months. Most recently, Mountain Project was updated on October 19, 2026 and Gunks on October 11, 2026.

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