Mountain Project vs AvyPal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
AvyPal
This app assists backcountry travelers in identifying avalanche terrain using their phone's camera. It offers three modes to assess slope angles and avalanche risk with color-coded indicators and audible alerts for dangerous areas.
- Camera-based terrain analysis
- Fall Line Mode for ascents/descents
- Slope Mode for crossing terrain
- GPS Mode with audible alerts
- Color-coded risk indicators
- Route choice decision support
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AvyPal is an avalanche awareness safety app for the iPhone. The AvyPal phone app can assist backcountry travelers in identifying potential avalanche terrain. AvyPal is a simple "see through" app that uses the phone's camera view to let you view the terrain you are approaching. Three different modes are available to fit the backcountry situations you often encounter: Fall Line Mode - Shows the angle and avalanche risk of a slope you intend to descend, or ascend. Slope Mode - Shows the angle and avalanche risk of a slope you intend to cross. GPS Mode - Uses GPS data to audibly alert you if you are descending or ascending a slope angle that is associated with avalanche risk. Audible alerts are given every 5 seconds if in avalanche terrain. A graph is also shown in the mode so you can review if you have recently travelled in dangerous terrain. AvyPal uses color-coded indicators to indicate the avalanche risk of backcountry terrain. Red indicates a high probability avalanche slope (30-45 degrees). Yellow indicates a lower probability avalanche slope (25-30 degrees or 45-50 degrees). Green indicates slopes of less likely avalanche potential (less than 25 degrees or greater than 50 degrees). AvyPal is a backcountry tool for help in making route choice decisions. AvyPal does not replace professional avalanche safety training, experience or good judgement. Get avalanche awareness and safety training before traveling in the backcountry. Have fun in the backcountry. And if you have a question about the safety of the snow slope ahead ... don't hesitate to ask your AvyPal for advice!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: AvyPal at 100% against Mountain Project's 36%. AvyPal also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6). Mountain Project's advantage is price (Free vs $1.99) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 17 months). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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
Mountain Project is free to download; AvyPal costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
AvyPal holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mountain Project has 4.6K ratings behind it against 1, 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 100% of AvyPal's.
Mountain Project ships an update every 3 weeks, AvyPal every 17 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mountain Project | AvyPal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (4.6K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 35.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4.6K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 17 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 79 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adventure Projects Inc. | Timothy Kelley |
Customer experience
Mountain Project
AvyPal
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
AvyPal
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Mountain Project
No in-app purchases
AvyPal
No in-app purchases









